DENNISTON STRIKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23504, 15 November 1939, Page 10

DENNISTON STRIKE

STILL NO SETTLEMENT 1 ■ •. • IDLE FOR A WEEK TROUBLE OVER TRUCKS MINISTER JIAjY INTERVENE [BY TELEGRAPH— OWN CORRESPONDENT , WESTPOET, Tuesday ' Although members of the executive of the Denniston Miners'" Union hi' ! representatives of the Westport Coll Company to-day, no settlement wl reached in the dispute which has made the mine idle since November 7, w jj ea the men refused to work until the We type of trucks being introduced by' the company was abolished.

The men are firm in the claim that the large boxes are difficult to handll on sections where there is steep working and jigs, while the alteration of wheel base makes it hardly possible for one man to slew a box on flat sWfc causing miners to lose time in assisting truckers. The extra height of the' new boxes was also causing dissension amonothe miners. K

Claims of Management The management claimed that, in the majority of minis in New Zealand, the boxes hold more and weigh more thau those which it was intended to use at Denniston, whore, it is said, the«roada are not so long or heavy as in° some other places. It was also said that the larger carrying capacity would reduce the number of boxes needed.

A report that other.mines hj, the Buller district, especially Millerton would become idle because of the men coming out in sympathy with Denniston, could not be confirmed. The holdup is the first serious one. at Denniston for some years. It comes at jyi unfortunate time, as the company had plenty of orders, and many overseas vessels were taking coal from Westport, which town is greatly dependent on the coal trade of the Buller mines. Men Hold a Meeting At a meeting of the Denniston Miners' Union to-day, the men decided to continue with the strike. A proposal that- the dispute be referred to a conference under an independent chairman was lost. .>

It ic expected that, if all the negotiations between the union and the, management ani'other avenues for settlement fail, the Minister of Mines, the Hon. P. C. Webb, may visit the district to consider the dispute, and take the necessary action through the new regulations to end it. '