STRONG PROTEST

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25300, 6 September 1945, Page 7

STRONG PROTEST

CONDITIONS ON SHIP ORION CARRIES 5000 MEN (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday The ship on which 147 New Zealand prisoners of war and several members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force refused to embark at Liverpool last month owing to alleged over-crowding, arrived today after a 27-day voyage. She was the liner Orion, and she carried almost 5000 servicemen, including 1337 New Zealand ex-prisoners of war, and Australian and Royal Navy officers and men. The New Zealanders said today that the officer who came to Liverpool to inspect the ship reported to Major-General H. K, Kippenberger, who is in charge of the repatriation of prisoners, that the accommodation was adequate, but when the men saw it about 70 Royal New Zealand Air Force and more than 200 New Zealand Expeditionary Force men walked off. A number of the airmen and soldiers returned to the ship because their anxiety to get home outweighed their dislike of the conditions. However, 147 men refused to sail and were taken back to the reception centres. • Apparently the suggestion to walk off was not widely known among the troops, and many of the men who arrived asserted that they, too, would have left it if they had known of it. They complained bitterly of the conditions on the voyage. They were accommodated in mess decks on the waterline and below it, ate and slept in the same quarters, slinging hammocks above the mess tables or sleeping on thin mattresses between tables, and non-fraternisation orders as between officers and men restricted the latter to an inadequate section of tho lower promenade deck, open only at the sides and insufficient for exercise. In the tropics it was possible to sleep on deck, they stated, but the heat in the mess deck made eating an ordeal, while in cold weather the mess deck ventilation was inadequate for sleeping in the crowded conditions. The men said there were only two changes in diet- —fish to bully beef and bully beef to fish. The only bright spot in the menu was stuffed pork and Christmas pudding last Sunday. Thoy also complained bitterly about the teaj in contrast with that which they coull buy in the ship's canteen. They could also get biscuits, chocolate and tinned food, using their own money.

It was contended that the prices of all commodities, except cigarettes and tobacco, at the canteen were far too high. The ship was dry for troops, although the crew had a wet canteen, and Victory Day, spent in the Atlantic, could not be celebrated as they would have wished. A space to accommodate 250 men had only three conveniences, one of which was out of order, three showers and nine wash basins. In another section for 500 men there were two conveniences and six basins. One man said: "I have been a prisoner for a long time, but it shook me." CLAIM FOR PENALTY ALLEGED AWARD BREACH A claim for penalty for an alleged breach of the New Zealand (except Westland and Canterbury) Storemen and Packers' Award was brought by the inspector of factories (Mr G. Brown) against Abel Dykes, Ltd., manufacturing printers, book-binders and stationers (Mr W. E. Anderson), in the Arbitration Court yesterday. The inspector of factories alleged that from July 24 to November 17 of last year the defendant company had failed to pay a female packer, Mrs A. Rust, the minimum rate of wages prescribed. Mr Brown said the company had been paying Mrs Rust £3 10s for a 40-hour week, whereas the minimum prescribed by the Storemen and Packers' Award was £4 17s 6d, plus the Court's two bonuses. The current award included workers of either sex in the definition of storemen and packers, and the department claimed that Mrs Rust was substantially engaged in handling, packing and despatching goods. She was a member of the Storemen and Packers' Cnion. Mr Anderson said Mrs Rust was a wrapper, and was one of 13 women emnluyed by the firm under the Female Printing Trades Award. By some means she had got into the wrong union. 'I he Female Printing Trades Award provided a wage for her of £3 5s 6d and she was getting £3 10s. The Storemen and Packers' Award was for workers employed by wholesale firms, and the defendant firm was retail. The Court reserved its decision. HARBOUR REVENUE A decrease of £123,025 in the receipts for the 11 months to August 31, 1945. compared with those for the last corresponding period, was reported at a meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board Iby the treasurer and accountant, Mr C. Garratt. He said there had been a decrease of £5077 last month on the returns for August, 1944. Export and import goods wharfage revenue was down £21,129 and £42,984 respectively.