WAHINE HELD UP

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10851, 17 March 1921, Page 5

WAHINE HELD UP

STOKcHDLw -REW SlGfc OFF ALLEGATION THAT FOOD IS INSUFFICIENT. NO SOUTH BOAT LAST NI«HT. After Riving thr requisite 21 hours’ notice at Lyttelton as required by tho Shipping and Seamen’s Act, seventeen firemen, twelve trimmers, and one greaser—almost the whole of the stokehold crew of the Union Steam Ship Company’s ’’ferry” steamer Wahino - signed off the vessel’s articles at Wellington yesterday. As no other men were available to fill the vacancies tho W'ahine was unable to leave Wellington last evening for Lyttelton. About 250 passengers had booked to go south by the vessel. Many had come from tho country, but these were able to obtain accommodation at the various hostelnes and elsewhere.e. The only clue to the cause of tho men leaving the Wahine is contained in a letter from Mr VV. T. Young, secretary of the Seamou’s Union, received by Mr W. A. Kennedy, local manager of the Union Company, in which mention is made of a complaint by members of the stokehold crew that there was an insufficiency of food supplied them. No formal complaint had been made to Captain W. Cameron, of tho Wahine, although about three weeks ago the men then alleged there was not enough food for them. Tile circumstances were investigated at the time, but, it is asserted, the fault, if there was an insufficiency of food, was due to the action of the men themselves. It is believed in some quarters that the trouble is connected with the recent happenings regarding another of the Union Company’s bpats now laid up at Auckland. The Talune, which is the vessel referred to, was held up at the northern port owing to the men finding fault with their accommodation. The vessel’s crew were eventually paid off and the ship was laid up. NO REASONS GIVEN. INQUIRIES BY MASTER OF VESSEL. r*a prrw association. CHRISTCHURCH, March 16. The Wahine’s stokehold hands, numbering thirty, handed in their notices at Lyttelton yesterday, in order to he able to sign off the vessel at Wellington to-dav, aa a protest against the food supplied and on account of other grievances. Inquiries at Christchurch show that the men were asked by the master of the Wahine yesterday why they were leaving the vessel, but declined to give any reasons. The Wahine is expected to leave Wellington to-night, but in the absence of information from Wellington the position is not clear.