NEWCASTLE MINES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20022, 12 February 1927, Page 11

NEWCASTLE MINES

ACUTE POSITION CREATED, SHIPPING AT A STANDSTILL. MEDIATION IN PROGRESS. ‘Tress Association— By Telegraph—Copyright.) SYDNEY, February 11. An acute position has already arisen at Newcastle owing to the stoppage of the collieries. Shipping activities are almost at a standstill, and when the steamers now under the coal cranes have completed loading the supplies will be exhausted. The Federal Government has a reserve stock of 80,000 tons at Bullock Island, but owing to exposure to the air It has lost much of its calorific value, and will be most unsatisfactory for use at the Broken Hill steel works, which will be compelled to draw from this source if a settlement of the dispute is not speedily effected. It is believed that the Miners’ Federation at the aggregate meetings on Monday will urge the men to stand out for a minimum wage throughout the industry, and the appointment of local boards for the settlement of disputes. The owners state that trade is so slack that ‘for many companies the strike will not result in the imposition of conditions much more serious than they arc at present enduring. Mr J. M. Baddcley (Minister of Mines and Labour) states that the official appointed by the Federal Government to inquire into the position, conferred with the owners and subsequently with the miners’ representatives, arid Mr Baddeley is satisfied with the way things are now shaping. COLLIERS TO BE LAID UP. MELBOURNE, February 11. Although no official statement has been made it will be decided to-morrow lo pay off the crews of several colliers and to lay the vessels np at Melbourne.