RAILWAYMEN’S WAGES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21147, 3 October 1930, Page 9

RAILWAYMEN’S WAGES

SOUTH AFRICAN DISPUTE. AN ABORTIVE CONFERENCE. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph-^—Copyright.) CAPETOWN, October 1. . The Railway Conciliation Board Conference proved abortive, and the deadlock has been intensified. The men are bolding a council of . war. An earlier message stated: The railway signals are at danger to-night as the result of a mass meeting of all branches of the services in the sports' ground at Johannesburg. It was the biggest meeting of public servants ever held there. An added significance is that , it was held on the eve of the resumption of the Conciliation Boards conference. The meeting protested most strongly against the decisions to reduce or withdraw the local allowances, and the differentiation of allowances between married and single men, which was described as a very dangerous principle.. The meeting demanded a fresh inquiry into the cost of living, on which the allowances were based. THE AUSTRALIAN AWARDS. APPLICATION TO SET ABIDE. MELBOURNE, October 1. Argument was concluded in the railway award case, and the court reserved its decision. A previous message stated; The Commonwealth Arbitration Court heard further argument in support of the application by the Railway Commissioners of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania for setting aside railway awards to enable the Governments concerned to institute an emergency scheme of retrenchment Mr Men zies, K.C., counsel for the commissioners, asked that the court should act quickly, otherwise it might be imperative that the whole railway systems of the eastern estates should suspend operations before the end of the year. The union representatives characterised this statement as of an alarmist nature.