TRAMWAY STRIKE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21640, 10 May 1932, Page 8

TRAMWAY STRIKE

PROTRACTED NEGOTIATIONS SEEKING A SETTLEMENT FORMULA NOT YET FOUND (Per United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 9. The tramway strike is still not settled in spite of long and earnest consultations and deliberations. Negotiations between the board and the union were resumed at 3 o’clock this afternoon, the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan), Bishop West-Watson, Bishop Brodie, the Deputy Mayor (the Rev. J. K. Archer), and Mr J. Roberts (secretary of the New Zealand Alliance of Labour) acting as mediators. Both sides seemed to realise the urgent necessity for settling the strike, and the mediators worked strenuously to prepare some formula which would be acceptable to all.

Shortly before midnight the conference was still in session, and it then appeared almost certain that both parties would compromise on the appointment of a tribunal, acting either privately or under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act,

The chief obstacle to a final settlement is still the board’s pledge to retain in employment those of its new employees who prove suitable. These now number 110, although none have been engaged since Saturday. * The president of the Alliance of Labour (Mr A. Cook) and Mr H. T. Armstrong, M.P., both attended on behalf of the union. Whether the strike is settled or not the board expects to resume the running of a night service on Wednesday. A HOPEFUL DEVELOPMENT DISPUTE REFERRED TO TRIBUNAL. (Special to Daily Times.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 10. After negotiations lasting until 1.20 this morning, the Christchurch Tramway Board and the Tram Employees’ Union agreed that all matters in dispute in the strike should be referred to a tribunal under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, with Mr A. T. Donnelly as chairman. The board insisted, however, that it accepted a tribunal only on the understanding that full consideration should be given to the claims of the volunteer workers who have assisted in running the trams since the strike broke out. THE RECENT DISTURBANCES OFFENDERS BEFORE COURT TERMS OF IMPRISONMENT' - IMPOSED. (Per United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 9. As a result of the recent strike disturbances a number of men appeared in the court this morning. For waiting and besetting five were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour. All were labourers who were arrested in Hagley Park on Saturday. In convicting another man for obstructing the police the magistrate (Mr E. D. Mosley) said: “It is the poor, insignificant little branches of mankind whose mentality is not very profound, who move a crowd to disorder. It is men like this who cause all the trouble. There are only 200 of them, and the trouble has got to be stopped.” The accused, Robert John Leo, aged 35, a labourer, was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment with hard labour. Three men were charged with using violence against John Smith to compel him from doing an act which ho had the right to do. They were Ernest George Ellis, aged 43, a tram motorman; George Albert Knowles, aged 36, a tram conductor; and Colin Trevor Henry Dixon,' aged 30, a tram motorman. The police said that the accused knocked a legal employee off his bicycle on Friday and kicked him. The accused were remanded till to-morrow, bail of £250 and two sureties of £250 being allowed.

During the hearing of ths charges of waiting and besetting near Hagley Park on Saturday, several batons made from handles of hoes and branches of trees were produced, along with a clawhammer and a lead bludgeon. Giving evidence, Detective Langeson said they were found in the grass near the point where the men were arrested. Some of the batons had been soaked in water, evidently to give them a bit of extra weight. Another window was broken in the city last evening, that of Messrs Hurst and Drake, of Lower High street. Round the stone was a paper bearing the words: “Love from the strikers.” The police say that drastic steps are being taken to catch the offenders.

MISSILE THROWN AT CAR

NURSE SLIGHTLY INJURED,

(Per United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 0,

A piece of brick which was thrown at the last tram from St. Martin’s tonight went through the windows on cither side of the car, knocking off the hat of Mr W. Stewart, Commissioner of Crown Lands, in its flight, and scattering glass all over the interior. Flying glass struck the face of Nurse Lucy Hoare, of the Christchurch Hospital staff, who was also a passenger. Her face was cut slightly. The incident occurred in a dark part of Wilson’s road, St. Martins, and, although the constable riding with the motorman made a search, he could not find the person who threw the missile. Probably it was thrown from behind a hedge bordering the road.