GRIM OUTOOK FOR SYDNEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26349, 2 January 1947, Page 5

GRIM OUTOOK FOR SYDNEY

THREATS OF THREE STRIKES (Rec. 11 p.m.) SYDNEY, Jan 1. Sydney opens the new year with the threat of gas, meat and transport strikes. The Federal Government is unlikely to take any action to prevent the retail butchers in Sydney and Newcastle from .closing their shops on January 6. The retail butchers have decided to close on that date for an indefinite period unless the Government lifts the meat retail prices or fixes livestock prices. The Acting Price Commisioner, Mr H. E. Bishop, in a statement of the Government’s policy on the matter, said that competition ;y wholesale and retail butchers who had been selling on the black market had brought about excessive prices for livestock. The removal of retail price controls would cause an upward sui'ge of prices The prospects of the settlement of the interstate gas dispute are now more hopeful than for weeks. A Government spokesman said that Monday’s union moves, which were shrouded in secrecy, were not likely to threaten the continuity of Sydney’s gas supply. He thought the moves were intended to expedite Arbitration Court proceedings. There are no fresh developments in the threatened strike of tram and bus employees.