UNION INTERVENTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26996, 3 February 1949, Page 8

UNION INTERVENTION

FUTURE EVICTION CASES WATERSIDERS’ ATTITUDE PA WELLINGTON, Feb. 2. Drastic action would be taken by the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union to prevent any more evictions of its members from their homes, the national president of the union, Mr H. Barnes, said to-day. He added that the union was obliged to intervene yesterday afternoon in the case of a watersider who was scheduled for eviction from his Miramar home today. “The man in question was completely innocent, but he was to have been deprived of his home,” said Mr Barnes.. “The union c.onveyed its objections to the proper quarters, and arrangements were made not to proceed with the eviction. Had it gone pn, the union would have organised a picket line immediately.” The union was disturbed by the number of its members at varous ports who, it was stated, had been evicted lately from their homes, Mr Barnes said. They feared that the Fair Rents Act was becoming a dead letter and that tenants were not receiving enough protection. The union also thought that a very large section of the population would agree with its opinion that immigration should stop until the present population was suitably housed. Saying that there was much dissatisfaction among watersiders about the allocation of State houses, Mr Barnes expressed the view that the time had arrived for a detailed statement of the number of State houses allocated last year, the length of time of the applications, and the length of residence in New Zealand for the successful applicants. • 11 .