REPLIES RECEIVED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27028, 12 March 1949, Page 8

REPLIES RECEIVED

SECRET BALLOT ISSUE CIRCULAR

RESULTS SENT TO MINISTER PA AUCKLAND, Mar. 11.

The replies to the circular asking carpenters to express their opinion for or against the holding of a secret ballot were counted by Mr J. B. Paterson, J.P., to-day. He will continue the count on Tuesday as many of the circulars were not posted until Wednesday and the men have not had sufficient time to return them. The result of to-day’s count was forwarded by Mr Paterson to the Minister of Labour, Mr McLagan. One of the original members of the Action Committee, Mr S. V. Kuypers, secretary of the Auckland branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, announced that he had withdrawn from the committee at the request of the National Executive of his union. The National Executive of the Federation of Labour has asked all its affiliations to ignore the Action Committee.

The Action Committee of representatives of the unions affected by the dispute met to-day and later made a statement declaring that it was coordinating the committee and acting on recommendations from the unions affected.

The Auckland Shipwrights’ Union has expressed its intention of taking no action in the dispute at present. At an executive meeting it was decided that the union would continue to support and express its complete confidence in the Federation of Labour, and that it would not be involved in the dispute until the matter had been handed over to the federation for settlement. It would then abide by any decision of the federation. A small shipment of New Zealand butter, which was to have been despatched to India, had to remain in the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company cool stores because of the dispute. The butter was booked to be loaded into the Union Steam Ship Company’s liner Monowai. which left this afternoon for Sydney, where the consignment would have been transhipped for the East. It is understood that 600 boxes of butter were involved. The Waterside Workers’ Union informed the shipping company that it was not prepared to load butter. Although a requisition was lodged for labour to work the Northumberland, the men were allocated to other ships and the vessel was idle throughout the day.