DISPUTE SETTLED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27404, 1 June 1950, Page 6

DISPUTE SETTLED

Vessel Wye Valley SEAMEN WILL BE REPATRIATED An amicable settlement has been reached in the dispute between the Pakistan crew and the owners of the 7234-ton freighter Wye Valley, which is at present berthed at Ravensbourne. The seamen returned to work at 4 p.m. yesterday. They have agreed to sail the vessel to Sydney when sh* completes discharge at Dunedin, and they will then be repatriated to Pakistan. The Daily Times was told that the main issue in dispute was the seamen’s refusal to take the ship to sea because the articles binding the crew had expired and a supplementary factor was the practice of the owners, the Valley Navigation Company, of London, of returning crews to Calcutta, India. This practice was not acceptable to the Pakistan seamen. Mr K. H. Rahman, the Pakistan Trade Commissioner in Australia, who has been acting as mediator in the dispute, said last night that prospects of a satisfactory settlement had not been bright on Tuesday. The crew had signed on for a month, and had been asked to carry on for a further six months without signing articles. They had made it clear to the captain that they would not do so. The seamen had not wanted to work without articles, and it was for that reason that they wanted to be repatriated. “My task as arbitrator was to ensure that the interests of the seamen were fully protected,” Mr Rahman said. “ and at the same time to ensure that the owner’s interests were not detrimentally affected.” On Tuesday night, Mr Rahman drafted out the basis of, a settlement, which the Dunedin agents cabled to the London office of the company. A reply received yesterday morning stated that because of the company’s commitments it was desirable that the crew sail the vessel to Nauru Island. When discussions were resumed yesterday the crew were not only reluctant to sail to Nauru, but did not want to sail the ship to Sydney. It was finally agreed that the crew should sail the ship to Sydney, however, and Mr Rahman put his proposals to the agents and the captain. An agreement was drawn up and presented to the crew in the presence of the shipping master, by Mr' Rahman, who read it aloud in English and Urdu. The agreement was accepted by the crew after certain requests had been incorporated. The Wye Valley is expected to berth at Dunedin on Saturday to unload 2000 tons of phosphate, and she will probably sail for Sydney late next week.