N.Z. PRODUCTION

Opunake Times, 21 October 1947, Page 2

N.Z. PRODUCTION

IMPORTANT LINK WESTPORT WHARFIES The following statement has been issued by the Aid for Britain National Council: “Westport waterside workers are an important link in the New Zealand production chain. The'y deal mostly with coal and have achieved a loading rate of 20 tons per man per Hour, through hard work and mechanised handling of the coal—-and they keep this up for long hours. The coal that passes over the wharves at Westport goes to bunker overseas ships, to provide power in factories processing* New Zealand primary products, and to run the railways. Although they maintain such a high loading rate, waterside workers at Westport, an important link in the N €W Zealand production chain, are worrying about ways of increasing their output. Westport is the main outlet for coal of the Buller district and up to 400,000 tons pass over its wharveg yearly. “Twenty;;,tons of coal per man is not as much as it should be,” says Mr. W. Elliott, local secretary of the Waterside Workers’ Union. “If we had more and better gear and if some of the land transport problems could he overcome, we could do half as much again,” The waterside workers are on call for 1-3 hours a day six days a week after a war record during which they worked all hours and all times. Frequently coal ships have left Westport fully loaded the same day as they entered.”