PORT DUNEDIN'S MEAT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17946, 25 November 1932, Page 4

PORT DUNEDIN'S MEAT

GISBORNE QUOTA LOADED

NO TROUBLE AT WATERFRONT FA TIMER-LABOR C X .MOLESTED The loading of the Port Dunedin s G income cargo ot meat lor the -Louuoii market was completed last evening unciei cue arrangements set out m tne third coition yesterday, tarmer-mbor being employed, ’iiio temporary wharf-work-ers carried out their undertaking without loss oi time, and the liner sailed lor Auckland shortly alter midnight. From Auckland siie will Lie dispatched lor i.oiiciuu in the course of a lew days, it is anticipated. There was a complete absence- ot truuoie on the wharves during the afternoon and evening, the regular waterside workers showing no hostility towards the lariner-labor. Care was taken not to urmg the two groups of workers liitu close contact in tile course of their work, a gang ot union men who were at woi k Oil the Port Dunedin, transmppmg wool and mutton, being brought astiore ueiore the lighters with the meat shipments, manned by non-union labor, were taken alongside the liner. Members of the fanner-labor group were as careful as were the regular waterside workers not to indulge m any demonstrations. They weie pleased, nevertheless, with tiie strong enrolment for the emergency work, and with the

‘ good show’’ put on by tne farming community during a minor crisis of this character, it was stated by prominent members of the farmers’ organisations that the number of men engaged yesterday could have been doubled or treoled, m case of need, and that throughout the summer they would keep their membership in readiness to take similar action in tiie event of any difficulty arising m ihe shipment of their produce. Difiicul ties besetting the farming community were already severe enough, it was pointed out, and any hold-up in regard to the overseas shipment of produce might be exceedingly costly. TERMS OF WORKING AGREEMENT

In reference to the allegation of union members that, the shipping agencies had broken the terms of the working agreement in not calling for labor for (he handling of meat yesterday, Captain Hollis, marine superintendent for the Commonwealth and Dominion Line, stated last evening that lie Duel no choice but to arrange for auxiliary labor. _ lie remarked that lie bad bad a definite statement from tile president of the Waterside Workers’ Union, Mr. Lindley, to the effect that the Gisborne waterside workers would not handle meat, and m the face of that assertion it was useless to argue further. The statement had been made by Mr. Lindley in Hie course of a ship-to-shore conversation on Tuesday, when the president of the union was engaged on the Port Dunedin, and had been called to the radio’ phone to discuss the meat question, with other matters. When the meat question was brought up, added Captain Hollis, there was nothing indefinite about Mr. Lindley s reply, as to whether the men were going to work meat shipments at Gisborne. There was no course open to the ship s owners but to arrange for auxiliary labor, and the offer of the farmers’ organisations to raise the men needed for the job was most acceptable. Had a call been made yesterday afternoon, before tiie employment of the non-union labor, and had the men refused to stand up for engagement, there would have been unnecessary delay in dispatching the ship from Gisborne, he concluded.