WATERSIDE WORK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19884, 10 March 1939, Page 7

WATERSIDE WORK

CONFERENCE OPENED MINISTER’S PLAIN TALK BAN ON LOAFING ORG AN IS AT lON 1) LA I AND (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The conference called bv the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, concerning the conditions ol waterfront work opened to-day with a large attendance from all over the Dominion. It was addressed by Mr. Webb, who presided, the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Naslt, the Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. Semple, and the Minster of Housing, the Hon. 11. T. Armstrong. At the 1 o’clock adjournment Mr. Webb expressed himself as very pleased with the spirit shown by both sides in an equal desire to co-operate with him. The spirit of co-operation shown was such that lie felt sure something really worth while would be evolved. 100 Per Cent Opposition Addressing the conference, Mf. Webb referred to a number of statements made regarding the conditions prevailing. If men were loafing or some of them, he said, he wanted to assure both sides at the table that they could expect nothing but 100 per cent opposition so far as the Government was concerned. If a man deliberately loafed, he had no right to protection .from the union. If he got the protection of the union, the union could not expect and would not get the protection of the GovernmentMr. Webb referred to yesterday’s trouble over the Nelson boat which had resulted in a shipment of fruit missing the liner for England. “Many of us were here all afternoon trying to patch up a trouble just simply because two men had a row,” said the Minister. “He was not going into the merits of that row but he wanted to suggest that a row of that kind should never hold up work. “Surely, we have reached the stage now where we have grown up and can approach these problems in a commonsense kind of way ” he continued. “Let us. meet to-day with the idea of concentrating our intelligence and our knowledge upon the problems of the waterfront and, whatever that problem may be, if we approach it in a friendly, comradely way we will overcome that problem." Co-operation Assured

Whatever assistance the Government might be called upon to give in an endeavour to bring about a better understanding, they could rest assured that co-operation would be forthcoming. Tlje Minister stressed that there was a waterside agreement, yet the time lost last year worked out about 3COO working days. No Government, realising its responsibility, could sit down and see costs and charges going up all the time and the lack of organisation that prevailed at present on the employers’ side. He asked for the best in the way of organisation and on the men’s side discipline. If the men refused to be disciplined by their organisation, was it too much to say they had no right to be on the waterfront. He emphasised the “get together” nature of the conference, meeting as practical men in dealing with a practical problem.

Effect on Economy

Mr. Nash said a vital factor was that the Dominion was not exclusively waterside workers and shipping companies. That was .so because the whole economy of the Dominion had been affected adversely by the actions on the waterfront. Whether these were right or wrong, he was not concerned with because he did not know anything about it, but commodities had been available for shipment to the Old Country and had not been shipped and that made difficulties from his point of view as Minister of Finance and particularly as Minister of Marketing as he was in charge of the commodities sent overseas.

There was not a single hold-up on the waterfronts of this country, whether by the shipowners or the watersiders, that did not have a detrimental effect on our economy. He hoped there would be some procedure that would stop all the little avoidable hold-ups. Tie emphasised that it was a Government matter, a national matter and a financial matter.

In concluding, Mr. Nash mentioned that he would be discussing with the shipowners the freight rates later on and if the conference could make a deco it arrangement, “we might be able to make a decent arrangement later on ”

3600 WORKING DAYS LOST

WATERFRONT HOLD-UPS PLEA FOR CONTROL (Special to tlio llurnlil.) WELLINGTON, this day. Pointing out to the conference of watersiders and shipping interests now meeting at Parliament Building, that 3(300 working days were lost through waterside disputes last year, the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, urged the delegates to concentrate on the problem. There was an agreement. Why, he asked, could it not be enforced. If the conditions of the equipment were not right they must be mack' so. Surveying the criticisms which had been made regarding New Zealand cargo working, Mr. Webb added: “How much truth there is in all these statements, you men here know, but this we know —that if things continue the way they are going the waterfront will be held up as the laughing stock of New Zealand, if not of the rest of the world.”

The Minister expressed the hope that the conference would bring about a state of organisation and some scheme of control without having commissions of inquiry and throwing mud at each other.