CANDID CRITICISM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19884, 10 March 1939, Page 12

CANDID CRITICISM

CARGO HANDLING

WATERFRONT DELAYS EFFECT ON DOMINION .MINISTERS’ .APPEAL COMMITTEE SET IT (IVi* Pross Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Conditions on the waterfront in New Zealand were discussed at a conference held in Parliament Buildings yesterday to consider suggestions for an improvement in the handling of cargo at the ports. The conference was attended by representatives of the employers and workers concerned m waterside work. Addresses were delivered by the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P C Webb. who presided. the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R, Semple, and the Minister of Housing, the lion. H. T. Armstrong. All the Ministers referred to the Government's concern at the existing situation and its desire to see an improved state of affairs. After the Minister's addresses there was a general discussion. Though the conference finished during the afternoon, its work will be carried on by a large committee. Free and Open Talk In an interview at the conclusion of the conference, Mr. Webb said there had been a free and open discussion from all angles. The general concensus of opinion was that something had to be done to improve the present situation. The general eagerness of all parties to the conference to get something worth-while dene was very evident.

After a general all-round discussion, it was decided to appoint a special committee from both the employers and workers to meet again to-day to formulate proposals to cope with the present situation.

It was generally understood that if any proposals of a far-reaching natin*> were suggested, both sides would be given an opportunity to confer wit!) their respective organisations. Committee Appointed

At the request of the conference, Mr. Webb has consented to act as chairman of the committee.. The employers’representatives on the committee are Messrs. Warwick Gregory, G. G. McFarlane, A. A. Sinclair, R. J. Foreman, M. P. Congdon, J. H. Duncan, W. H. Bennett, Parsons, Captain li. C. Hammond, Captain S. Holm, Captain T. H. Bowling, and Captain A. J. L. Nayler. The representatives of the workers will be the executive of the waterside workers’ organisation.

The conference was not open to the press and statements were subsequently issued by the Ministers.

“All kinds of assertions have been made,” said Mr. Webb. “One is to the effect that the plant on our waterfronts is not what it could be. Several statements have been made that the stevedoring is not what it ought to be. Other statements have been made to the effect that the cargo shipped from the Old Country has got to be unloaded in Auckland, just taking one instance, in order to unload Auckland cargo, and then reloaded in order to be discharged in Wellington, and that must, of course, undoubtedly add to the cost.

“Then, from the point ol' view of labour, it has been asserted that there is not the co-orcHnation or co-opera-tion we have a right to expect, that the efficient handling of much of our cargo is not to be had, and that, m many cases, a certain number of men deliberately refuse to work and puil their weight at all. How much truth there is in all these statements, I guess you men know here, but this we know, that if things are to continue the way they are, the waterfront will be held up as the laughing stock of New Zealand, if not also of other parts of the world. Reflects Discredit “I don't want to start throwing bricks into the wheel, but I do want to say this—that a repetition of yesterday and other things reflects discredit upon the whole organisation of the waterfront, and it matters not for one moment just who is to blame.” continued Mr, Webb. “The fact remains that a situation like yesterday should not, under any circumstancts, crop up. My own opinion is that both sides are wrong in many ways and I am hoping that this conference will enable us get over that difficulty. If the men are loafing, or some of them, I want to assure you on both sides of the table that they can expect nothing but 100 per cent opposition as tar os we are concerned, and it a man deliberately loafs he has no right to the protection of the union. If ho gets the protection ot that union, the union cannot expect and will not get the protection ot the Government. Should Never Have Occurred “It has also been stated, and I know quite freely, that a numbei of our foremen are not altogether judicious in the way they meet their men. We had an instance yesterday. Many of us were here all afternoon trying to patch up trouble, just simply because two men had a row. I am not going into the merits of that row, but 1 want to suggest that a row of that kind should never hold up work. The result of that quarrel between two men meant cargoes of apples being left on the boat and sent back to Nelson, I understand, only to come back here to-day; but the most serious feature about it was that it lost the boat they were to be loaded .on. Surely we can be bigger than that. “Let us meet to-day with the idea of concentrating our intelligence and our knowledge upon the problem of the waterfront and, whatever that problem may be, if we approach it m a friendly, comradely way, we will overcome that problems. Whatcvei assistance the Government may be called upon to give you in an endeavour to bring about a better understanding, you can rest assured that co-operation will be forthcoming.

Losses of Time “Tlie time lost this year worked out at about 3600 working days. You liave an agreement. Why cannot that agreement be enforced? Who is to blame? How ca« we overcome it? I have fought for the best part of my life to bring about agreements, and some of you men sitting round this •able I think met 30 years ago and helped to bring about the first national agreement on the water--1 rents of this country, but then we adhered to it. We never had the stoppages we have now. We had better harmony and a better spirit prevailing than we have now. “Why have we reached the stage where we have to have 3000 and 4000 days lost a year? But one thing is certain—that no Government, realising its responsibility, can sit down and see those costs and charges going up all the time and the lack of organisation that prevails there at the present time. Let me say to the companies that we expect you to give of your best in the way of organisation, and, on the men’s side, is it too much for us to expect you to discipline your own members? If you cannot discipline them and, if the men lefuso to be disciplined by the organisation, then is it too much to say that they have no right to be on the waterfront? They should be looking for a job somewhere else. “If men think they can go on the waterfronts, on public works, or any other Government buildings, with the idea that they can please themselves what they do and how they do it, then they have got another think coming to them. ’ Better Spirit Developing

"I want to appeal to you to-day to have an all-round free-for-all discussion for a start and then let us see if we cannot evolve some scheme of control on the waterfront, without having to have commissions of inquiry and throwing mud at each other'. “Let us forget our differences today, but concentrate upon the thing that will matter to-day and I am confident if we do that we are likely to bring about a state of organisation and harmony that will mean much to the waterside workers, much to the shipping companies and mean an enormous amount to the Government as a whole.

“I am conscious of this as a result of my experience and co-operation with all different elements of industry throughout this country—that there ;s a better spirit growing up. It is up to us to cultivate that spirit and give practical expression to it in our everyday work. I believe that can ba done.”

The Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, said he would like to say the Dominion was the vital factor concerned —not exclusively the waterside workers and the shipping paniesDominion Factor “It is the Dominion factor because the whole economy of the Dominion has been very adversely affected by the actions on the waterfront. Whether right or wrong, I am not concerned with, because I do not know anything about it,” Mr. Nash continued, but commodities available* for shipping to the Old Country were not shipped, and that has made difficulties from my point of view as Minister of Finance, and, particularly, as Minister of Marketing in charge of the commodities that we send overseas. “There is not a single hold-up on the waterfronts of this country, whether it is by the shipowners or the watersiders. that does not have a detrimental effect on our economy. it is not a question of wages; it is a question that if you prevent the unloading or loading of certain commodities in the most expeditious way, :t has a more harmful effect on the national economy than it does on the particular people who are interested for the moment.

“The circumstances yesterday were tragic from my point of view. 1 want to emphasise that it is a Government matter, a national matter and a financial matter. I will be discussing with the shipowners the freight latcs later on and, if you can make a decent arrangement here, we might be able lo make a decent anangoment later on.”