RAILWAY STRIKE

Timaru Herald, Volume 170, Issue 170205, 30 April 1920, Page 7

RAILWAY STRIKE

PREMIER INTERVIEWS DELEGATES, SATISFACTORY PROGRESS .MADE, Per Press Association. ELLINGTON, April 29 (11.35 p.m.) Tua Prime Minister arrived from Napier to-night. A ie\v minutes after his arrival lij mot representatives of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. Ibat interview continued Jor about an hour. Tlie ioco men next had then' talk, a, much shorter interview, and then, last of all, representatives of the, First Division Society had a. few minutes with him. All the interviews wen- over in an hour and three quarter ss. Alter he had mot all the Societies Mr Massey made the following .statement :■ — "1 have met representatives of the Fir.-t Jiud Second Division, and also of the leco men. In every the discussion was quite frank and friendly. 1 cannot go into details, and I osinnot say anything definite 311 st yet. I will say that satisfactory progress has becui made. The A.SR.S. and the loc 0 men are to meet me again to-morrow."'

Mr Masscy' would say nothing more than this. The A.-S R.S. delegates came from the Conference satisfied with the progress they had made. Mr Hampton. President of the Society, said the outlook was "hopeful."' Tt was understood flint he had some prnpo ; nl to make to his fellow unionists, and thathe wis of opinion that the result woe.ld be satisfactory. ]\lr MaeArisy, for the locn. men. would say nothing whatever about the discussion, replying merelv that it had been agreed that the Minister would make a, statement To the First Division's representatives the Minister gave an assurance that members of the Pailwav Officers' Institute would not be calKl upon «'•>' do the work of Second Division men.

; FIRST DIVISION'S ATTITUDE. WELLINGTON*. April 29. Four hundred members of the Wellington branch of the Railway Officers Institute unanimously carried the following resolutions:— j "That this meeting: affirms in its absolute confidence. in the sub-com-mittee in any action they may take in the settlement of tlio present dispute." "This meeting: expresses the wish that all Institute members shall refrain from performing any strictly second division duties." "Tn the event of the Minister's reply to to-night's representations being: nn- ■ satisfactory. the question of tals in a; extreme measures he considered at the special general meeting; called for 1 p.m. tomorrow.'' "Tn the event of trains being worked with free labour, this meeting considers that no assistance should "be given l\v members of the Institute." REASONS FOR STRIKING. OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF EFCA ■| EXECUTIVE. A statement from the Executive . Council of the Engine Drivers' Firemen s and Cleaners' Association savs:— ''The Executive Council desires to state that it regrets that it has been compelled to inconvenience the ,<ui>iio oi New Zealand by a strike, which is the culmination of ten years' endeavour to bring the dispute to a settlement by every peaceable means placed at. our disposal by the Government of New Zcalaud. The Executive also desires to state most empatically that if the Prince had landed in the South Island at this juncture when the men were . losing all patience and becoming out of Hand, we could have guaranteed a. safe I journey through the South Island and a, settlement fixed before, he came here. The exceptionally deplorable, conditions of work imposed upon tha North Island men, such as long hours, engines in disrepair, etc., have made them force the Executive to give way. This, coupled with the keen disappointment of the men at the Stringer report, the not granting of leave, and the ignoring: of the Executive's last request, brought about the strike which it was hoped to avoid. It is hoped that the Prince may yet be given a royal welcome bv a. speedy settlement, and the Executive Council will participate in the demonstration in Wellington. Members of i this organisation are almost entirely j New Zealanders by birth, and have joined with him in the fight for the freedom and democracy of th> "whole world in the greatest of wars. As New j Zealanders, tnerefore, we offer a hearty j welcome to a, visitor who is looked ', upon as one of ourselves. "To the people of New Zealand we make this statement: That we are sorry that a more speedy settlement has not been brought about, which would have given them an opportunity of seeing the Prince. We trust the trouble may yet be fixed up for the Melcome at Wellington. The. Executive Council would prefer in any case that i the children should be deprived of any pleasure than to see one little boy mangled in a train wreck, which was sure to come about sooner or later by the heartless manner in which officials j have been giving consideration to the j future manning of locomotives in NewZealand. Members have resigned, men with considerable experience in shoals, and those who are left have been'working long and irregular hours, and wearing out their mental and bodily systems. The engines would sooner or later have been manned by inexperienced men. upon whom the officials put full responsibility fur the running of engines." OFFICIAL ANSWER. TO ONE COMPLAINT. In reply v:. Mr McArley's statement that the Department refused leave to delegates of the E.F.C.A. tn visit Wellington, Mr JUacdonalcl. Assistant General Manager, says that the request was for ten drivers and firemen to attend an urgent meeting, but no statement was given or' the nature of the. bus-ines*.

Tlie Association was inforne,) that) M) many men tvuild not Ivj released without miicli inconvenience. Imt the. Department would give leave alter the departure of the Prince. Mr Macdonald adds that all enginemen are already workiiin- "overtime. and to release te.n more would liave thrown an additional burden on the remainder. •

SUPPORT PROMISED.

AMALGAMATED ENGINEERS. AUCKLAND, April 20. At a packed meeting or t.m Amalgamated (society of Engineers, Mi L:uker, secretary, stated that it had been decided to "down tools" immediately ■in the event of any member of the A,8.i5. '.icing used to the detriment of the E,F:O.A. NAPIER A.S.R.S. OOME OUT. JACKET APPOINTED. m, , , , A'APiEB, April -3). ilio local braneh of die A.S.R.S. came out; this morning. A mass meeting of members at 8 o clock unanimously decided to support, tiio Executive's uecision. Pickets were selected from the more staid section of the men. Jt is stated that the yards and workshops are being watched. The. picket's instructions are to use nothing but persuasion in stopping any would be strike breakers. ■ THE ROYAL~TRAL\. Members of the Locomotive branch state that the Executive of the Union will man the Royal train if the Government makes such a. request. HILLSIDE WORKSHOPS. DUNEDIN, April 2\) A mass meeting of the Hillside workshop men discussed the strike and resolved: "We reaffirm our previous unanimous resolution attesting our support to the Executive. Council in any extreme measure they may deem it necessary to take, and now that the time for action has arrived we patiently await instructions I'rom the Executive.'' it was further decided to offer financial support to tlic men on strike in the North Island.

SOUTHERN MEN "SOLID."' CHRISTCrIURCif, April I'D. "I have a telegram to say'that the. northern men are 0111 to a, man, and it ts as much as over we can do to bold the southern men,'' said one of the highest officials of the Locomotive Engineers', Firemen's and Cleaners' Association to a teporter to-day. The official added that: "The melt do not feel at all happy about letting the North Island nun do the fighting for them, and you would be surprised to know how solid the nun are. We naturally had some doubts about the more elderly men in the service, but they are in it to a man."'

ADDINGTOX WORKSHOPS. A stop-work meeting; was held a-t the Addinglon workshops tu-day lo consider the, question of overtime. A consideriiblc amount of overtime had been worked m the shops recently, with the object of catching up on "arrears of work. A deputation from the engineering shops waited upon the local committee, of the A.S.R.S.. and the committee made representations to the Department, with the result that ail overtime, at the works is This will affect the siaif working tm the train intended for use by the Prince of Wales in his tour of the South Island. The local committee of the A..S.R.S. reported its .ant-ion m regard to the overtime question to the Executive of the A.S.R.S., with the request that other workshops in the South Island should be advised of the decision at Addington.

COMMERCIAL MAN",S SVGGESTION. WELLINGTON, April *). Mr Carr, chairman of th-j Chamber of Commerce, interviewed the E.E.C.A. and suggested that the dispute should ho referred to a committee of business .men selected by the. Railway Department and the men, and that the strike should be called of l meanwhile. The proposal was discussed at some length, but eventually the men said thc\- must mcet Mr Massey before anything can be done. The question of superannuation and victimisation and others will have to he bottled. They would be pleased if Air Carr would see the Prime Minister, and advise him to bring about a speedy settlement.

TRANSPORT "WORKERS. At a fully representative meeting 0 f the Transport Workers' Advisory Board held to-day tho following motion was carried:—"That this meeting endorses the action of the. Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in thendecision to join issue with the. E.F.C.A. in their demand for economic just ice. and, further, wo assure the railwaymen of both. Societies and others implicated or involved that they will have the utmost support of the. ' affiliated Transport Workers' Organisation, namely, the waterside worker-!, tin.stamen, drivers anil tramwaymen >.-i New Zealand, and that the support ~!' the above Association is at the disposal of tho tailwaymeu should thev require it."'

EXPECTED EXTENSION OF STRIKE. BUNEDIX, April -2<). The opinion in ra-ihv'av circles in Diuiedin is. that the. reinforcement or the A.S.R.S. will make matter..; s-lid.-i'a-st, and extension to th 0 South Inland pretty certain; sonic say imnifiiately, unless an understanding wit!; the. Premier is reached. A. telegram has also been received from ;\fr R. W. MeV'ilty statins that no instructions have been issued compelling the performance of Second Division work by members of the. Institute. SUBSTITUTE- LABOUR.

(Special to the- "Herald.''} CHKISTCHTJRCH, April if). A very high official oJ : ihc JCn.i-,,,,. Drivers'_ Association said to-day that so far as his iufomi.ition went the Government was having no success in its effortsto enlist tlio ■superammatci? men a-strike-breakers 31any of these men were retired medically unfit, and many parlor the working system had heoii changed since they were in the service. Even men on the job with twenty years' service had arcideius, and \i "would be sheer madness to entrust Ihe snie r .y of flu public to men who Intel retired, oven if they were willing, which ho. doubted very much. The Department, In- understood, had also gone through the Addingtou Workshops for the purpose of enlisting men capable of driving engine.;. Only one. recruit was obtained \villin2 to undertake the work, and should thisi man be entrusted with the work his organisation would have something to scy "to the n_ubli<\

According to information supplied to a reporter to-dav_ the locomotivo men have all their arrnngemems completed should the strike extend to Cautarbuvy. A. strike committee has been appointed, rooms engaged as headquarters, ;,nd nrrangernents_ made for an immediate distribution of the news.- on. receipt of permission from "Wellington to strike Asked whether there would be strike pay, this informant, said significantly, "Willi, so much of other kinds of work about there will be no need for strikpay. We are attending to that side of the organisation."

FIRST DIVISION MEN,

TO BALLOT AT AUCKLAND. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, April 29. A ballot will be held to-morrow by the Auckland braneh of the Railway Officers' Institute to decide whether they should strike, in sympathy with the other Railway Unions. Ihis resolution is tho outcome of two lengthy meetings to-day. A prominent official expressed the opinion that there will be a largo majority in lavour of a strike, as the officers strongly support the present strikers, and thev did not wish to be regarded as blacklegs. The branch passed a resolution expressing willingness to handle perishable goods now on hand which were consigned before the strike, and also d'vidod to do any work that might be required in ccimection with the tour of the Prince ol Wales.

! COAL PORT A.S.H.S. i WEST I'OUT, April -2d. ! At ;i largely attended meeting of •members of the A.S.R.S. tin- lollowiinr resolution was unanimously carried:— ••Thiit \vi' :>ro. thoroughly in accord with the action Taken Ijy the Executive in regard to striking, and we v. ill do all. in' our power ;1 s n branch In bring this' light tn a successful issue, and pledge ourselves to give financial assistance if j desired by the. Executive."

| DUXEDIX HAS FUEL IX HAND. j _ DUXEDLX, April i! 9. The railway strike continues to be the absorbing topic, hut there is nothing on the. surface to indicate any impending trouble. Coal supplies in "Dnr.edin seem fairly secure to cover any short stoppage, and it is the general opinion of local merchants that no railway strike could Inst long. .Stocks of wood arc very large, having heen laid in against winter and in view of a possible -trike at any time.