ASHLEY DISPUTE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20542, 18 February 1935, Page 13

ASHLEY DISPUTE.

Men Explain Why They Stopped Work. A detailed explanation, from the point of view of the men involved, of the dispute which arose at the Fernside camp on the Ashley River relief works was given by one of the job delegates to a meeting held in Latimer Square j'esterday afternoon under the auspices of the Canterbury Unemployed Workers’ Association. The speaker stated that on Tuesday last work was stopped on account of rain on the authority of a ganger, but later the foreman requested the men to resume work. Subsequently the engineer (Mr F. MTntyre) made a sporting offer to the men in the follow’ing terms: If they stayed in camp till lunch time and it was still raining they were to be allowed their pay for a full day, but if it was not raining in the afternoon they were not to receive anything for the morning. The men accepted that offer, though one of their number had a few words with Mr MTntyre. An argument later arose as to whether it was raining at one o’clock, the men contending that it was and the foreman declaring that the rain had ceased at ten minutes to one. The upshot was that Mr MTntyre would, allow only half a day, and the man who had previously argued with Mr MTntyre had some more words with him. That man was dismissed by the foreman the next day on the grounds that he had disturbed the camp about 10.30 at night, and the •est of the men had refused to start •vork again until he was reinstated. On Friday morning the men had interviewed Mr F. Langbein, the Public Works engineer, in Christchurch, and Mr Langbein visited the camp on Friday afternoon. The present position was that the man was still dismissed and the other men had decided that they would not begin work until he was reinstated as they held that he was unfairly treated. The chairman (Mr 11. M’Donald) said that the Canterbury Unemployed Workers’ Association would co-operate v/ith the Ashley men in the usual way, and a motion pledging them the full support of the meeting was carried.