WATERSIDERS CONFER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 280, 25 November 1937, Page 5

WATERSIDERS CONFER

bi-annua;. meeting NEW ZEALAND COUNCIL. WELCOME TO DELEGATES. The New Zealand Waterside Workers’ bi-annual conference opened in the Wanganui City Council Chambers yesterday, when opproximately 30 members from various parts of the Dominion commenced business which is expected to take a fortnight to dissolve. Mr. John Flood, of Dunedin, presided. • The Mayor (Mr. W. J. Rogers), in

extending an official welcome to the delegates, said that he had the fullest confidence in their ability to worthily i uphold the standing of some 6000 waterside workers in the Dominion. These men were rendering useful social service every day on the waterfront and it was their interests they had assembled here to discuss Mr. Rogers said he well remembered the last conference of the Waterside . Workers’ Jnion held in Wanganui in t 1924, when it was his privilege to rep- ; resent the Wanganui branch of the ) union as a delegate. He was also ; honoured to represent the Wanganui l Union as its continuous delegate from . 1919 to 1927, and to occupy a seat on , the National Executive Council during those years. He also esteemed it a i great honour to have had conferred . upon him life membership of the Wan- , ganui Waterside Workers’ Union. He ' was therefore fortunate in having a ‘ first-hand practical knowledge of ' waterside work, its conditions, and above all, the companionship of men ’ who worked in that industry. The conference had assembled for the purpose of giving consideration to ; the best ways and means for the prol motion of the economic happiness and > wellbeing of the memt ?rs of the > union. The march of mankind toward > the goal of human betterment had ) been a long and painful one, marked by many reverses. There was yet

: much to be accomplished; in fact, their very life consisted in a constant striving to attain to greater achievements. Thanks to their form of industrial organisation which had evolved during the years, their claims for more just economic treatment had and was receiving greater recognition; in fact, if one believed some of the ill-informed critics, one would imagine that they had long ago entered into an industrial Utopia, but those who could speak with first-hand knowledge of waterfront work, recalled the words of the late Mr. Justice Higgins, of Australia, when, in giving an award to waterside workers in which he had justified some improvements, said: “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Thanks to the growing strength of their national organisation, said the Mayor, and the able advocacy of the just claims of the workers for better treatment, the term “waterside worker” was now an honoured one and not any longer a term of reproach.. For some years now it had been an accepted fact that the men who followed the waterfronts of the Domonion in search of a living were human beings like the rest of the community and were held in equal respect. He did not think that the words of an ancient book: “Say not in thine heart, the former days were better than these,” applied to the

’.men engaged in the waterside industry; much remained to be accomplished. Mr. Rogers expressed the hope that the conference would prove another milestone in the progress of their organisation and prove to be of immense assistance in its relation to the lives of their fellow workers and the rest of the people in the Dominion. He wished the delegates a happy stay in Wanganui. Mr. Rogers also extended a welcome as chairman of i e Wanganui Harbour Board, saying that the relations between the board and the waterside workers were most happy. He hoped they would continue so. Welcomes were extended by Mr. F. Gould, president and representative of the Wanganui Union; the secretary, Mr. J. Robertson, and Mr. W. Brown, who for many years was chairman of the disputes committee in Wanganui. Mr. J. Flood, president of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union, briefly replied, thanking the various speakers for the welcome extended. He referred to the importance of the waterside workers’ industry in New Zealand and said that the conference would strive to uphold the traditions of the workers. The delegates were looking forward with pleasure to their stay in Wanganui, and were particularly facilities.