WORK CEASES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 13 June 1933, Page 5

WORK CEASES

WORKERS DEMONSTRATE. DEPUTATIONS TO LOCAL BODIES. The majority -of the men employed on relief works in the borough, and county of Masher-ton, also ;the- men in the single) men's relief camps operated by the ■County Council and those at the De--vil’s Elbow Camp run by the Public Works Department, ceased work to<day. They are pcrotostdng about conditions generally, alleging that relief camp men are made to work in wet weather and also that some men on a county job had to work Si hours a day instead of the 8 hours laid down by the Board. They also complain that a•cut has bectn made in the allocations for men with three children and over.. A denial is given by the authorities that men are being asked to work more than S hours and it is stated that the men concerned ana including in the Si hours time spent in travelling ;tp and from jobs on county lorries. Wiiis morning some 300 relief work-©■fcat-tended a meeting and discussed IhR- grievances. A decision was made to form a procession and march through the town*&nd later to go as a mass deputation to the Masterton County 4 Council, Labour Department, Wairarapa Hospital Board, and the Mayor, Mir T. Jordan. After coming out of the Foresters’ Hall where the meeting was held the men made an endeavour to form up in the street but tlie two police, constables on duty tactfully told the men that they could not march through the main .street. The demonstrators remained quite orderly and were allowed to proceed along the footpath on the eastern side of Queen Street. At Wagg’s Service Station they crossed over thief street with, a view to proceeding through the town along the western footpath but the police directed the men to return the way they had come. Soane of the men broke away from the maiTi pr-oeeission and walked in groups along the roadway and the western footpath.- Although one or two of the men were inclined 1 to resent the police directions practically the whole 300 or 80. jjjen walked quietly during tlHel procc|jKon. COUNTY OFFICE WINDOW BROKEN When the men arrived at the Masterton Count}" Council office in Chapel Street, where two of their number were received as a deputation by members of •the County Council, a stone was thrown through a glass panel,- landing in the public, office amongst members o± the staff. The splintered glass was scattered some distance into-the office, showing that the. stone had been .thrown with some force. Tlie thrower of the stone was not discovered by the police, and the leaders, of tlie men de r nied knowledge of the incident. After demonstrating outside the Labour Department Office, Mr R. J. Whir, officer in charge, was interviewed by a deputation of two. In connection with the farm work scheme, tlie Masterton County Council, where men have to cycle to a farm propertv at a greater distance than three miles, is to request the farmer concerned to give the men a suitable concession as far as time worked is concerned. Regarding the wet weathei grievance, the Unemployment Boaid is to be ajfcjjroached with a view to the mKk beV| paid, without having to ■infc-AilPtimep'tm days-,.which, the Council’s officers' -think too w:t for work. DISMISSALS AT BLAIRLOGIE. Yesterday the County Clerk, Mr J. C. D Maekley, visited the Blaklogie relief works, and it. is stated that the camp foreman was found in his bunk drunk. He was immediately dismissed, and also the camp cook, who, it is alleged, was also the worse for liquor. /As a result there was general disorganisation in the camp,; but the majority ot the men carried on working. This afternoon the men’s deputation was to confer with the County Counci , and intended to wait on the Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, and also, the Hospital Board. Some trouble also arose yesterday over a party of relief workers employed Sjy the Masterton County Council arriving at the County Yard too late to catch a motor lorry to take them out to their jobs. It is stated that a concerted attempt is being made by a limited number of men, all or most of them lately transferred from borough to cotfjity relief works, to upset an arwhich has been working smTOthly since the scheme of County relief works was started.