"INGA SETTLEMENT."

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15974, 17 November 1919, Page 5

"INGA SETTLEMENT."

HONOUR WHERE HONOUR 18 DUE. To the Editor. ' ... ■ Sir, —In Saturday’s issue ■ of the Chronicle a certain alleged “statement of facts” relating to the above, and Mr Veiteh’s actions therein, require some further facts. I am iu a position fco state that Mr Veitch several times offered his services in connection _ with the Inga trouble, as he had done in the past when the watersiders had trouble on hand, and I may further state that his services have always been appreciated by the waterside workers. In the Inga case the local disputes committee handled all disputes, and failing a settlement it is then referred to a national tribunal for settlement. What Mr Veitch and the Mayor were very deeply concerned about waa that the citizens of Wanganui should not he inconvenienced by the supply of gas becoming exhausted, and I presume it is their business to rightly do so. Therefore I can’t imagine for one minute that either the Mayor or Mr Veitch could ever infer they had been decisive factors in settling the Inga dispute. On the morning of the meeting convened by the Mayor with the object of getting a further supply of coal, Mr Veitch again rung me up and asked if nothing could be done to relieve the situation, I informed him that a •meeting was being held at 9.15, and he immediately agreed to come along, and had only a few minutes allowed him to get there. He was unanimously elected chairman. That deputation to Wellington (of which I was a member as a representative of the local waterside workers), was absolutely necessary. Mr Veitch did not go to Wellington, so his absence at the meeting where the Chronicle alleges a settlement took place, was only natural. The Chronicle further alleges that Mr Maokay was also absent on that auspicious occasion, which is contrary to fact. What happened everyone knows. The citizens of Wanganui didn’t get deprived of their gas. As for a settlement of the Inga dispute, that happened weeks later.—l am, etc., J. PHILLIPSON, Ex-Secretary Waterside Workers,