H.—ll.

Alleging victimization concerning the dismissal of a trucker, four hundred coal-mine workers in the Greymouth district ceased work as a protest. After negotiations the trucker was reinstated pending inquiry by the Disputes Committee set up in accordance with their agreement under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, and the men resumed work after the loss of five working-days. Approximately four hundred and thirty-five male and one hundred and thirty-two female freezing-workers at Westfield ceased work owing to a dispute over dressing-room and locker accommodation. After a stoppage of between two and three working-days work was resumed pending the decision of a tribunal, comprising one representative of each side and an independent chairman, to be set up to deal with the question of accommodation at various freezing-works throughout the Dominion. At Westfield six hundred and fifty freezing-workers ceased work owing to dissatisfaction with the Magistrate's decision regarding the interpretation of the Freezing-workers' award in respect of the system of slaughtering in operation at the works. Work was resumed after the loss of three and a half days pending the hearing by the Court of Arbitration of an. appeal against such decision. As a result of the dismissal of waterside workers by the shipping companies for allegedly adopting a "go slow " policy, approximately seven hundred and eighty men were involved in a stoppage of work on the Wellington waterfront. Following on the intervention of the Hon. the Ministers of Labour and Marine, work was resumed after the loss of about two working-days. The accompanying chart shows the number of disputes and the number of workers involved since 1900 and the amount of wages and the number of working-days lost through disputes since 192.1, previous to which year comparable statistics were not available. It is of interest to note that prior to 1910 very few disputes were recorded. The high point for 1913 coincides with the watersiders' and slaughtermen's strikes of that period. The high points in 1921 and 1923 reflect the disturbances among coal-miners, seamen, and watersiders in those years, while the later peak in 1932 was a result of the unsettled industrial conditions at the time. While the last three years show an increase in the number of disputes and of workers involved it will be seen that such disputes were of only a minor nature and were short-lived, the increase not being] marked in[' the loss of wages or of working-days.

Industrial Relations Calendar Years.

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