SHORT WORKING TIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 222, 19 September 1928, Page 11

SHORT WORKING TIME.

STATE MXITE'S BAD RECORD. ENQUIRIES TO BE MADE. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The attention of the Prime Minister was called in Parliament to-day by Mr. H. E. Holland to a remarkably low record of working days at the State mines on the West Coast. The leader of the Opposition suggested that the subject ought to be investigated by a Royal Commission, and the facts as he stated them on the authority of the Secretary of the State Miners' Unions are that last week the mines only worked one day, and that during 1027 the number of days worked averaged only seven or eight per fortnight, and that up till September 7 this year the average had been seven days per fortnight of working time. The Prime Minister replied that he had not had sufficient time to make extensive inquiries, but he would do so. He pointed out that the State mines were in a position little different from others in that locality which had experienced difficulty in getting orders, and trouble with shipping had also pre-' judiced the demand for coal. Hβ Tβpeated an assurance that the question would receive attention.