DAIRY COY'S POSITION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 113, 4 June 1941, Page 5

DAIRY COY'S POSITION

JMANY MEN ON ACTIVE SERVICE WOMEN APPLY FOR POSITIONS Some interesting facts were revealed when the secretarymanager of the Rangitaiki Dairy company (Mr R. E. Blair) appeared before the Overseas Appeal Board 1 on Friday with a request that three men should! be exempted from service. Mr Bla;r, in his statement to the Board, said that at the time of ' lodging the appeals the position regarding employees had not been satisfactory, but, as the company was at present situatr* ed, he felt that the three mem could be replaced l by inexperienced men with a slight lessening - of efficiency. Men in View.x- } The company liad in as- ; sistants for the next season, and these would /constitute practically a lull staff. Seventeen of the men were single and were classed as follows : Under age 4; unfit for service 1; Air Force recruits called, 5; uncalled, 4. He added that if the . position did not change in the near future the three men mentioned could be released. All were lceien to • serve Patterson having joined the Air Force and Hamilton having re- > pc-atedly asked to be released. Limited l Accommodation. Mr Blair continued that the company had a limited amount of ac- - commodation for married men, and, as he had explained, had yet a further ten men to be called for service. In reply to a question he stated that the company was not keen to built further houses at the present time. Applications from Women. Continuing the appellant stated that he had had some 20 applications for positions from women, but the Minister of Labour and the Union secretaries did not appear eiagev to assist companies in their endeavour to employ women. The Minister - had advised him that companies -could not apply women at present, and before they could be employed there would have to be an alteration made lo the Factories Act, as this prohibited women working factory hours. "We could find five or six . jobs suitable for women," said Mr .Blair. ■v Possible Change to Cheese. - The statement continued that this reason the company would turn out some 5,100 tons of butter, but he estimated that next season the •equivalent of about 500 tons of butter supply might be transferred to a neighbouring cheese factory, while there was a possibility of his company being asked to operate a cheese factory. Tto run this a manager -and a further 12 men -would be necessary .

Many Employees Serving. In conclusion Mr Blair stated that to date the company had released 24 men for overseas service, and two had returned. Only one appeal had previously been made for exemption of an employee and this had been refused; while the company had undertaken to release six men for the air force. This involv•ed 33 men. Men Allowedl to Serve. In view of the statement of Mr Blair the Board dismissed the appeals of Patterson and Hamilton, leave to be. granted until August 31. The Board was not (concerned with the case of McConnachie, •which would, be heard elsewhere. "