WATERFRONT COMMISSION TO BE RELIEVED

Chronicle (Levin), 7 June 1946, Page 3

WATERFRONT COMMISSION TO BE RELIEVED

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WELLINGTON, -June ti. ! The Waterfront Control Commission t experts to be relieved of its ofliee ! within a few weoks. iMeanwliile the j waterside workers' and employers' j organisations are eaeh prepariiig to I noiniiiate two representatives to sit ou ! the new goveruing authority, with an ; independent cluiirman, possibly a niemj ber of the Judiciary. i The tliree members of the existing j Commission — Captain K. E. Price, CapLaiu T. Bowling and ilr. .lames Koberts — are not likelv to hold seats in the new orgaiiisatiou. Captain Price eonlirmed last night rej ports that he would not be a meiuber ' of the new authority. He said he ex- | pected to eoutinue iu oftice only a I muUer of weeks from now. ilr. Koberts has been oft'ered noinination from several brauehes of the j Waterside Workers' llniou, of wliich he , was formerly national seerotary, but he is not considered likelv to accept. j The new authority will be confronted j with a major task iiumediately on apI pointment, wlien it will no doubt be re- ' quired to take part.in the settlement • of widely divergeut claims submitted i by workers and employers in prelimini a'rv moves for a new peacetime agreemeut.

| Just how divergeut those claims are ! ciiii be gauged from the commeut of the seerotary of the New Zealaud { Waterside Workers' Uniou (Mr. T. j llill ). Mr. Hill said that rouudtable j negotiations lasted less than au liour. i Ile declared that the terms oft'ered by j the employers could be interpreted only ' as industrial sl avery. I The Waterfront Control Commission j took oflice in April, 1t>40, with Captain Price as chairman and jMessrs. Koberts and J. McLeod as the two other mombcrs. Mr. 'Mt-Leod, who has since died, retired iu 1942, and Captain Bowling I was appointed in his place. j Tlm commission 's duties were to facilitate the wartime handling of ships and, toward that' end, to promote smooth operation of the waterfront industry as far as was possible throughout New Zealaud. It has for some tiiue been mulerstood that the wartime commission would in due course cease to function, The workers, however, have desired another authority in. its place, tliough the employers are understood to have considered an authority unuecessary now that the war is over.