MINISTER'S REPLY

Chronicle (Levin), 29 September 1949, Page 9

MINISTER'S REPLY

. WELLINGTON, Sept. 28. . He had recommended the union to resume work and allow the dispute to be settled by the district disputes committee as was provided for in the miners ' agreement, said the Minister of Labour and Mines, Mr. McLagan, topigh't when referring to. the stoppage of work on the Waikato cpalfield. The Minister added that 1 he hoped this would be done. Mr. McLagan said he had been advised thkt the employee coneerned had been working on a coal-cutting machine for about five months. He was a satisfactory worker, had given good serviee, had proved f'ully competent to do the job and had never expressed any desire to be transferred to another job. As the union had stated, the dispute was. in conneetion with a question of safety. The matter was referred to the district inspector who was in eharge of the administration of the safety regulations in coal mines. The inspector 's opinion was that the worker coneerned was quite competent to carry on the work with the normal degree of safety and that he did not need to be replaced. Although the machine was nominally working on pillars, actually it wasworking in splits where there were two fast sides, and the operation of the machine was under the supervision of an experienced miner.