ENGINEERS' DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1690, 5 March 1913, Page 7

ENGINEERS' DISPUTE.

PREMIER TO MEDIATE. oK'-V' BF, SIR /i/'BIDjUS.' '' THE BALLOT: METHOD & RESULT.

""The tension has. eased for the 'moment in the dispute between, the marina'; engineers and the .Union Steam; Ship Company. A 'truce has been, declared, and there is to be a conference of ..representatives of the institute op .the ;.one hand and." representatives of the company ' on the other this afternoon;ht; 4.50 o'clock, in the Marine Engineers'.lnstituto build-: ing. The Ilon.'/W. F. 'Mn'ssejr,-- Prime Minister, is to preside' at this conference.

It is, of course still doubtful whether the Tesult of tho conference -will.be a t final settlement of all questions- in dispute,but until' the parties have met and deliberated tho englhoers. have agreed to work the ships, : Ndns of . the red . funnel steimers. will, therefore,'- be', tied tip this morning for lack of engine-room 'staff, but if' the conference should prove abortivo thb threatened . strike of engineers will ftlpiost-certainly be <|eclared. ARRANGING TH.E CONFERENCE. Eat'ly yesterday morning Itr. P.* Ilally, Conciliation Commissioner,'' interviewed the principals on both t sides',of. the dispute, with tho object of . arranging, if, could ,be, for a conference on some ground possible to both parties. ,'He'liad already ..opened negotiations when he. was requested by the l'rime Minister, to'arrange' for n conference'at which, he (Mr. Massey) would act as chairman. This •Mr. Hally was in the' end able to arrange, mid it is practically certain that the meeting : will take place at 1.30 p.m. this afternoon.

So far as can.be learned, no conditions have been imposed _by either party as'to tho matters which, may -be • submitted - to .the conference, except that it is expected hy tile engineers that the representatives Jf the other side at the-pieetipg shall be jlothed with full authority to decide finally what shall be, done. Very possibly ;lhis may lead to . a postponement of consideration of the questions at 1 issue untjl perhaps the following day. There is a probability that Sir James Mills, managing: director . of the Union' Steam Ship .Company, will come to 'Wellington to attend the conference, but shouljl he deoide to do bo he cannot possibly..arrive here before to-morrow morning from Dunedin. The engineers, for their partj are said to ba only too ivilling to delay the confer-.-cnoe foriia day in'tirrtei-fthat''liS .iilHy lie present at it.

7 The Marina Engineers' Institute has not yet appointed assessors to represent it at the conciliation proceedings which hive been commenced :by the Union Company. Under the Arbitration Act, parties to conciliation proceedings must appoint assessors three clear days before the day, appointed for the hearing. In this case the date sol down , for the hearing is March 11. '

.THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS! NOTICE. As has been stated already, tho only condition precedent to the conference is that imposed by tho company—that the ships will- not be held up in. the meantime. The executive of the Institute have promised to. do their best to.' influence the engineers' to remain .at , their posts.' until after the meeting) and there . seeing to be no possibility of any. of 1 the engineers coming ashore' against' the advice of their executive. It .is stated that some of tho.lnstitute menmade some' demur about withdrawing the /:-twenty-four .hours! notice they had already given; They- thought .that,, in,the event -.of; a deadlock at the, conference, their men should not be 'required ■ to give a twenty-four hours' notice, especially'as ih £omo trades it might mean an additional three or four'days' notice; For,' - Asj-'- has been explained, the captain of-a ' ship need not iaccept, twenty-four hours' nOtieo from. any of ■ his company until * that vessel reaches its terminal port—the port at which tho articles were originally, . taken out. . The giving of .fresh notice, : therefore, might in individual-cases mean that "the engineers would be required to serve for another round voyage. In-the end, however, the engineers aid not in- . sist on their proposed condition that the . notiofl already, given should still hold good in the event -of'the'failure of the parties to come to terms..

• NOT AN HOUR TOO SOON. i The truce was declared not ait hour too soon to save the public, from the Etfd experience of an almost. complete stoppage of coastwise shipping, Already notice had been given by the engineers on very many ■of - the company's ships, i Amongst those who. had giveij notice were the men on the ferry steamer Mararoa, and at 10 o'clock in the morning there seemed to bo no. prospect of this .vessel sailing.- No passengers, were .being booked for the south trip at the company's office, and it was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that booking was commenced.

THE MOSaUITO FLEET. | There has beerl a little uneasiness in the offices of the smaller shipping companies owning the mosquito -fleets of coasters, while thia trouble with tho •Union Company has been pending. The. smaller companies feared that ; the institute might call the engineers out of ajl. steamers, whether' owned by. the Union Company or not, but that alarm 1 has passed. It.is understood that the institute, have never had any. intention of calling -, the engineers out of the small ships. After they have settled with the Union Company, the institute will treat frith the other owners, and it. is the general opinion that there need -be Jin .difficulty fjbout getting relatively as good-terms froifl the small owners as the big company ■ may Eventually give. . •• -Since tho trouble threatened to tak6 th-S shape of a. strike, all thought of the Arbitration Act and the Arbitration Court as a medium for the settlement of the dispute seems to have been 'dropped. .Whatever may happen now, it appears to •'ha' quite cevtam that the .Arbitration . Court will. have nothing whatever to do with fixing the' terms on yrlifch the en- - gineers will work/ The case rpay or may not reach the Court, but the real trouble will be settled before the Court has anything to do with it. .. NO GENERAL ALARM. fluch a serious business as an imminenti maritime strike might have been expected/ to have given rise to something like consternation in ',tile ,minds of the. people generally. Strangely enough, there seemed to bo no nlarin at all except among tlioso likely to be directly affected by the trouble. Little groups of watersiders pnd seafaring men could lie seen on tho Wharves discussing the situation in the' early part of the day, but the attitude of the general public was one of simple incredulity. Tho thing was too ,bw to bo fully grasped, and people simply Innia'hed it from their minds as impossible.. Even merchants and other big shippers were not concerned as- to the elleet the ' stoppage might, liflve on business. .hveijbody was discussing the affair, from lie point of .view of an interested onlcoker ' inerelv. and the main question wa< simply whether the company y-ould give way or not