THE WATERFRONT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3006, 17 February 1917, Page 10

THE WATERFRONT

GRIEVANCE ABOUT TACKLE

COAL WORKERS STOP

Again work was interrupted on the waterfront yesterday. On this occasion the men concerned were the coal workers. They refused to work on tho Takapo and the Kittawa, which were unloading coal, and also they refused to go on coaling the ferry steamer Maori.

The grievance of the men, as stated, is that they object to tho uso of the tackle known as the Burton, block for tile lilting of baskets of coal. This tacklo has been used on the Wellington wharves for very many years, and 111 harbours in other seas almost from time immemorial. In this tackle the winch is not yoked directly on to the wire-line by which the weight is lifted. The winch is yoked to another lino fast to a pulley running oil the horizontal stretch of rope from the point of the boom by which the lift is made to some suitable fixing on board. The effect of applying the winch to this rope instead of to the weight direct is to increase the speed at which tho baskets of coal are raised. The men say that the speed is too great for safety, and they say, further, that tlie running pulley on which the winch pulls, by causing a sharp bight in tho lifting rope, wears it rapidly, strains it, and is the cause of danger to all men in hoTds below. On the other hand, the owners say that the tackle is perfectly safe, and that not a single accident has been due to the use of it. There was urgency about the Maori, and some compromise had to be made to get tho ship coaled ready to sail in the evening. Tho hulk from which she was first being coalcd had only the Burton tackle, and this hulk was removed, and another which used fast winches without the Burton block was brought alongside. At 4 n.m. coaling was resumed, and tho ship was able to sail at the usual hour. * It is not certain yet what will bo done about the Takapo and the Kittawa to-day.