TENANTS IN ARMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 129, 2 June 1937, Page 18

TENANTS IN ARMS

AUCKLAND TRADES HALU

NO CONFIDENCE IN TRUSTEES

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) '. AUCKLAND, June 1. Dissatisfaction with the dilapidated state of the Trades Hall in Hobson 1 Street and the failure of the Trades Hall Trust to improve the building ' came to a head when the tenants of : offices at a recent meeting passed a • vote of no confidence in the members of the Trust—with one exception, the Prime Minister (Mr. Savage)—and decided to call on them to resign. The members of the Trust are Mr. ! Savage and Messrs. E. J. Phelan, A. ! Rosser, G. Davis, and A. Watts, but '. the meeting agreed that its resolution ; should not include Mr. Savage, as it ■ was realised that he served only in an : honorary capacity. , • It was stated that all the tenants '. were now seeking new premises, while s some unions had already moved to i other quarters. The Drivers' Union ' went first, and since then the Carpen- ! ters' and Joiners' Union and the Timt ber Workers' Union had gone. Dissatisfaction with the present con- ■ ditions had been increasing since the i rejection some months ago of a pro- ! posal to erect a new trades hall, at ; a cost of many thousands of pounds !on another site. The Trust subseI quently had plans prepared for mod- . ernising the present building, but noth- • ing further was done!, In April last ■ eight tenants wrote to the Trust re- ! questing a conference. The Trust did i not comply, but wrote to the tenants . agreeing that extensive alterations - were needed, involving a large ex- '■ penditure, and asking if, were a loan raised for the purpose, the unions • would be prepared to guarantee to rel tain their offices during the currency of the loan.

Further developments are awaited, but there are indications that unless the trustees resign, enabling others to administer the affairs of the hall, or carry out a renovation scheme, the Trades Hall may develop into a white elephant.