POOR CONDITIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 2, 3 July 1939, Page 10

POOR CONDITIONS

CAPE HORN DISPUTE

COMPLAINTS BY CREW

CAPTAIN'S SUPPORT

2 (By Telegraph—Press Association.) I CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. No bath, no wash basin, no. shower, no running water in a room, described as a bathroom, in the motor-ship Cape . Horn, water brought in buckets, and j the only running water, salt water for r sanitary conveniences—these were r conditions on board >the vessel as confirmed by the .master, I j Captain Kenneth Malcolm MacKenzie, i '.in the Magistrate's Court this morning during the hearing of charges against twelve of the crew. They were charged Glat en. June 26, at Christchurch, having signed on articles of the British ship Cape Horn at ; Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, they were absent from the vessel without leave at the time the vessel was due to leave Lyttelton. and refused to return. to the vessel. All pleaded not guilty. Mr. J. H. Upham prosecuted on behalf of the owners and Mr. B. A- Barrer appeared for the men. Most of the men signed on at New-castle-on-Tyne and the Cape Horn called at Auckland, Wellington, and " then Lyttelton, said Mr. Upham. The captain notified the men on Saturday, ' June 24, that they would be leaving r that evening, but the men absented I themselves and the vessel was unable s to leave. The captain arranged, through Mr. T. Martin, secretary of the Lyttelton branch of the New Zealand Sea- !» men's Union, to meet the men mdiii vidually, but they all refused to re* s turn to,- the ship. y Captain MacKenzie had said that on June 23, following his promotion to master,, a! deputation of the' men apr t proached him saying that the ship was "- undermanned. i The Marine Superintendent at Lyte telton had said that the' ship was i manned and the men refused to go to sea unless they were granted New Zealand pay and conditions. Last. Thursday the captain asked Mr. Martin regarding a meeting with the men, but Mr. Martin said that the men had gone to the country oh a motor drive. Replying to Mr. Barrer, Captain Mackenzie said that the Cape Horn was owned by a Scottish firm and chartered by the Union Steam Ship Company. He had received no'complaints about food since assuming The ship.had no mess. There had been breaches of law dealing with the accommodation and the working <conditibris, and in view of these he asked [■ the Magistrate to refuse W make an „" order for the men to return to the il ship. '. ' Thomas Martin, Seamen's Union j. secretary, described the faonditions as 1 "disgraceful." He would' have taken ~ exactly the same stand as the men. s Martin >in reply to Mr. • Upham, said j he fully realised that in aiding the men j to be absent without leave he was liable to a fine. He was prepared to j break the law to help the men, but would "advise them to return if the conditions were made suitable. r "This has been brewing for eight r months and had to come," said AlexI ander Cummings. They would never a jhave stood another eighteen months of +1 this. It would have killed half of glthem. , The Magistrate (Mr. E. C. Leyvey) pointed out that the men had signed rticles in England, and it was signicant that although the ship had been ji New Zealand waters for some time no trouble had arisen until the vessel reached Lyttelton. All seemed decent men, and it was a pity, that they, put themselves outside the law. He sugr gested that the men should return to England, sign off there, and take their troubles to the proper authorities. c He entered convictions in each case, and ordered the men to be placed i aboard the ship.