ABATTOIRS STAFF

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20660, 10 January 1942, Page 4

ABATTOIRS STAFF

COUNCIL’S APPEAL

BUTCHER MOBILISED COUNTRY SHARE-MILKER The difficulty of finding a man of suitable trade experience to replace a butcher employed by the Gisborne Borough Council at the municipal abattoirs was placed before the Gisborne District Man-Power Committee to-day, at an emergency sitting, the butcher having been mobilised with the National Military Reserve. The employee appealed for was P. C. Hatwell, a slaughterman, who was stated by Mr W. M. Jenkins, town clerk, to be one of the three employed in the abattoirs. If his services were lost, Mr Jenkins stated, it would be impossible to get through the work of the institution. Endeavours to replace Hatwell had been made without success.

Mr. C. E. Bickford said that from inquiries he had made it would be impossible to carry on the abattoirs work with fewer than three men, and that extended hours would not meet the situation. The staff had to work on Sundays to fit in with the retail trade. Suitable men were engaged in other industrial projects, but were not available for replacing Hatwell until some authority was given to dispose of suitable labour.

The appeal was dismissed. C. H. Norris (Mr K. Woodward) appealed against the mobilisation of V. R'. Parkes, sharemilker, as a Territorial. Mr Woodward stated that the reservist had served three months in camp as a Territorial and in civil life milked 70 cows on a Puha farm for the appellant, who himself had to manage single-handed his 1490acre sheep farm. If Parkes were mobilised the herd would have to be disposed of. His employer stated that Parkes had not been off the property in the past six months owing to the demands of the herd and his cropping ■operations. The committee adjourned the appeal for review in May, 1942.