SERIOUS LOSS TO COMPANIES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 21, 18 October 1937, Page 4

SERIOUS LOSS TO COMPANIES

I'leafr ftianfiiitien »

15 Ships Ifile at Wellington on Saturday

MEN TAKE TIME OFF

tH* IVleyfiUl'

WELLINGTON, Tbis Day. Fifteen ships were held up on tbe Wellington waterfront on Saturday aftemooxl when the waterajdo woikeis decided to tqke time off to atterid tho funeral Of a man who, waa killed when Working pn the Karamea. This was the. second succeSsive Saturday on which there. had been a qompleto hold-up on tho Wellington, vyaterfrout. "It has always been ihe practice of the waleratders in Well.iugton to tane tin\e Qff tq aYtepd the funeral of a, coiurhde killed, qn. the job*'>t said the. Ministqr- - pf - Dahonr-j Ihe flqn. H. Armstrong, when Oommentiug b.t Christchurch qn thq d.elay. Represoutqtives of the Wellington shipowbers had ref erred the workers ' deciaiou: ta him, he said. "Siuiilar time. hVd been taken' off frequently in the past. Mr Armstrong aisq qaid that, in feome pinqs the uuners took time off from the ; time. of the. death to the funeral, The Labour Department was not conteinplating any aetion. MeanWhile, the, watersiders' action has/e.voked strobg criticism from the shipowbers, Apart froib such stoppages Us have .oecurred at WeUlbgl°n °h ^h® last two Saturdays, it is stated that the general position in respect- of waterside work in the Dominion is far from satisfactory, The Union Co. had nine ships in port —the Wahine, Waiana., Wainui; Limerick, Wingatui, ' Kairanga, Karepo, Poolta, and Karu. In addition to these were the overseas liuers Tainui, Kara-, paea, and Port Hupn, as well as the Anoko.iT Cm's stcamer Matangi and several smaU eQftstai ea?gq ships. The national agreement between , the sbipping companies and the, waterside workers provides for Saturday work, payment being fflb.de at the. rate Qf tipie, and a-quarter (3/4 an hour) from 8 a,in. tq noqn, and special . qvertimo raies froui nopn tilf 5, jkffl, Tke loss of the four to five hours of working time on Saturday is a serious matter and represents a, considerable expense to the shipping companies. The position ef thq UuiQQ Co,, with nine ships- in port, is particularly unf qrtuuate. In the case'of the Wahine the receiying of pertain ca.rgo. ha.d to be refused owiug to the impossibility of loading it. Tbe ' Waihua, running in tbe East Coast service, was dispatched for Auckland ou Saturday afternoon, but had to sbut out a considerable quantity of freieht which she would have taken had

work prqceeded normally. Another timotable cargo eteamer^ tbe Wainui, arrived from the south, but her departure for Napier and Gisborne had to be pqstponed till to-day- The Wingatui* employed iu the West Coast coal trade* would have been dispatched for Westport ou Saturday, but, being pnable to complete discharging, was held up over the week-end, he? pailing being put off until this afternoon, The Union Co.'s trans-Pacifie trader Limerick, which had already lost one week-end at Auckland, since ber arrival on the coast, reached Wellington on Thursday morning with 160Q tqns pf (jargo tq land here. Normally there would have been no difficulty in getting ber away by -Saturday evening, as was iutended4 bdt owing to the hold-up her dopartur'e bas, had to be postponed until 6 p,m, to-day^a mest serioue and costly loss pf'time. A glariug example of the unfortunate results of "waterside delays is that of tbe Union Co,?s Cbrgo steamer Karepo, This ship reeently spent a fortnight at Gisborne owing to a labour disputa Since her releaee from that port she has been to. Greymouth to load an uvgeatly-needed and long-delayed load of coal for Wellington, only to suffer > further loss of time after her arrival here. Tbe Karu* with coal from Westport, and the Poolta, with timber and coal from Greymouth, also lost the halfday's work on Saturday. Saturday 's hold-up, apart from the costly delays already described, will result iu considerable congestion in the port tQ'day aud to-morrow. In addition to, a large influx of coastal shipping, the Anglo-Canadian from Vancouver aud the Waitaki from Melbourne are due to-day, and the Kaiwarra from New* castle to-morrow. Thus there wilj be a crowding of ships at the wharves, a congestion in the cargo sheds, aud a probable shortage of labour to work tbe ships, all of which means considerable loss, 'as well as additional expense in overtime. Mr. Jolinson, secretary of the Wellington Watersiders' Union, when interviewed to-day. said that for many

years it had been the custoio, if a water sider were fatally injured while engaged in woTking a ship, that his coworkers should be given the opportu* nity of attending his funeral, There was notliing about it in ihe agreement, but it was one of Uiose things that bad always been done. The lasFcase, he believed, was when a man was killed on the whaxf about four years ago. In addition, it must be remembered that on Saturday afternoons, when fflost people had a holiday," there was less .work on the wliarf than on week days.