INVASION BY AUSTRALIAN “SLACKERS.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1879, 19 September 1918, Page 2

INVASION BY AUSTRALIAN “SLACKERS.”

IT is not extraordinary, says the Wanganui Herald, that members of the Freezers’ Union should regard with disfavour the advent of Australians to take the places which New Zealanders, now on active service, formerly occupied in slaughtering or other .branches of the freezing industry. The sanction of custom may often be upset by the introduction of fresh conditions. While slaughtering is a seasonal industry in which men from Australia have been accustomed to find employment in New Zealand, the circumstance that a system of compulsory military service is in vogue in New Zealand and not in Australia introduces a factor of considerable importance. It means that the Australian slaughterman, able to claim a six months’ exemption from military service in New Zealand, derives an advantage in securing employment in this country during the period of activity in the frozen meat industry. The New Zealander, if fit, may have to substitute military service for a job which may become opportunely vacant for a man who is under no military obligation under the military Jaw of this country. The view that men who have shirked their military responsibilities in -Australia should not be permitted to enjoy —as, according to report, some of them have been doing —profitable situations in New Zealand rendered vacant by the existence of a system of compulsory service in this Dominion is by no means unreasonable. The New Zealand Freezers’ Union is entitled to public- sympathy in its resolution of protest against any possible invasion of the industry by Australian “slackers.”