WATERFRONT COMMISSION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 113, 11 April 1940, Page 6

WATERFRONT COMMISSION.

After much delay the Government has appointed a Commission to deal with the problem of loading on the waterfront which lias occasioned so much trouble in the past, and which over many years has created an unenviable reputation for Dominion ports among overseas shipmasters. The powers given the Commission are very wide, and it will be hoped in the emergency of the times there will be an earnest desire on all sides to co-operate to the fullest extent in bringing about a lasting state of harmony that will prevent such unfortunate happenings as have arisen in the past. It is regrettable, when the Dominion’s war effort should be at its peak, to have to set up such a body to deal with this problem, and this very fact should stress the necessity for a speedy settlement of any issues for which adequate machinery has existed in the past. The Dominion’s primary industries, which provide almost the whole of the export cargoes handled on the waterfront, have responded splendidly to the call for increased production ; on every side there is a silent determination to meet the Mother Country’s call for the maximum effort to provide food and raw materials and use the available shipping space to the best advantage. Anything which retards that effort at the point of shipment must undo much of the good work that is taking place on the land and in the produce factories. The need for harmonious working in every phase of industry was never more apparent than it is to-day, and the setting up of the Waterfront Commission affords the waterside workers an opportunity of showing they are not behindhand in their contribution to the maximum effort. The Government has delegated the task to the Commission after fruitless attempts by Ministers to convince the workers that the export trade of the country cannot be so seriously interrupted and delayed as it has been on innumerable occasions. The system of control will be judged on its results.