CLOSED RAILWAYS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 7 January 1931, Page 5

CLOSED RAILWAYS

POSITION AT CAMPS CRITICAL SITUATION DEVELOPING POSSIBILITY OF DISORDER CBj Telegraph—Press Association) - GISBORNE, This Day. A critical situation is developing at the camps along the railway route between. Gisborne and Waikokopu, where practically all the men have returned from the holidays hoping to recommence work. Difficulty has arisen over catering arrangements, as the caterers are not .prepared to assume further commitments in addition to those already accumulated. Many men owe money to the cookhouse managers, and the latter refuse to re-open the cookhouses without some guarantee of payment for past meals, as well as for immediate requirements. The managers are nominated by the union, and it is understood the Department refuses the guarantee required. It is reported that 50 men in Tikiwhata camp are without food pending re-opening of the cookhouse, and the' conditions in other camps, though not so bad, are serious. ' The possibility of disorder is not remote,- and the situation of- the -caterers is difficult. . - Da.y wages men are now engaged in clearing up and stacking the plant prior to tlffiir dismissal within a day or two ; while co-operative contractors to-day received six days’ notice as required by the award of the termination of their contracts. WITHOUT PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION WORK IN NEW ZEALAND MANY MEN DISMISSED GISBORNE, This Day. I When notice was served upon railway construction workers this morning no in.-, dication whatever was given to any of. tlie men as to further employment. The, approximate number of men affected between Tikiwliata and Gisborne is 339, of, whom about 220 are married.

A large number also are being dismissed at the Waikokopu end of the line.. Many will bo absolutely penniless after meeting their liabilities for December. Ihe position is declared without parallel in the history of construction work in New Zealand. STRONGPROTEST deputation to government WELLINGTON, This Day. A strong protest against the announcement by the Government that it intended to abandon construction of the railway line from Gisborne to Waikokopu was made by a deputation to-day to _ the Hon. E. A. Ransom, ActingPrime Minister, the Hon. W. A. Veitch Minister for Railways, and the Hon. W. B. Taverner, Minister of Public. Works.

The deputation was headed by Mr Lysnar, M.P. for Gisborne, and Mr Williams, M.P. for Bay of Plenty, and was representative of all local bodies and all political parties in the district. It was alleged that the Government's action was unwarranted from any angle. The line would develop the tremendous resources of the district and it was urged would be a paying proposition. •Air C. Williams, representing the Poverty Bay Sheep Owners’ Federation, said that the line would make an enormous difference to the industry in the district. There was a difference of between 3s and 5s in the price paid for sheep at Gisborne and Hastings to the detriment of Gisborne. The line would mean the development of two and a-half million acres, (if land. What was driving the Government into its action was the outcry from the rest of the Dominion which did not know the position.