RAILWAY DISPUTE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10294, 31 May 1919, Page 7

RAILWAY DISPUTE

GABIKET’S REPLY A ROUND-TABLE CONFERENCE SUGGESTED. Cabinet discussed on Thursday the request of the Locomotive hmgiuedriTcrs’, Firemen, and Cleaners’ Association. for the ’ appointment of a con-,-iliator, and yesterday the Acting-Prime .liinister forwarded to .Messrs it. M • nenderson (president; ami 'W. McArley isecreiary or the association; mu toi-. lowing statement "as to the result oi L-aoiuef s deliberations ; — jlu accoruauco wll u my promise, i toierrea to camuet mo .various matters piacea oerore me oy the wuioii waited on .me on -uay loon. m l , i. nave to state xnut 0,110,1101 has caioiuny considered tne matter, unci i have Oeeu autnonsed to UI.IIIO the following reply.— , The Cioternment understand that the details 01 tne Government senema have sever been tnoroaghiy discussed in a lair ana anucaoie manner owing to tne roiusa. 01 your association to ta&e part m any round-taple coulereuce between the minister lor Runways and tuo department and yourselves, me government oeueve luat it such a coutezenco aad been held ‘many misunderstandings would have been cleared up. There‘ore, the Government suggest to youi association that such a conference ue held, ill which the oDjecUous u» the scheme may be fairly s-ated to the Ministor and to the general manager. the lioveramont strong.y recommend the iiasouatioh to follow tne example 01 me Amalgamated (society and accept tne scheme and give it a lair trial, with tne belief that any injustices that may be found in the ■■administration can be belter remedied by round-table coultieuces than by tiueats of strike. With respect to your request for arbitration oh the matter, il that means that your asociation desires to come under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitrauon Act, I may say that the Government riot only would have no objection to that course but would bring m legislation to give effect to this, provided that it was satisfied by ballot or otherwise that the .majority of its employees in the Second Division were in favour of sucJi a course. STATEMENT BY MR, McARLEY. Mi- McArley made to a • ‘Times" representative last nigat the following statement with reference lu bir James .vUeii/s reply; — , . It teouid appear to me that the Act-ing-Prime Minister has been misinformed as to the attU-ude taken up by tne representatives of the association, t personally ottered to state the assuentlion s position to the Prime Minister boiore the-Cabinet met, and was under Hie impression tual he was going ,to give me that opportunity ; but ho has not done so. Tne asociadon has never refused to meet, .the .Minister ior Railways and (the -department in a round the table conference to discuss the proposals. A copy of the reports of the interviews is available to any accredited newspaper representative- in New Zealand, an dwifl fully bear out this statement. Certainly the association refused to advance any further arguments in respect to their demands, -as they had done so on so many diifernt Occasions that it loosed as if they were being made fools of; and/.in any case, this attitude is no different from that taken up by other societies,- according to their reports, which are also in my office for perusal by newspaper representatives,. When the Minister submitted his proposals on April 2nd, the proposals were fully discussed and exlained to the association delegates. The men have had th«i„f uUesb-lnfprmation and fully under-stand'Me'-proposals"' L At the interview with the Minister on May 9th, Mr McVilly was asked if his instructions to officers of his department werevhny diiferent to the explanations made to the association’s officers, and he said;-in reply, “that they were on the same‘lines, but final instructions dealing with the whole matter had to remain in abeyance pending the decision of tjie association.’’ On this occasion the association met the Minister and intimated to him that the men had rejected the proposals, and in his reply he said: “I am not certain of the effect of your refusal—that is, whether you mean to open negotiations again, because I can ass.ure you that so far as tvb are concerned we have Rone absolutely as far as wo possibly can. 1 have assured the other society similarly, and as far as wa are concerned we i have put all our cards on the table, and we are prepared to stand by our offer.”' ... The representatives of this' association,,in their statement to the Premier, stated certain dfinite reasons why they resented the and could not be thesubject of any misunderstanding on either side. The executive council, which has the power to act in the matter, will meet as soon as members can assemble, when probably an official stater/ent may be made, LQNGTON APPEAL CASE Asked yesterday whether he had any statement to make with regard to the Longton appeal case, the Hon. W. H. Herries, Minister for Railways, said that a statement was being prepared and would probably be available this morning.