AUSTRALIAN TRADE PARALYSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 218, 3 December 1927, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN TRADE PARALYSED

IDLE SKIPS AT EVERY PORT

MARITIME HOLDUP EXTENDS

FEDERAL INTERVENTION IMPERATIVE 'THE Australian watersiders’ strike already has had so wide- * spread an effect on trade and industry that the Commonwealth loss in wages alone is £30,000 a day. Indeed, the menace to national business is so serious that there is a firm demand for Federal intervention.

By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright.

Rec. 10.57 a.m. MELBOURNE, To-day. rpHE shipowners have decided that if the dispute is not speedily settled, a number of the steamers at present tied up will sail without discharging or loading their cargo.

At a conference of representatives of the Seamen’s Union with the Man agement Committee of the watersiders, the seamen urged that there should be joint control of the dispute, and that other organisations whose members were already involved should im mediately be consulted before the strike developed further, and also the thousands of other unionists made idle since the beginning of the strike. The watersiders adopted the attitude that they did not want the intervention of other organisations, but this policy has relaxed during the last few days. After the watersiders had conferred with the Australian and New Zealand Council of Trades Unions, the latter, in an official statement, says that the Council is taking steps to intervene, with a view to arriving at a settlement of the dispute, and is endeavouring to induce the Arbitration Court to move in the matter. Plans are also being formulated for convening an inter-State conference of all the unions concerned, and there is also a probability that the Federal Ministry will be approached, with a view to getting its assistance. ALL UNIONS INVOLVED It is contended that the Arbitration Court is now faced with a much more serious position than when the dispute was only between the shipowners and the watersiders, because practically every federated union is now either directly or indirectly affected. That aspect made it absolutely imperative that the court, which was the recognised authority for the settlement of disputes, should intervene without further delay. Therefore the Council suggested that the court should call a compulsory conference of the parties to the dispute. Senator McLachlan. Assistant-Fed-eral Minister, is watching affairs here on behalf of the Federal Government. After separate conferences with the representatives of the Oversea Shipping Association, the Commonwealth Shipowners’ Association, and the secretary of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council, he said he was more hopeful of an early settlement than he had been prior to the conferences. It is understood that further conferences are being held to-day. Efforts were made by officials of the Australian and New Zealand Council of Trades Unions, and the secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council to open negotiations for settlement of the dispute. After these officials had conferred with the Federal Management Committee of the Watersiders’ Federation it was announced that further representations would be made with a view to obtaining the intervention of the Arbitration Court.

In the event of this course failing to bring about the required result, a conference of all waterside organisations in the Commonwealth will immediately be convened to frame a common strike policy. OVERTIME THE TEST

Mr. Mathers, chairman of the waterside workers' Committee of Management, when asked if his members would agree to work overtime if the principle of one picking-up time was conceded, said that was only one of two issues involved in the dispute. The question of preference to members of the federation was the other issue. Not until both were conceded would the watersiders work overtime, pending the hearing of their claim by the Arbitration Court. A. and N.Z.

NATIONAL CALAMITY

BIG FLEET TIED UP

YULETIDE TRADE RUINED Reed. 10.54 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. There are approximately 64 oversea steamers in Australian waters, with a tonnage of 440,000. Ail of these are affected by the strike. The president of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce states that the complete hold-up of shi ing at the present juncture can only be described as a dire calamity. Al! the steamers arriving are carrying seasonable goods, which, if it cannot be placed on the market for Christmas trade, will have to remain in bond stores for twelve months and risk deterioration and loss. Interest will be a heavy burden for the commercial community. Mr. W. A. Seale, secretary of the watersiders, claims that the shipowners' action is a lock-out. So far as the watersiders are concerned there is no strike. "They are willing to keep the wheels of industry moving up to 5 o’clock, but the shipowners are determined to inflict great hardship and loss on the community by enforcing their demands, and they must carry the blame for the trouble which has arisen,” he said. As the strike is developing, the effects are becoming more widespread. Many thousands of men have been made idle throughout the Commonwealth, involving a colossal loss to industry. All inter-State commerce has ceased, I and the loss of wages alone is estimated at £30,000 daily. A DESOLATE PICTURE The waterfront at Sydney presents a desolate appearance, for apart from the few ships which are exempt from ! the operations .of the strike, the har- ' hour is filled with idle ships, and the wharves are deserted. It was expected to-day that 10,000 miners in the northern coalfields

would be thrown out of employment as a result of the hold-up of interstate and oversea shipping. Of the vessels now idle at Sydney, 15 are wool ships, whose quick loading is a matter of importance to meet the dates of overseas wool sales. The stoppage is also a serious blow to the inter-State shipowners, who were preparing to handle a heavy Christmas trade. Both the Maunganui, which sailed at 4 p.m. yesterday, for Wellington, and the Marama, which left at 4.45 p.m. for Auckland, got away on time. The only trouble experienced as a result of the strike was that the Marama was compelled to leave behind some 200 tons of cargo. The Maunganui also left small portion behind. —A. and N.Z

ANXIETY IN BRITAIN

LABOUR’S IRONIC APPEAL

LONDON, Friday. British shipping and commercial interests are watching the Australian shipping strike anxiously and the newspapers are giving prominence to the cablegrams on the subject. By an ironic coincidence, while messages from Canberra are reporting Mr. Bruce’s reference to thousands of boxes of butter being left unloaded, a full column advertisement is appearing in the “Daily Herald,” the Labour paper, urging the wives of workers to buy Australian butter as the best value offered. The P. and O. Company has informed the “Daily Chronicle” that it is hoped that the Maloja will not be delayed for more than a few days, as it is thought that unloading will proceed in the daytime. No decision has been taken regarding other liners now on the way to Australia. The “Daily Express,” in referring to the dispute, recalls the 1925 strike, which cost millions before it collapsed. This, the paper points out, was caused by the seamen. This time he waterside workers are responsible. —A. and N.Z.