SEAMEN'S DEMANDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 157, 12 October 1910, Page 2

SEAMEN'S DEMANDS

PLACED BEFORE THE MINISTER. CHANGE OF CONDITIONS LIKELY. I THROUGH USE OF OIL FUEL. j By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington. Yesterday. The balance of the lengthy list" 01 resolutions passed by the Seamen's Union Conference which sat in Wellington recently were laid before the Minister of Marine (the Hon. J. A. Millar) this evening. The deputation had interviewed the Minister the previous Monday, when the discussion, after occupying a couple of hours, was adjourned until yesterday, owing to other demands on the Minister's time. Among the requests put forward wert the following:—Abolition of the extended harbor limits at Auckland, amendment of the law relating to sickness of seamen, with provision for the discharge of incapacitated men by the ship under certain specified circumstances, improvement in the administration 01 the section of the Act which requires payment of an additional week's wages after the date of recovery from sickness, an amended definition of "deserter" to excluded a man who misses his ship in a genuine way, a change for tht better in the practice relating to the forfeiture of deserters' effects, strict adherence to the duties of each man included in the manning scale so that none should be called upon to do work other than that he signed on for, provision that all vessels licensed to carry passengers be required to carry thoroughly competent crews, an amendment to provide that the master, officer or engineer who assaults any person belonging to a ship at any time at sea or in port should be liable to a penalty !of £2O or imprisonment for six months. 1 The Minister remarked that the request seemed hardly necessary, as the I Shipping Act covered such offences if committed on the high seas, and the I Police Offences Act came into operation jin the case of assault in port. On being i assured that men were frequently J "logged" for offences in port, he re- | marked that this Avas unlawful inside I the three-mile limit. In such cases the !inen could invoke the aid of the Police Offences Act. He quite agreed that the law should operate in both directions fairly and equally. With a plea for fairer treatment, the spokesman of the deputation urged the Minister to remove from office the Wellington superintendent of mercantile marine, alleging that the latter was "absolutely biassed against the men and in favor of the shipowners." Instances were given of alleged maladministration of the law on the superintendent's part, and it was stated emphatically that the seamen had absolutely no confidence in ihim. The Minister was further urged to bring all State-owned vessels within tht scope of the Arbitration Act, and also to make provision for a Dominion award in the case of seamen, whose position was a very peculiar one. Mr. Millar remarked that he proposed to provide for the making of a Dominion award in cases where tht Arbitration Court was satisfied that it 'would be desirable and work well. The deputation had raised many important points to which he would give carefm consideration, and if he could possiblj d« anything for the seamen he woulo. be only too glad, as he knew the hardships of their life. It was well to remember, however, that conditions might be greatly altered in the near future by the use of oil fuel on steamers. He knew, for instance, that it was only a want of assurance of the permanency of the New Zealand oil fields that now prevented action being taken in this direction by companies trading arouno. the coasts here, and he was afraid that veTy shortly they would be face to face with a very serious problem as far as coal consumption was concerned. The discussion with the deputation had shown him the necessity of arriving at uniformity between the shippin'g laws of the Commonwealth and New Zealand. Without giving up anything that had been attained here he was satisfied that it was desirable to bring our laws as closely into line with others as possible. The allegations made againsi the Wellington superintendent of mercantile marine were very serious, and he would have the fullest investigation made. He desired all his officers to be absolutely fair in the administration of the law, and would make it quite plain in this particular instance.