STRANDED NEW ZEALANDERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 June 1919, Page 5

STRANDED NEW ZEALANDERS.

.UNION 00. ACCUSED OF BLUNDERING.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, June 26Mr Batt, chairman of the stranded New Zealanderg in Sydney, cabled to Mr W. T. Young, general secretary of the Seamen's Union in New Zealand, that the' executive of the Seamen's Union, Sydney, acquiesced in the manning of the Moeraki at Sydney without any future octracism, and asking him to assist by giving a further assurance. Mr Young replied .that the matter was exclusively in the hands of the Australian Union. He also sent a cable to the Australian Union giving the text of- Mr Batt's message, and asked the union to state the position. Mr Young states to-day that any existing inconvenience caused to the stranded New Zealanders in Sydney, so far as the Moeraki is concerned, is entirely due to the act of ,the Union Company, and that, had the ship been .manned at Auckland with New Zealand seamen, she would not have been tied up in Sydney and a large percentage of the stranded New Zealanders would now be at their homes. In this case he said the company had distinctly blundered with the Moeraki, from the commencement at Auckland to the finish, and the responsibility of the ship now being tied up in Sydney is entirely their'own.

HOPE HELD OUT FOR THEIR EARLY , RETURN.' Wellington, Last Night. According to information given by Sir James Allen, there is hope now that the stranded New Zealanders in efydneywill be leaving for the Dominion within a few days. The Union Company hopes to get the Manuka away to Sydney on Sunday. As her crew is understood to be a New Zealand crew, there is some chance that they will not join the strike on the Australian coast. The stranded New Zealanders had asked to be allowed to man the Moeraki .themselves. Sir James Allen was not sure if this would be permitted, bnt he was hopeful that both steamers would be able to sail, and, if they did, they would be able to bring back practically all the stranded New Zealanders. The Hon. G. W. Russell stated that it had been arranged with the Union Company that if both steamers were able to sail, one would be Bent to Auckland and one to Wellington. Be had arranged that a New Zealand Government doctor should sail by the Manuka for the purpose of examining all passengers and crew on the ship prior to her leaving (or New Zealand. Mr. Russell said the Government agent in Sydney had been asked to supply a report regarding the alleged distress. The agent stated that the stranded New Zealanders committee, had publicly invited applications for monetary assistance to be sent to them that they might refer the same to the Government agent. The committee brought several cases to his notice, but only a few outside those already dealt with, and none of these had previously applied to the agent for assistance.

ARRANGING PASSAGES. Received June 26, 1055 pim. Sydney, June 26. The New Zealand Government agent has announced that in accordance with a cable from the Hon. G-. W. Russell all the preference lists in respect to <tho stranded New Zealanders have been cancelled, it being left entirely to the discretion of the Union Company to ai*» range passages. The secretary of the New Zealand Seamen's Union has cabled that the question of manning the Moeraki rests with the Australian Union.