STRIKE SPREADS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1919, Page 5

STRIKE SPREADS.

THE MARINE ENGINEERS. NEW TERMS REFUSED, By Telegraph —Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Dec. 23, 1.20 a.m. Sydney, Dec. 22. The Commonwealth ballot of marine engineers decided not to accept the Shipping Controller's terms. The men will not resume work. The strike is spreading, and the Riverina's and other steamers' crews have been paid off. Five engineers on the steamer St. Albans were charged with breaches of the Merchant Shipping Act by refusing to proceed to sea. The cases were adjourned till the 23rd on the men deciding to work the ship, as the owners stated that, in that event, they would withdraw the prosecutions and confer with the Institute of Engineers with the view of reaching a settlement on Monday next.

Sydney, Dec. 22. The engineers' strike has spread to additional vessels, and four Island steamers are affected. There is little hope of settlement. Brisbane, Dec. 22. A deadlock has been reached in the negotiations with the Marine Engineers. Received Dec. 22, 10.5 p.m. Melbourne, Dec. 22. Although the Victorian branch of the Engineers' Institute notified the shipowners that the men will rejoin the idle vessels to-day, the expected settlement, owing to the action taken in other States, has not yet been reached. The Union Company has indefinitely postponed the sailings of the Loongana, Rotomahana, and Wainui for Tasmania. The position is aggravated by cooks and pantrymen leaving their vessels on learning that their executive had rejected the owners' proposals.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.