THE PETONE DISPUTE.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1921, Page 5

THE PETONE DISPUTE.

A MORE SERIOUS ASPECT. xHE DISMISSAL OF CARTERS. By Telegraph —Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The dispute at the Petone gas works nas now taken a serious turn, owing to the dismissal of four carters for refusing to carry coal from the railway station to the gas works. The four men concerned were employed as drivers by the Petone Borough Council. This morning they were ordered to transport a quantity of coai from the Petone railway station to the municipal gas works, but they declined to do so and were instantly dismissed. It* is believed the men acted as they did out of sympathy with the stokers dismissed by the council and concerning whom the present trouble originated. It is understood the dispute will now be placed in the hands of the Federation of Labor. ASSAULT ON A STOKER. THREE MEN FINED. Wellington, Last Night. As a result of a disturbance at Taita, near Petone, when one of the men recently employed as a stoker at the Petone municipal gas works was assaulted by some of the ex-employees who are having a dispute with the council, four men were fined to-day. Ronald Ferguson, Peter Mullins and Bruce Ford were fined £2O, in default three month*, and George James £lO or two months. The magistrate said the assault was a cowardly and disgraceful piece of business.