THE STRIKE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 December 1913, Page 3

THE STRIKE.

"NO SUCH PERSON."

AN "ALLEGATOR" OF DIS-

CONTENT

A great deal of advertisement was made along the waterfront on Saturday, in regard to an interview appearing in the New Zealand Times, in which a man whose name is given as "Peter Haslocli" (who is stated to have come from the Carterton district) made serious charges against the treatment accorded to members of the flew Waterside Workers' Union. Mr W. O. Long, the secretary ■of the union, evpressed his deep annoyance that .such an interview should have been allowed to appear, "i have searched the roll of the union thoroughly," he told a Post representative, "and there is no such man belonging to the union. I have not got to facts as to the interview, but 1 only know, as far as the. union is concerned, that there is no such person."

Mr Bunny, who came down :n charge of the Wairarapa contingent, was also indignant at the suggestions of harsh treatment. "I have never heard of any such man," he remarkeel, "nor can I find any Masterton man who knows him. Our men are well satisfied,, and what has surprised me is that, with such a large- body as 1100 or 1200 men, there have not been more complaints." The following signed statement was made by two members of the union who came from the Carterton district:—

"As membera of the- Arbitration Union, we wish- emphatically to refute, the allegations that the members of the union have not been fairly treated. We much regret that such statements should have been made. We have been accommodated' on the 'Mararoa since we joined the union, and the conditions on board the vessel have been such that there is no cause for complaint whatever. We do not know the conditions prevailing on the other boats,, but, at any rate, as far as the Mararoa is concerned any reasonable-minded man must admit that the accommodation and food are excellent. "As residents of many years' standing in the Carterton district, we are quite satisfied there is no such man as 'Peter Hasloch' living there, and we could bring many other of the Carterton members of the union to vouch for the same fact; "(Signed* E. A. GRAY, "W. BRIDGE."

The statements made above do of course, apply to the complaints regar3ing the Maunga.nui, but to the general conditions under which the members of the union are working.

COMPANY NOT TO BLAME

A Masterton farmer, Mr J. Anketoll, was one of the stokehold crew of the Maunganui. He signed on as a deck-hand,', but volunteered to work below when it was known that a man was wanted. "The conditions wero bad," he said to a reporter, "but I don't think the company could be bja-ncd: for-that; Conditions of work in tlio stokehold are very trying to landsmen, and we thought we should have been better treated. The, food was not good, and we didn't'get too much. On a job like that, when you are new to it, you want something to tempt you to eat. Tfcere certainly was- a great deal of dirt in the usual quarters • but, as I a&id, I don't think these are the usual conditions, and the company cannot very well be blamed, as everything was makeshift. The stewards were hostilo, p.s they wero disappointed ihat the boat was not held up, and they would do nothing for us. % That had a great deal to do with it. Whether the officers know what was going on I can't say. We all of us expected to put up with hardship when we left comfortable quarters on the Mararoa, but most of the men accepted the inconvenience as unavoidable. Certainly when we got to Wellington it was acknowledged by the officials that the conditions were bad, and that they would be remedied at once That the company was not to blame is proved by the fact that improvements were made and many of the men who wont to Lyttelton signed on for.the Sydney trip, quite satisfied that they would bo well treated." • ■ MrAnketell expressed the opinion that the quarters were all right, if kept deanj very -.nuch better, in fact, than in many camps up country. The only, matter in which an improvement was desirable was in the provision of better accommodation for baths. After coming out of the stokehold, a man wanted a bath at once.

For the treatment of the men by the engineers, Mr Anfeetell had nothing but praise. The engineers were gentlemen and did all in their power to help the new chums, encouraging them, and seeing that they were relieved before they were knocked out. ''l would bo quite content to go to sea again under such splendid men. They showed us how to do the work, and in the last watch I found the .strain very much less than at the start." As to the work on the wharf, Mr Anketell thought it was just a job for "toffs." Compared with work in the mud of the country, it was very easy. His first experience of the work was in taking charge of a hatch, and it was simply child's play.