MEN CEASE WORK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 April 1943, Page 4

MEN CEASE WORK

AT HIKURANGI AND KAMO MINES RESIDENT DOCTOR NOT AVAILABLE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WHANGAREI, April 6. The miners at Hikurangi and Kamo decided yesterday not to resume work till a resident doctor was appointed to take the.place of a doctor who has removed to Whangarei. The pending departure of the doctor was brought under the notice of Ministers a few weeks ago and a promise was made that a successor would be appointed. This has not been done. The coal output at Kamo was 240 tons a day and at Hikurangi 120 tons. COMMENT BY MINISTER. ACTION CONDEMNED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, April 6. Commenting on the stoppage of work at Hikurangi and Kamo, Mr. Webb expressed regret at the mens action. Last week, he said, the miners interviewed him regarding the necessity for a doctor and he said he would discuss the | position with the Minister of Health when he returned to Wellington. The men had done wrong in stopping work, he added. He realised that mining was dangerous and that in the event of an accident or any mining disaster many lives could be lost in the absence of a doctor. While the men had a legitimate case in asking for a doctor it did not improve their case by stopping work. The Health Department was at present doing its best to obtain a doctor for the district and he hoped the men would return to work immediately.