MINISTER ACTS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20989, 16 December 1939, Page 8

MINISTER ACTS

BELFAST DISPUTE REGULATIONS INVOKED DISPUTES COMMITTEE TO MEET STRONG WARNING GIVEN (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Saturday The Emergency Regulations have been invoked by the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb in the Belfast Freezing Works dispute, which will now come before a National disputes committee. Instructions have been given to proceeed with the setting up of a disputes committee forthwith.

The Minister added he was very } disappointed at the attitude taken by the company. Mr Webb met representatives of the company last night, with the object, he said, of expediting the early resumption of work. He wanted a mutual agreement to continue under the present conditions time as the dispute could be dAlt with. The men were agreeable to such a course. “The Government takes a serious view of any stoppage of industry,” the Minister said, “irrespective of whether it be by employers or workers. Never were we in greater need for close co-operation between all agents in the field of production than at the present time. Companies and men must realise that the rights of the country and the Empire are paramount. Anybody who stands in the way of expansion of our industries will receive no quarter as far as the Government is concerned.”