RISE IN WAGES

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21196, 20 August 1940, Page 7

RISE IN WAGES

CHINESE SEAMEN WORK IN SHIP RESUMED LARGE INCREASES MADE (By Telegrapß.—Special to Times) WESTPORT, Monday The 22 Chinese members of the stokehold crew of an overseas steamer who have been on strike at Westport since August 13, when they asked for an increase in wages, agreed to resume work today after the latest of several conferences between Mr J. H. Duncan (Dunedin), representing the owner, and representatives of the Chinese. It is expected that the ship will sail tonight. Interviewed, the captain ridiculed a suggestion that the Chinese were receiving only 13s a month, and said that the average wage for stokers was £1 13s 4d, plus almost 40 Shanghai dollars payable to dependants in China and equivalent to £3 in British currency.

On the Chinese coast, said the captain, crews were paid the standard wage in Shanghai dollars and the families of his crew were paid the total China coast wage in Shanghai every month. In addition money was paid to the crew while in New Zealand waters, with allowances of free rice, which make up most of the Chinese meals. Besides the free rice the men were allowed £1 a month for food allowance.

The position now is that, owing to the necessity of landing as much phosphate as possible in New Zealand, the captain has been compelled to agree to the demands of the crew for increased wages. Actually, several of the men would be paid far more than they would receive on a British ship trading through the war zone. The new wages paid to get the ship away range from £3 a month for a galley boy to £2O for an uncertificatecl officer, plus their usual wages in Shanghai dollars. The man to receive £2O was formerly paid £2 5s 4d a month. Stokers will now receive £7 a month in addition to the Shanghai dollar allocation to dependants.