Cause Of The Outburst.

The following is the portion of the article in the June issue to which Mr. Moate refers: The very definite warning to the maritime unions, pronounced at the Burns Philp annual meeting by Mr. James Burns, was long overdue. The extent to which the firm is ham pered and harassed by the trade unions, in its effort to give the Islands communities efficient and profitable shipping services, has never been dis closed —and, if it were, it would seem incredible.

The firm, for instance, is trying nowadays to get its share of Pacific tourist business; yet travellers on B.P. ships are driven in to dinner by union conscious stewards at 6 p.m., while tourists on ships not on Australian registry are permitted to take their principal meal at an hour that is much more suitable to the tropics. The B.P. stewards may be just as much victims of union tyranny as their employers; but the spineless refusal of the stewards, and of the constantly troublesome fire men and deck hands, to stand up against the un reasonable dictates of the Trades Hall bosses, in evitably will cost them their jobs. The time must come when the crews of the Island steamers will be recruited from the available Asiatic and native labour, so that the firm may compete on more equal terms with ships registered in other coun tries.