VIEWS ON THE SPOT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 44, 15 November 1907, Page 5

VIEWS ON THE SPOT.

POSSIBLE PARALYSIS OF THE INDUSTRY. '.■> » (FKOil OUR 81'SCIAL COItnESPONDENT.) Sydney, Novembor 9. Wo aro on the brink of 3 great striko ii, tho coal industry, which will involve about 13,500 men in tho Ncwcastlo and Maitland districts to bogin with, and, unless speedily Bottled, will paralyso trado in all directions. 1 Tho period ot suspense of tho past few when no ono know how tho men would act in face of the refusal of tho owners to grant their demands, is now practically over, with a declaration of war. MEN'S ULTIMATUM. . . After, preserving tho utmost roticenco for days as to their , intentions, , tho miners, delivered thoir ultimatum yesterday. It camo in tho form of resolutions passed as follows-by tho Committee of Management of Employees' Federation, and sent to the Col liery Proprietors' Association: — That, in view of tbet nttitudo of the proprietors in locking out tho members of the Hobbum, Burnwood, Lambton B; aifd North« umberlaild . lodges, and also their attitude in regard to other grievances, in tho Northern Extcndod, Rhondda, Pe-law-Main, and Newcastle Company'* idachino- men, and other abuses, wo, as a committee, recommend that until such disputes.aro settled wo refuse to assist ihoni to crush our followmen. We, there* fcro, refuse to continue working any longor under tho circumstances. That if bofore Tuesday the proprietors reinstate tho men not in dispute ill tho Heb. .'burn, Burwobd, Lambton B, and Northumberland, and also agree to an umpire, to be appointed, along with a committee .. of. three from; each side to sottlo tho' gnevauces enumerated, wo recommend tho continuance of work. . On tho same night, theso resolutions,

Siissed at a .meoting of the Committee in owcastle, wero sent to tSo minors' unions, or iodgos, to bo, confirmed, so that, if thus approved, they should tako immediate offect. A big meoting at Wallsend, representing the •Wallsend, Co-operative, Elermdro Vale, and Maryland Lodges unanimously approved tho decision of tho Committee of Management, and so did the lodges in the Minmi district. But a different fate awaited tho resolutions at the Glebe, -whore tho Sea Pit and Glebe Lodges met. There thoy were rojected by both lodgos—by that of Sea Tit unanimously, . and by that of the Glebo on division—the first being -thrown out by 47 votes to 33, and tho second by tho narrow majority of 23 votes to 20. NOT UNANIMOUS. - ' So that ovidontly tho minors aro not ""Unanimous in the resolve to paralyse a great industry; but it is unfortunately apparent' that those who aro prepared to strike aro in a great majority, and will liavo their way unless some unforeseen ovent occurs. . ■ It is suggested that the State Government should . intervene with the view of- settling tho troublo,. but up to tho present the Government has not made any move. _ i It is curious to note that the'resolutions, contain no mention of tho subjects about which, the trouble is supposed to have originated. There is not a word 'in them concerning tho hewing, rate, or the pay for small coal, "or the height of the seam. Apparently, therefore, the miners have pre(ferred to stake tho issue upon a number of J other' grievances, for what reason it is hard j'' to discover, unless, as one of the owners claims, they desire to shift the responsibility from their'own to those of j the proprietors. , 1 i Saturday is the pay-day •at the, mines, fwhen the men do not work, and as Monday will be a'.holiday (since tho King's' Birthday is to be observed throughout the State on Monday instead of Saturday), it will not be known before, Tuesday whether a settlement lias been arrived at, and tho crisis averted. jThis is why the proprietors have been given 'until Tuesday to decide, as stated in the jtsecond resolution. . , . k The strike will come at a time particularly, 'unfortunate, because the eolleries have been •working at the highest stress lately to meet ( the exceptional demand for coal, and . the iininers, in consequence, havo 'been making '■'good wages. At twenty-ono eolleries in the . Newcastle and Maitland districts during the past six months, according to a return issued /{y-the'eommittee of the Colliery Proprietors'. ''Association, the average daily wage has ranged from 10s. to 165., while for the past six months fillers have been averaging 125., shotters 245. Bd., .with a deduction of tabout 2s. a week for explosives. • 1 . " NO' LOCK-OUT."

. ( Tho employers deny the implication in the resolutions that there has been a lock-out. ,■ < " There has not been a lock-out at any colliery," declared Mr. H. F. Forsyth, vicepresident of . the Colliery Proprietors' Association, in a .statement to the Press. " Burwood might be brought forward as a case ' in point, but thero. is a strike there ) on the Y .part of half of the men, and the owners cannot work the colliery profitably at the reduced output. With regard 'to Hpbburn, there is m lock-out there either. A large .proportion : of the men declined to ; work, and it was im'possiblo to carry on there at a profit.' Thero no lock-out at the Northumberland 'Coliliery, because the proprietors there have exactly tho same terms , and conditions of work as obtain at the adjoining colliery, '[Northern Extended. The men, however, reif used to accept these at Northumberland, ' .which 1 is a similar seam. The proprietor of ■the Northern' Extended mine stated at our ■ meeting that he did not know of any dispute at all. .As to the Pelaw-Main Colliery, 'certain claims have been made by the miners, tut so far these have never been discussed, as between the'federation and the proprietors. Mr. John Brown, one of the owners' of that mine, was prepared to meet the men to, "discuss the .whole of their claims. The action now taken by the federation will, however, prevent anything being done. "The proposal of the committee of' the Winers' Federation that the matters mentioned should' be referred' to a' joint com- ■ mittee', with ail umpire to be appointed, did not meet with ; the approval of the pro- . priotors,,who, from previous experience, \feel that thero ought' to bo some guarantee that the award, when given, will be abided .by. Tho meeting of proprietors was also' of . opinion ■ that no good could be gained by bringing : in 'an outside arbitrator, more esi pecially when separate agreements had been . made by the miners and from timo to time .broken. In tho caso of Burwood, now specially mentioned, the ink on the agreement had scarcely dried; and of what good is that agreement now? > " OWNERS UNITED."

"The proprietors aro absolutely a solid body, without one dissentient-* voice to the firm attitude now about to bo taken up. • We aro determined to maintain our position. Now that tho public have seen tho high ■wages earned by the minors, and have had knowledge of tho proprietors' willingness to majto an advance of 4d. per-ton in the hewing rate from thq beginning of next year, it will readily be admitted that the men, in forcing on the crisis, havo acted in a most unreasonable way. The proprietors are de"termined, in view of this, and'the hostility shown by the miners' committee, to make the burden of loss caused by the strike fall upon the men in a reduction of the hewing . late. When a' settlement is ultimately effected, the men will havo to go back on 'terms which'will place them in a very much •worse position than they are at the present time, though no one can say they are in a lad position now. Anyone who knows anything about the history of strikes at Newcastle can havo no doubt about what the result of this one will bo. We are determined to resist the whole of the claims tho men have made." .On tho other hand,-Mr. Peter Bowling, President of the Colliory Employees' Federation, asserts, in justification of the stand taken by the miners, that various abuses 'have crept in at tho different collieries, and £fo r theso the proprietors are not disposed ito grant any remedy, although tho executive of the Miners' Federation has met them repeatedly and endeavoured to obtain an equitable adjustment of,their differences.

5 PREPARED TO ARBITRATE. 1 In a speech on Thursday night" to the miners of the Burwood and Lambton B col- . lierics, Mr. Bowling said that from what he I' knew of the men in the federation, he believed they would say they must stand 6houlder to shoulder with those at tho Burwood and Lambton B, with the.men at HebJtiurn, and with those at Northumberland taollieries, and tell the owners, "If you in-l-tend to starve those men into submission, .we are- not going to help you by providing the ammunition." The officers of the miners" federation had dono everything possible ,to avert the present position, except to go down o.i their knees to tho proprietors, .'but all without avail. Tho owners even refused the press admission to 'the recent conference, their contention being that they did not want tho world to know their business.' Tho Teal reason for the attitude they adopted was that their .- position was so weak,, andthat of the miners so strong, that they felt ashamed to take tho peoplo into their confidence. . The position taken up by tho pro- : prietors was one of negation every timo. ' The men would/not permit, themselves to bo starved into submission or he forced down to the minimum, but they were prepared to submit the great questions at issue to any impartial tribunal that might bo appointed. ; The whole of the local grievances could be adjusted in twenty-four hours. The position, as he said before, was a grave one, hut for it the. proprietors, and not tho miners, were -entirely responsible.