THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT, 1908.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 398, 6 January 1909, Page 5

THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT, 1908.

';/ Sir, —When this Bill was under considera'tiori', it-was .an open' secret that/men .suffering. from pneumoconiosis were given to. understand that • if they "kept their mouths , shut'-':/tiir i .after i ;.;Jauuary i : 1 ; ':they' : -wouldore- ; ■ ceiv<3' a: bonus of upwards • of : £500. . Now that there is a hitch in this financial dream,, tit'is necessary, fortthose'who.'mislei the miners'to mako turmoil and strife,in' order to hide their .ignorance/of the •' common-sense : i>iew the; publid 'Syould :'talce'of \ the position;/ Perhaps, later' on, someone will I schedule the; nuinber' of miners suffering fromthis disease; who; hate -come'. to', this: colony . and. dthers' who liave returned to work as miners., if om other occupations within the last ;four-mbiiths' , claim .the' £500 i they "imagined .woufd be due' to them on and' after January 1. --/ : - '/ There should be no, authority so reliable : Ss ; : Mr; ; :H.- P. ;; .'the" New- Zealand Federation of Miners as tothe number ' of men already suffering from ' pneumoconiosis;.This' is .what/ he /says':--. ?'iWo are' determined to resist: the imposition! of this degradation upon . our comrades, ; ' which,:'if -agreed ■ ; to, • would' throw fully: 50 .per cent, of them' out:.bf : work,'.in having contracted this :j dreadful disease.".: .Only fifty ; per -• cent 1.-.:, This means in . the number, of 'members already: on; strike—B6B—the .employers ':would ...-.be jliable .for. upwards -of £217,000 for claims, if 'medical .examinations , are, to . be: dispensed -with.,. It' .is , understood that thoso miners_ who have this# disease and have ."kept their,.mouths .shut'f. ; are' naturally disappointed. /But there is" ho . reason why employers and public should .be harassed' because/.upwards ..of . a ..quarter of.,a million of money is not at once: divided amongst the miners for, this ailment. \ •* ,' It' is. almost impossible to . bdlieve that' any' body of men -wquldi ask the State to give them this amount: because the employers won't-/ For that is all their latest demand 'means, when',they insist that:the 1 Goverhj ment should .make the State Insurance cover tlie men . without, any examination;—l am, ° tC '' PENNA. .' January 5.