MINERS PAID OFF.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1446, 22 May 1912, Page 6

MINERS PAID OFF.

CONSOLIDATED GROUP TROUBLE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Rcefton, May 21. AH tho Black-water men, except tho engine-drivers and firemen, and #. few surface hands, havo been paid oft. ihcre must bo 300 hands idle. Rome of tho single young men have already pone en rente to Australia. The difficulty is to find work for the married men, but the chairman of ilio Comity Council is coftv municat.ing with tlie i tiovernF.cnt re finding work on railway. Many of the old servants of the, company have been paid off. The Miners' Union hero have met an nwkwnrd time. Both tho president and secretary aro attending the federation conference at AYe'lingtoii. flic Miners' Union holds a mass mwtinit tomorrow nisrht. The conduct of the men is admirable, there being no drunkenness or disorder, and the town is even quieter than usual. Rome of the young unemploved havo gone out shoot inn, and tliero is no talk of trouble whatever. A canard was circulated in Westpnrt that tho manager's house haci to lie watched by tho police, but was laughed at here. Tho I rouble is confined to tho Consolidated Group-1 lie Keop-il-Dark and Big River properties being unalicct'eil.