THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1541, 10 September 1912, Page 8

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

POSITION AT WAI HIWORK RESUMED AT BATTERY. FOLLOWING-UP TACTICS- . {By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) Auckland, September 9. 'An. alarming rumour was current in 'Auckland yesterday to the- effect tliat a riot had taken plate at Waihi' on Saturday, attended with fatal results. There was no.ground for such ft rumour, Waihi being quiet on .'Saturday and yestorday. •No violence of anykind is anticipated, foi tho police force now uv tho district, is 'quite strong enough to make it reasonable to suppose .that nothing rash will Be done by any section of the men at Waihi. Special reports from Waihi show that the following tactics are still pursued by the strikers. Whenever an engine-driver nppcars on the street the strikers fall ii. and march, behind him, and to.all intents and' purposes it might be a procession o> mutes, as nothing is said by the men. On Saturday night the strikers had a disappointment. They gathered , in the vicinity of the theatre, expecting the enginedrivers to attend. ,Jf the drivers attended the strikers would have selected (. suitable moment and marched out of the building as a protest. However, the drivers didn't'go to the theatre. The gathering of strikers gave the police a good opportunity to serve summonses. From 50 to 60 men will appear at tho Police Court on Wednesday'charged with such cffence3 as insulting.idngiiage and conduct tending to create a. breach of the peace. Meanwhile the number of arbitrationists employed at Waikino is . being steadily swelled, and it is : understood -that from , forty-five to : fifty men will be _ working there to-morrow, the majority being old employees of the company,, who have offered to Tesuuie, work and are returning to "their, homes at Waikino. . As tlib.men go on increasing in".numbers the company'will no doubt iihd it necessary to employ some.of them on. work apart from that connected with tho , Hora Hora , transmission line and transformer house. .Everything, is . ; quiet at'Waikino. ■■•'■'.'' • . :

'The''eighteenth'.week.of tho'strike c'oinnie'need. to-dayj pnd- the seventeen weeks of' idleness has involved the loss in gold output from, the district, mines of approximately £245,000. The decrease, in, the yield,from-the Waihi Company re- 1 presents'-quite : .£195,000, and .froin' the Grand' Junction : .£70,000, while the'loss in wages-has been fully ,£80,000; divided' between- the -townships of Waihi and Waikino.,; '';■'.- ." ■. ~";■■' .".';' ■; ■ ,"•

■Interviewed last evening in connection with'.the tactics.of some of the Woihi strikers' in following' up inoffensive neii, . Inspector : ' Mitchell, of , the 'Auckland police, stated that .the proceeding was such-'as might easily provoke a breach of the .peace. : The law; in connection with the matter was perfectly clear. ■Thero was no doubt, said the inspector, but.that the methods adopted bv ; the strikers would' come under, the definition of "offensive acts'for the,purpose qf- annoyance and provocation;" and it was equally certain that siich tactics, were. Hkejy to provoke a breach of'the "p'eaceV '"' " :

A.vcuribnS; -position., has ■ been . brought (ibout.,bx-the faot'thnt the' engine-drivers and winders at Huntly have seceded from the Waikato'Miners' Union - and joined tho Engine-drivers' and Winders' Union. Thb! strike at Waihi, as is well "known, va3 brought about through the members of- the- Miners,' .Union there .refusing to be! levered into .thb mine-by the members of 'the -Engines-drivers' , and . Winders' Union, whom they stigmatised as "scabs," in spite of .tho fact that they were registered unionists. Although the winders are called "scabs" by the Waihi. miners, .the at Huntly are, evidently loqke'd npon as "fellow. workers" by ';th». J .'coal. miners,*..who are still lowered" "into the' , mines there by ■ arbitrationist winders.. On the face''of it the position nicpears to be that while a gold-miner at Waihi refuses to be lowered into the mines there by tho n-rbitrationists, the position is quite unnltered should • the gold-miner go to Huntly to work in the coal mines for, tinder the conditions existing at Huntly, the-miner,from Waihi would have to be lowered' into the mines by the men. who are said to be deserving of much contumely from the point of view of the Federation of Labour.

The latest, news from Waihi is as follows:— ■, ■■ " . ■ ■ The first whistle summoning the men. to work since the strike commenced 'to sound at the Waihi Company's Victoria battery at Waikino this morning, when between forty and fifty employees resumed, work.- The majority of the men were escorted by. a police posse, also by n contingent of strikers. Everything passed off quietly, there being no hostile demonstration. It is expected that more men will-be taken on during the week. The battery whistles were -plainly heard at Waihi, causing favourable comment. Many .expressed.the hope that the beginning of the end is now at hand. Crushing Operations at the battery have not ..yet, actually started, but wilKdo so fit an early .dnte. Operations at the Waihi nuarry also commenced this morning at Waikino, including the crushing of stone for the concrete foundations for the ixnver-house in connection with the Hora Hora electrical transmission line. A locomotive engine will be running to the- quarry in the course of a few days. Police Commissioner Cullen and . Inspector Wright wore visitors to Wai;feino this morning.