STRIKE AT BLACKBALL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1832, 19 August 1913, Page 4

STRIKE AT BLACKBALL.

350 MINERS OUT. TROUBLE OVER "DOG WATCH." (By Telegraph.—Special OorrouDondont.l Greymouth, August 18. Blackball minors, numbering about 350, all struck work this morning. ( It appears I'lrat about seven days ago the men demanded that tho back shift between midnight arid eiglit a.m., known, as tho "dog watch," be abolished 1 . Th©\ company did not reply to tho, demand, with tho result stated. At tho outsido only seven pairs of men are engaged during this shift their duties being to conduct development work preparatory to tho coal-getters following thorn up. Should tho shift be, abolished, it means a less output, as a largo number of men would have to stand by awaiting development work to be gone on with, aa both sections could not uso tho samo cable together. Pumping operations ard being kept going for the courso of a few days, pending a settlement. At a meeting of'the Miners' Union held yesterday it was agreed to allow a reporter to attend all meetings, but reports are subject to censorship by a special press committee set up. It is rumoured that the Eunanga min« crs hove been asked to join tho strikers but refused to take any hand. ■Work at a Standstill. (Br TelearnDh.—Freud A«ioclation.) Groymouth, August 18. Both sides ore reticent as regards tho details. It is understood the Miners' Union refused as a body to work unless the dog-watch shift was abolished, with the result that tho management acocptod tho request as an ultimatum. , All work is at'a standstill tx>-day. The Blackball Company's 6tea.mer Ngahere loft loaded to-day for Wellington. Tho Ngatoro and Petonc's movements aro now uncertain.