STORY OF AN AMATEUR COAL-TRIMMER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2010, 18 March 1914, Page 9

STORY OF AN AMATEUR COAL-TRIMMER.

NEW ZEALANDERS' FLOCK. FIRING ON THE OPAWA Tho story of how, at- short ■ notice, the New Zealand trader Opawa shipped sixteen volunteers to take the place of firemen and trimmers who ; were indulging in a sympathetic strike reads almost like a romance, runs a narrative in the "Morning Post" (London). Tho volunteers were drawn from the special constables. enrolled to protect tho free workers in the docks at AVellington, ' New_ Zealand. They all belonged to a considerably higher stratum of society than that from which stokehole workarp usually drawn; and several of them aro the sons of quite well-to-do people. Yet because they felt a strong stand ought to be made against a body of strikers who were trying to bring to a standstill the entire trade of New Zealand they undortook and carried through for seven long weeks labours which are probably among the hardest and most trying of any in the whole Tange of industry.. Probably they none of them • knew, before they sailed how terribly hard a'life the ship's fireman leads. But thoy soon found out, and it is to their credit that when they did so they "grinned and bore it" with a pluok that excited the admiration of their shinmates. \ "They did wonderfully well," said one of the engineers under whom they worked, while the verdict of another who had closely watched them throughout: the voyage was: ''There was plenty of British grit about thorn." Reason for Volunteering. The account given to a representative of the "Morning Post" by ono, of tho volunteers'of the motives whick actuated him and of his experiences in the stokehold was full of interest. Mr. H: D. Mackenzie is the son of a'New Zealand, sheep farmer. His father is a native of Inverness, but ho himself has never before been "home," as he described the Old . Country. . Hβ is a good-looking, clean-limbed, well-set-up young man, and a member of tho New Zoaland Territorial Light Horse. Evidently a 'mail'.of education and refinement, he admitted that till he signed on for the Opawa he had never done any manual labour. "Why did, I shin as a , fireman?" said Mr. Mackenzie, repeating a question that had been put'to him. "Well, we have been troubled with strikes all over Ne,w Zealand lately. The farnicrs lost heavily over the butchers', strike,about twelve months ago. When the waterside workers laid down their tools we thought it was time to let them see we could manage without them. The trouble all arose put of a demand Wde by thirty or forty shipwrights that they should to paid for tho timo occupied in going from their homes to their work; All ,tho waterside workers are in the "Red" Federation, and it wnis their action in dropping-their 'tools' during working hours to consider the grievances of the shipwrights that brought matters to a head. The Government called for special constables to-protect the free workers. I was one of thosb who volunteered' for -tliis service, and I was stationed with eleven hundred other mounted) men at Wellington, which is a day's journey from my, home. I was deeply impressed with the importance of seeing 'to the safety of tho free workers, as the strikers were trying to hold up the whole trade of thq..cpratrjr by ,bjocking r tho .shipping."''.' ■'.'';' ' "-;■ ; .'" - To."Fire" the Boat-Home. ' Mr. ; Mackenzie had- served . for 'fiveweeks among the special constables wh?n the captain, of the Opawa, and the agent of the New Zealand Shipping Company, hor owners, went to the police camp and asked for volunteers to "fire the boat Homo." Sixteen firemen and coal-trim-mers had refused to work, > and 6ixteen 'of.-the special constables, Mr. Mackenzie among them, agreed to take their places. The call for volunteers was madeon.Monday, December 1, and the ship started on-the following Wednesday, so that he had rot time to go home to get . extra, c'othing or to say good-bye to his people. Many of tfie other volunteers iyere in like case. "I was entered as'ii fireman," Mr.' Mackenzie isaid, 'Ibut I was so terribly sick at first that I could' not eat anything till the' fifth day, N when I managed to swallow two■ ship's- biscuits; For about ten days I did day work, such as shovelling coal down tho shoots for the stokers and helping to clean, out the fires.- When I got back my strength I did the ordinary work of a trimmer. Of course it was hard work. My hands got very hard and dirty." With some diffidence ho complied with a request to show the. palms of his hands. • Tho skin was knotted.and horned, and there, was, a, half-healed burn, on one of his wrists. But the tiling that seemed to have troubled him most'was the difficulty of getting himself clean after a spell of work, especially when tho ship was in the icy waters near Cape Horn. Several of the men suffered .much, froni tho boat when in the Tropics, and Mr. Mackenzie, admitted that he himself was sometimes almost in a. fainting condition. He was very modest about his. own performances, but it is clear from what he let fall that he gritted his teeth'and stuck to his work. He lost about a stone- in weight during the voyago, and feels it necessary to rest for a. few days before entering on a thorough exploration of London. But in spite- of the hardships ho has. gone through—or possibly becauso of them— he is , evidently proiid of the seven weeks' ,work he did as' an amateur coaltrimmer. ' * "Still you would not recommend such' a trip,"-he was asked, "to-anyone in search of a pleasing novelty in the way of a holiday.tour?" "A holiday tour! ' he replied. "My goodness, no. I really' pannot understand how firemen can take it on from choice. I consider that it Is about the hardest life a man can live." ' Happily tho voyago back to New Zealand is to bo made under loss strenuous conditions, the New Zealand Shipping Company having offered secondclass passages'at any time within tho next six months to those who went to their, assistance in their hour of need.