STRIKES IN WELLINGTON.

Dunstan Times, Issue 579, 23 May 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

STRIKES IN WELLINGTON.

Strikes and rumors of strikes are beconrng the order of the day. Yesterday (Independent, 12'. b) morning reports were rife that the laboring population of the city had made an unanimous demand for 10s a day, and that the works at the reservoir, the liutt railway, and the laying of the street pipes had come to a stands ill. To some extent the gossip was correct, about twenty of the men engaged in laying the water mains having la’d down their tools ; but the men in the employ of the Corporation at the reservoir, who receive Ss a day, had no cause for complaint, and it turned out that the statement in their regard was a little piece of strategy, in which the wish of the discontented hands stood in the relation of father to the thought. The strike in reality was confined to about twenty of the pipe track hands, who considered 7s a day too small a reward for their labor in these prosperous times. The malcontents, however, only form about half the number of the hands employed, and as their exaggerated notions of the value of their services were not supported by their more sensible confreres, the “strike” was a failure. The rate paid by the contractors is 7s a-day, and though the men have every right to sell their labor at the highest price it will command, there is always a reasonable hound which it is unwise to go beyond Many branches of trade could be instanced in which the working men must possess considerable skill and fair educational attainments to fit them for their positions. They receive 10s a-day, and surely the 7s of the laborer bears a fair proportion to the 10s of the skilled artisan. A proper perception of the bearings of the question seems to have prevailed amongst the majority of the men themselves, and no doubt those who rashly refused to go to work will take a fair view of the matter and resume operations during the day. The rumor of the men on the Hutt railway having struck also proved to be incorrect.

The same paper of the 14th says The laborers’ strike was as short as it was insignificant. The plain fact is, there was no reasonable ground for a resort to extreme proceedings, and though we have no desire to attribute the demand for increased wages to anything but a sincere belief on the part of the men that they are fairly entitled to shaie the advantage which the present prosperity has placed within the reach of all the other classes, still there does seem to have been a disposition on the part of a few of the hands merely to put to the test the strength of mind of their employer - . Ibis intent is manifested in the circumstance that those who took upon themselves to occupy the position of “ leaders ’ —the blatant deceivers who lead the innocent ones into erroneous ways—turned to their work yesterday morning when they found the contractors bad no thought of giving way. A few of those who had blindly followed their lead still hold out for the increased rate of pay, but the moral taught by the proceedings of the last day or two suggests that they should follow the example of the wily ones in what is sensible and return to their work. If they cannot see now bow they have been beguiled they must bo naturally very obtuse.