Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star MONDAY, JULY 2th, 1920. A PROTRACTED STRIKE.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 July 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star MONDAY, JULY 2th, 1920. A PROTRACTED STRIKE.

Tuehw ipdjcations that the longdrawn out strike n{ Broken Hill is in a fair way of settlement, Referring W the industrial situation in eonoeet* o ! l with the matter, it. Sydney paper flip other day said that over ,£10,0OQ,!)OQ lias been directly lost to Australia as a msult- of the Broken Hill strike. It is estimated f.hat this enormous sum would have been received from the sale of lend, silver, and ziflp overseas, which would have been produced ill Australia had not the mines at Broken Hill been idle during the past 15 months. One authority estimates that about 25,000 men have lost their employment in cotu sequence of the strike. Of this total 7,500 were employed directly in the pijnes and the others in the railways an,d allied .and incidental industries. It is also estimated that the employees di-

rectly and indirectly affected by the strike bare lost in wages £7/»0Q,000 during the iiitwr period. Privation and misery have been brought to a thriving city of 30,000 inhabitants, who are solely dependent on the mining industry of Broken Hill. Hardship has also been

inf? hied on 70,000 people, who are directly jut<{i indirectly dependent on the 1 industry. Not only have the Broken ““ Hill industries suffered, hut the smelting works at Port Pirie havy hygn seriously affected. The production of lead at the Port Pirie works prior to the | strike was estimated at 140,000 tons i per annum; silver, 8,000,000 ozs per annum ; and zinc concentrates 40.000 tons. Over 168,000 tons of coal are consumed ip the course of a year at Broken Hill when the works are in operation, and j over i 4,000,009 superficial feet of timber, the greater pmtiap of which is Australian hardwood, is also us,;d, The South Australian revenue lias .been seriously affected as the result of the loss of revenue from the raijyay traffic from Broken HHI. The output from the Cockle Creek smelting works and the zinc wors at Hindoo, Tasmania, has been reduced in consequence of the trouble. Without the smelters at. Port

jfcfy-if! to convert the concentrates produced. u<; ,the mines into market metal there would tniyp been no works at Broken Hill during th„e war. Concentrates were thee unsaleable. The strike atrated 15 months ago in consequence of an inter-union quarrel between Hie Amalgamated Ai inerts and the Federated Engine-drivers and Firemen’s Union.

[ With this quarrel the employers ha<j j j nothing whatever to do. When, how- j ever, it was adjusted, and before the strikers had resumed, the A.M.A. declared that its members would not go twk to work until they were conceded, among other things. £1 a day minimum, a. six-hour day, a five-day week, the abolition of the contract system, anc the abolition of the night shift. It wiurecently stated in Loudon that durine the. first ten years of development work on the Barrier the companies spent £1,000,000 in wages without receiving any dividend. The companies declare that under the conditions now demanded by the men the mines can he worked only at a loss. Probably the fresh negotiations to be opened up will lead to a satisfactory settlement of this longdrawn out strike.