OUR COAL MINES

Hokitika Guardian, 17 March 1921, Page 3

OUR COAL MINES

001, THE STEADY MINER War I j (By Carbon.) The views which coalminers hold con I cerning the best means of nukiiq others acknowledge their claims to* tl.< vast coal deposits of our land are varies as tlieir dispositions, their feat: res and their nationalities. Despite th< fact that the miners, in action, come sc near to the solidarity ideal of-the social ist of to-day, they are by no means united as to tho best means of establishing tlieir alleged rights. Only their “ leaders ” (or drivers) know how well oiled the mechanism of the “ steamroller ” must be wherewith uniformity of action may be secured. The miner who lias given hostages to fortune, and has bis lrome and growing family to consider, is always a problem to the man in office. That the “leaders” have dealt fairly effectively with that problem may be at once cocnceded. The mutteriiigs of discontent seldom get beyond the mutteriiigs s.tagc, except, it may be, at the time of the annual election of officers, and then it is necessary | for the murmurers to seek to attain tlieir object in a round-about way. To allow the cause of" discontent to be stated as too great strike activity would be the sure way to affix a halo non and secure the election of the official thus opposed. j It is difficult to guage the strength of this feeling of distrust of the miners’ “powers that be” and tlieir plan ot campaign. Men fear to trust one another in the full unburdening of tlieir minds. A clergyman of my acquaintance, a resident of the Newcastle dis- J trict during the big strike of 1909-10, ’ gives an instance of this distrust. Meeting n steady, 'hard-working miner whom lie knew, when the men had been out about a fortnight, lie pointed out J that, in his opinion, the right moment J bad arrived for the men to return to work, and refer matters in dispute to’ the Arbitration Court. After a long 1 discussion the miner expressed himself as’convinced by the minister’s arguments. So much for Jones. Half an hour later the minister met Smith, and ■ a similar discussion took place, with an | identical result. Each miner expressed l a wish that arrangements might be 1 j made for the minister to address his 1 | union on the subject. Meeting Jones { j and Smith together the next day, the { j clergyman was astounded to find that i neither man would even admit having * I had any conversation with him on the 1 j preceding day, and both, after sundry 1 : personal remarks, hastened off to do- v ••ounce the minister as “ a friend of the 11 proprietors.” An dtlic name and consequent opprobrium stuck to him. The a position is no less difficult to handle totlay. How to make vocal the dissatis- 11 faction of the steady, industrious miner 1 with the actions of- those who precipitate conflicts for excuses which they do k •lot themselves consider adequate, exI cept oil the basis ul " any stiyk being I 1 good enough to heat a dog with,” is ai the problem of the hour to the man who wishes to save his country. The strike 11 of, eleven years ago was engineered by the self—interest of two officials of the federation whose seats were endangered at the approaching elections. It was G decided upon at “ meetings of all inter- 111 us ted ” held in halls packed by one- 1,1 -bird of those who should have been Vl present to decide such a tremendously important question. The remaining H ino-thirds stayed at home, weeded tlieir OI garden beds, or cobbled tlieir children’s shoes, and walked down the street in the evening to learn what “ tho hoys ” , l );l had decided on at the meeting. And j 111 until some means can he devised for J this feeling of dissatisfaction with cer- j * s tain methods of conducting industrial disputes to find itself and learn how Li widespread it is, such will lie the 1,11 method of organising and conducting th strikes till'ruin seizes us. . Gu The steady miner of to-dav does not <; i waste much breath over the iniquities 11 of the “capitalistic Press”—except, s^l( perhaps, in strike time. Me reads, but K* v does not swallow, all that Labour pap- tin ers or pamphlets assert so constantly ; tat he notes the statement that the 1 uglier ->e cost of living lies at the door of an in- •'••• dividual known as the profiteer, hut is Mi ready to argue with his neighbour over the garden fence, during “ smoke-oh ” tin on pay Saturday afternoon, that the he higher cost of coal has something to do s "i v.'itli it. He ponders the record of his tin savings-bank book, and marks the strike, bee epochs by the depletion periods, amt tie between his pipe-puffs reckons what he tin might have been worth to-day had these pm strikes been averted. He has the pre- V\l judiee of his race against all.laws con- tin cerning mining which have been made of by “ men who have never been down a oil mine in their lives; ” he lias heard so bn much and spoken so often of one law adl for the rich and another for the poor pec that he almost believes it is so. Yei in tin. his heart of hearts this man believes 'I that by fairly conducted methods of if j Intuition his cause, and that of his Id- • 1 low-workers of every grade and oier.v ma trade, may !h> led to safety and ultimate i PD triumph. Me distrusts lawyers, ar.d i! , •very judge could have had actual ex- j aaw lerienee of earning his living by cutting 'F> ■oal during some portion of Ids career, ’ ind would give his decision before tiie . rising of the Court, instead (if waiting -y-i weeks to consider the evide v o, and possibly (who knows?) give a eh nice to the proprietors’ lawyer to oittoduee fresh evidence or take a point in some JT way, he believes that in most cases the lecision would, in the course of natural * n justice, be in his favour. j » Of course this attitude may seem • childish to men of wider views, but j those w ho know the miner well will ac-! -wj knowledge how accurately it sets forth ; r the viewpoint of a large proportion of, the hard-working miners of our land, j V! riie question of how to give expression ! ' to the feeling of dissatisfaction with tak iresent tendencies is the problem of the nic vide thinkers amongst the ranks of the nie nitiers. These men are largely, but lot wholly, outside of the ranks of the 'll Federation officials. * Were it not for their leaven of com- two non sense amongst the officials wo Mu Jiould have had precipitate action often or :imes when, fortunately for aIT parties, it lias been averted. This feeling is VI not always articulate; to be too pro- ▼ lomiced would mean defeat at the Ap next elections; but these solid men hold Hu in, hoping for a change in the selfexiression found by the miner in his bal- jp Willoughby, /W J. j pet Vursest— HA Park, Muriel M, Qut

lot paper. Men have told me that th have had to make their public uttc ances vitriolic in order to defeat t design of tlieir competitors for office slioV that “Codlin’s your friend, wor ers.” Whether this growing feelii ~ in the rank and file will find its tri representatives amongst the leaders ~ to?day is the question upon which de tiny hangs not only for the mining ii s dustry, but for the future of our peopl [e Every now and again the firebrand ( t) yesterday has been forced by an hone: j. study of the situation to the expressic s of opinions which others have d< j_ nounced as reactionary. Hitherto sue r a man has either yielded to pressur II and given an explanation tantamoun to a recantation, or has been prosse v out of the race, and, a defeated an r marked man has “gone on the coal 1 1 again in silence, except as opportuni , ties may come to him to heckle the mir ? ers’ president or secretary into givinj ■ an account of his stewardship, j. I should be sorry to wound the feel , ings of the many true-hearted men o my acquaintance amongst the working . miners of Australian coalfields, but I d< believe that what is most necessary to day is an awakened recognition of the rights which are mine and thine. The spirit which made possible for the first time during the strike of eleven years ago the calling out of the pumpers and the deliberate injury of the mines, which injured miners most when the | strike was declared “off,” is alive today, and in its growing blindness in leading, or suffering to be led, the key industry of commerce and manufacture to a great disaster. SHOP lIOUKS 1 MR M’COMBS SCENTS A FRAUD WELLINGTON, March L ••It's a forgery,” declared Mr M’Combs in the House to-day during the course of a speech in wliicti he called attention to certain irregularities in petitions presented against last session’s amendment to the Shops and Offices Act. The member for Lyttelton stated that petitions alleged to have (.omc from 4000 shop-keepers were not signed by small shop-keepers, nor were they addressed to .tllC House. Whole groups of names were signed in pencil in the same handwriting, and any suggestion that it was a petition from small shopkeepers was, h 0 declared, absolutely fraudulent. Air Potter, who presented the largest petition referred to, said that as a new member he might have made sonic mistake in procedure, and he was quit) willing to take the petition back f* presentation in proper form. Mr Af’Combs: It cannot be. It is a forgery. AH Potter: That’s all right. It is not a forgery. Every signature is all light. Air M 'Combs: Not a single shopkeeper. Air Speaker explained the proper micedurc and stated that the petitions is they had not been addressed to j : he House, would be returned to* the j 1 nember in charge for proper preset- j at ion. [ 1 When the Bill was read a first time , dr AleC’ombs urged th,. Alinister of , ( .abour to set up a Labour Bills Coin- * nittee to take evidence on the amend- | uent. lie reminded the House that | •oluminous evidence was taken last cssion, and as a result S>'' William lorries brought in a Bill which went illy a slmrt way to meet uliat the hop assistants desired. Referring gain to the petition he said that ages of it were in the same handwrit- ® ! I Air Potter: L)o you say the petition y bogus? i f Air AUConibs: “I say it is chock-; ill of frauduleney.” The Depart- j lent, he added, was going further, in (] iat it had intimated to shop-keepers, j nit tliqv could break the law. Tlie ovmimeiit was, in effect, over-riding jdecision of Parliament in telling j ( lop-keepers that even if they did not - >t th ( > Bill through they could do as j icy liked, for one of the recent depu- . tionists had wired that there would j 1 no prosecutions. This was too se- ! ous a matter to let pass, concluded i r Al’Oomhs. • The .Minister of Labour in reply said P) iat though voluminous evidence had •eii taken on the Bill not one of the mil shop-keepers had attended, and ip result was that great injustic,. had •en done them. He had given no-:-e to introduce a Bill lief ore the petians arrived and it was not the De- ( rtmont's intention to break the law. j 'hat he had told a deputation was iat until he had had an opportunity ! obtaining an expression of opinion t j i the matter no prosecution would bo ought. If the House was going to here to the law a large number of jr •ople would bo penalised. He ought the law should l>e altered. j The Bill was read a first time. j] Delicious pastry, cakes and scones are jj ide with. SHARLAND'S BAKING 7 _ IAYDER. ’Tis purest and best, and 1 economical m 'or continuatii'n of news sec fourth Page)- ’ f 0 — p. jIRESIT FISH TO-N.IGHT by seven o’clock' train. W. White. R< bOR SALE—Ten-roomed HOUSE. Apply D. Spence Rimu. Do - D \/’ANTED TO BUY—Second Hand * HAND-CART. Apply “Guardi- j ” Office j XT ANTED—Good Useful GIRL j * Apply to “Guardian’’ Office. j \T ANTED— Leading BUSHMAN, j ’ » YARDMAN, and SAWYER, to' rc contract Stony Creek Mill, Ka- j ■ri Lake Road. Apply Office, Ka- , 3ri Sawmill Company, Hokitika. •j, V ANTED.-Second BREAKER- : DOWN, two TRAM-LAYERS, ‘! o PICK and SHOVEL MEN. Apply *' ' Oil unphreys’ Sawmill Ltd.. Humphreys G. Davidson, Hokitika, ¥ ANTED.—Four handy MEN for j mill erecting at Kanieri Lake. | >p]y on works, or to R. Speed, j miphreys. lE(F 10R SALE—Chestnut GELDING, I A lour years by Woodland Whis- - i’s; Also rubber tyred GIG and St VRNESS,—R. Thomson, Gibson’s sio nv, [