COAL STRIKE IN N.S.W.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 606, 7 December 1909, Page 3

COAL STRIKE IN N.S.W.

SEVENTY POLICE SENT TO NEWCASTLE. MR BOWLING AND OFFICIALS ARRESTED. Sydney, December 5. Seventy police were sent from Sydney to Newcastle last night. ■ Messrs Bowling and Brennan (secretary of the Colliery Employes’ Federation) travelled in the same train. There was a large crowd at the station to welcome them. Shortly after their arrival the police arrested Messrs Bowling and Brennan on a charge of conspiracy. Later on, Mr Burns (treasurer of the Amalgamated Coal and Shale workers, was arrested. Large crowds followed the arrestees to the lock-up. There was some hustling and hooting, but no violence. ’ Sydney, December 6. Mr Efughes, representative of the men, declares that the arrests will enormously complicate the situation. The Railway and Tramway Association refused to countenance the general stride mania and the Bowling type of leader. In voting money for strike purposes the. Association ear-marked it for specific use. All the leaders ; arrested were bailed out within a few hours. The offence is alleged to have been committed at noon on November 5. This was the date on which the delegate board recommended the strike. The police visited the Trades Hall and secured a large number of documents, and the minutebook relating to the proceedings on November 5. A mass meeting of miners held at Newcastle and addressed by Mr Bowling and other leaders passed a resolution condemning the Government’s action. Everything passed off very quietly. ‘ I WAIPUKURAU TO THE RESCUE. Wellington, December 6. A private telegram from Waipukurau states that Messrs Chambers and Booth, local patentees, are negotiating with the Lord Mayor of Sydney to light that city with “Dreadnought gas,” by the beginning of January. The light has been a great success in Waipukurau. Dunedin, December 6. The Otago and - Southland Mining Industrial Union of Employees protest emphatically against clause 7 in the Mining Act, as a direct, unwarrantable, and uncalled for interference with employees’ liberty of action, and against clause 8 as a hindrance to the working of mines, and a piece of class legislation to the exclusion of non-unionists. The Union approves of the cancellation of clause 254, but totally opposes section 10, and asks for it to be struck out.