DARKEST NORTH.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 35, 3 November 1911, Page 17

DARKEST NORTH.

Sir,. —;A certain manager at a coal mine in the Whangarei district expects Coal miners working under him to blast 'stone up from the) floor at the same price as hewing coal —viz., Is 4-_Vd per 10 cwt. skip. The union has an agreement which roads: 6ft. of coal and over in. height, 2s 9d per ton ; sft. 6in. to 6ft., 2s lid pea- ton; sft. to sft. Gin., 3s Id per ton; under sft., to be arranged by the management and the union; but the manager says when the i>oal thins out to about 3ft. the miner must blast the floor to make it sft. high at the same price as stated above; ;also he thinks he ought to have the right to make one mail's w r age up to shift wages and refuse another just as "he- thinks fit. In- other words, if a man is a crawler and a scab he will give him wages, but if he is a man with manhood and a principle and stands up .for his rights and those of his class, he will not give lum anything, but he must work for 7s or 8s a day, while the crawler gets shift wages. It is surprising what mean,, selfish, unprincipled, so-called men get positions to rule over other men. It is only what we can expect under our present system of wage-slavery. • The workers are asleep, dead to their own interest, can- * not see they are being led by the nose."". I notice the capitalist. press is con-

tinually talking of a general strike at election time, but Sir joe says he has not heard of such a thing, but if there was any likelihood of such he Avon/Id ha.-c been informed. Who is he ? I think he is one the reads about but never understands. Workers, unite, get in one solid body, and pull together. Then, and only then, will the producer, the.worker, get his just demands. —Yours, Whangarei. J. JONES.