At the Waterfront

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 43, 5 January 1912, Page 12

At the Waterfront

By NAUTILUS.

A ipecial meeting of the N.Z.W.W. Federation was held at Wanganui on lJecember 19 to study the position and advise unions of the situation. There is a good deal of unrest on the waterside, and it would be well to summon a special conference of tho Federation with the view of shifting the executive to a larger centre. The present executive is a live one as far as active at- , tentionto detail work is concerned, but industrially it belongs to & dead order. Ono of the officers, I believo Mr. LoveKrove, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. A change is wanted here, or is ft a case of the lamb and the lion? • • • William Wrixon, a stevedore who sustained a severe fall while working on the Manuka on Friday, December 15, died in the V>-.pital. Hβ was a single man, aged about 45, and lived in Ghuznee etirwt. When working cargo on the forward f.art of the steamer his attention was taken up while a sling of cargo was being hoisted. Two colleagues shouted warningly, but he did not notice and was struck by the heavy swinging weight, and, sent headlong over the vessel's side to the wharf, 20ft. below, strik.ing a crane in his descent. He bus--1 tamed a compound fracture of the skull and other injuries. • » • A resolution was passed at a special meeting of the Union requesting all members to cease work on the day of the funeral, as a protest. • • « A Press Association message told the wondering inhabitants* Jof N(3w Zealand that all work on Lyttelton harbour was suspended for half a day in order that the waterside workers might draw up their demands to bo presented r.t a conference hold in Dunedin on Wednesday, December 19. It was not even a statutory or an award holiday. Just fancy! GOO wage-alaviti!.'; 'vatersidcre, COO bottom-doggers, holding up the entire trade |of the principal )K>rt in Canterbury. The audacity o* the working class is exceeding al! ' bounds. a • • "The cause of the stoppage is explained by an official notice signed by Lurch (president) and H. Voyce (secrotary) posted on the Coronation Hall," continues the message, "calling a special general meeting." The time is arriving vvhon (ho master class of the shipping trade will live in dread of a special meeting. To discriminate against John Smith will spell a special mooting to inquire into his grievance. To bully Taff Jones will mean half a day's delay, costing hundreds of pounds, whilst his fellow workers sit calmly sifting tho matter and decidin; whether they (not the shipping companies) shall continue to employ Hoi Stuff Jack, the bucko foreman. Call your meetings, men, get together, eeaso your quibbling, and run the show .yourselves. Avoid the starvation strike and use the embargo. Take a weel '• holiday and go back happy, earn a fey bob more. Then take another week. • * • The New Zealand Shipping Company made £55,349 last year. The Chairman at the annual meeting said there had been a reduction of £1345 profit, compared with last year.- Under the circumstances, ho regnvtttd that a bonus could not bo granted considering the unsettled state of tli6 labor market. « • * Mr. Havcloek Wilson, general president of the National Bearncns and Firemen's Union, when inte-rviewed by a reporter regarding the calling out of troops to quell the disturbances during the recent strike in the Old Land, said: "It was the duty of the Government to keep order. Ho did not think it was a good thing for troops to be used unnecessarily in lalx»r disputes." "Do you think troops were used unnecessarily (hiring the recent strike?" [asked the'reporter. "Speaking generally, I do not. The Government has to keep order so long as it is not done in an unreasonable manner. In the case of a strike the Government should stand alone, neither on ono side nor the other." Just imagine a capitalist government taking the wrong side, or even remaining neutral. Their class is in danger, and their troops will protect their class. Havelock Wilson condones this in the face of the resolutions of the la to Labor Congress. Havcloek believes in law'nordor at the price of blood if need bo.