At the Waterfront

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 62, 17 May 1912, Page 14

At the Waterfront

By NAUTILUS

The winter season is setting in, and a good number of watersidors are seeking .fresh fields. Many are taking on tho sea for a few months till the wool comes clown again. Wo watorsiders are an obliging class of rnon: when tho winter comes and tho employer will not buy our labor at tho waterside, we turn ourselves out to grass in tho country tiJI ho needs our services in. the summer again. The most peculiar part about it is that we haw to buy our own grass. Wo are tho handiest power used in distribution, for when times are slack wo can bo turned off. On the other hand, the boss's horses must be carefully tended and fed during the winter; his machine must Iμ? cleaned and oiled. While his horses are led and his machines oro driven, to work we require neither, for tho sight of a book in a foreman's hand makes flocks of us scramble for the honor of his service. We arc mobile and tractable; we don't even require to he advertised for—tho sight of a steamer's signal makes wholo droves of us desert our homes for the waterside. We are. quite serviceable labor power, well trained to do fclio right thing at tho right time. The Wellington Waterside Workers' Brass Band instruments have been an view in the Singer . Sewing Machine Company's window since Monday, Ctfli inst. Tho band will commence operations within a month from date. Quite a number of tradespeople have responded to the Union's request for financial assistance to equip the band. The increasing number of prosecutions for desertion from Home vessels and the harsh penalties inflicted on the unfortunate seamen convicted is causing a good deal of timely comment on the waterfront. It is scandalous that in the year of grace 1912 a man cap bo sentenced to three months' imprisonment, besides losing his wages, for leaving his master. The high faultin' about freedom under the British flag may apply well to a roaming tourist, hut tho unfortunate shellback who would try his luck in a young country is held in durance for a term and then shipped back to the land of smoke- and money-bugs. The disgrace is worse to New Zealand owing to the fact that the company's sbTps, from which the majority of tho prosecutions emanate, aro labelled after our country towns and the company itself bears ''God's own country s" name-plate. Of nil slaves, tho seaman is the worst, and tho last one to leave the conditions of chattel slavery. The capitalist would squeal loudly if Labor used its power to stop the exportation of some of our staple commodities which are being shipped to the Continent and sold at lower pr cos than are paid by workers in New Zealand. "Supply and demand must rule tho market," would bo heard on all sides. Yet in the case of the seamen, when conditions of service reduces the supply of labor, force is usod to compel the seamen to sell his labor. The root cause of desertion is bad wages ftiid conditions; if these aro removed and the seamen on Homo vessels placed on a par with colonial seamen there- would bo no need for judge and jail. Anyhow, this is a live question for the Seamen's Union to consider. A report to hand from Timnru slates I hat there is so much grain stored at tl,o southern ports that ships cannot be procured to send it Homo fast enough to please the exploiters. The Premier has undertaken to use his inniiuiico to procure tho necessary shipping accommodation. In another paper I read that there is a possibility of an increase in tho price of bread in. sympathy with the rise in Australia.