II.—REEFTON.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 75, 16 August 1912, Page 5

II.—REEFTON.

Reefton is the chiel' gr.ldrioid of the South Island. The governing union is the Tnangahua Miners' Union, registered under the Conciliation and Arbitration. Act, but also affiliated with tho New Zealand Federation of Labor. The award of the Arbitration Court has been zealously observed by the union, but conflict has raged around the contract system, and the miners have opposed for many months the operation of contract in tho stopea. Dismissals and Afierniath. As n result, dismissals had been wholesale in the early months of tho year, when suddenly tho conflict was complicated by the managerial mandate that the. rock-drill known as th*- "popper' must he worked single-handed. As til" :;geeoin'-|!f with tbe cc-mui,') Yes specifically stipulated I hat two icn were to work drills, and :n I he 'tuners were insistent upon observing the f-oni'l's award, ihe ne n declined i.i ohev the. liinnagcrial < A'x-l and uotv loeke.lou I, I'i'.nii Ihe Con--,Ji.|.i:,'d gl'.up ( I mines. Hence the Reefton lock-out.

A Sinister Concord

In The Worker, and in numerous interviews and speeches, Messrs. G. It. Crowley (president) and M. Fagan (secretary) have ably made plain the union's attitude, towards contract and the "popper," but one sinister aspect of the controversy appears to havo escaped notice, and that the forcing of a lock-out, simultaneously v.iih tho making of m strike. It would appear as if the strike had been manngeiially determined upon— but for Juno rather than May—and that the lock-out was part of a programme by which it was hoped more men than could bo supported by fel-low-workers would bo forced on tho unemployed market. The Issues Raised. Here, also, are raised the questions of arbitration, agreements, contract, unionism—but in addition there is opened up the vast and weighty .■subject of healfah and life, as tho "speedingup" necessitated by single-handling of tho "popper" drill adds heavily to the risks and actualities affecting limb, lung and life. Of which anon.