Coal Miners' Compensation

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 92, 20 December 1912, Page 7

Coal Miners' Compensation

CONSIDERATION OF A BASIC INDUSTRY. HUMAN LIVES VERSUS DIVIDENDS.

By "BILLY BANJO."

The Tragedy of Toil I Wrestling with the forces of Nature, yet away from the pure air and all that is natural to man, the minions of toil swa? the banjo, drill and pick in the coal-mines. Day by day, year iv nnd year out, the pick-swinger-plods and grinds amid sweat, smoke and dust, bending the titanic forces that have been growing cycle- and cycles agone to serve the will of our age. Not only" in the wrestling, lifebleaching process is wealth created, but coal-mining is classified as one of the basic industries: only by the help of tbe coal-winner is progress possible in science; shipbuilding and water transit, railway locomotion, gigantic foundations of gigantic commerce, rest on the under-world life in the twentieth century. So much for the claim of coalmining as a basic industry. In a country that claims to be democratic first and last, one would naturally expect that the toilers in such an important industry,-past, present and future,'in the life of the nation would receive paramount attention if only because of the alleged democracy. When a worker should meet with an accident, under whatever circumstances, within the working of that industry, surely steadfast snd satisfactory provision should be made for the dependents of the unfortunate breadwinner and, incidentally, wealth-crea-tor. Fellow-workers, I believed and you believed as workers within the coal-mining industry of "God's Own," and legal opinion" believed, that from the moment the light of day passed over the brow of the toiler, if anything should happen during our exile in the brutestalls of modern slavery our wives, children, fathers and mothers dependent) upon our toiling would be provided for; that in exchange for a soul-less body, a mangled and torn frame a portion of the wealth we bad created would be returnable.

Oh, ye of over-much faith! The tragedy of it all!

Fellow-worker H. Knight, of Denniston, ex-wealth-creator for the West>port Coal Co., got severely mangled, suffered untold pain, remains practically a physical Avreck. He sought to recover a few mites to meet the calls that an existence might make. So a court that an alleged democratic country keeps paying heavy salaries to (which payments, by the way. would be better spent if placed at the disposal of the unfortunate workers and maimed wealth-producers) duly met to take evidence, not to ascertain the extent of Knight's injuries nor to consider what were the needs of wife and children of the unfortunate sufferer, but as to the right of Knight to receive any compensation at all. The irony of itd The tragedy of it I

Knight said he had gone into a nearby place to secure timber (a common incident, by the way). The place came in, burying three men. Knight was seriously injured.

The Westport Coal Co., of the Denniston country, wealthiest concern hereabouts, produced unconfirmed evidence that Knight had gone to get the men to go home for lack of skips. The evidence proffered by Clark will be long remembered. Clark was Knight's mate. Coal monopoly's evidence all went to prove that Knight had no right) where he met the accident without "authority."

Judge Sim duly delivered judgment: Knight had no right to any compensation. "The court found, as a fact, that plaintiff was absent from his proper place without authority, hence that the accident did not arise out of his employment."

The Case of H. Knight of Denniston

So reads the tragedy of this chapter in the annals of disinherited toil. Fel-low-worker Knight's four little children, as far as law is concerned, have nu claim to live, tbe grief-stricken wife, by law in a democratic country, has no claim to live and the hapless victim has no cluiin to live- in democratic New Zealand.

The Denniston Miners' Union, which seethes.with indignation at the revelations p*r Arbitration Court, per Judge Sun, passed the following resolution unanimously : "That in view of the decision given in Fellow-worker Knights case, this meeting of Denniston Miners' Union calls upon every union in the Dominion, especially coal-miners, to co-op-erate with us in demanding and securiug provision in the Coal Mines Act and Compensation Act to cover every accident happening in or about a mine." The Premier, Minister for Labor, will also be communicated with. Toilers, arise I According to law, as administered today, no man can leave his workine,plaee unless given "authority" by the management—so if a place is closing in upon "any of our mates, as often happens, we cannot rush to the rescue without first procuring "authority"—aye. and that from a petty official who maybe anywhere but upon legitimate duty at the time.

And, again, if an accident should happen, as is often the ease, about crib time and a section should run instinctively to the rescue, as is ever the case, and if that section of men should be buried, as nmv happen any time in n lioavilv-timberod mine such as Denniston mi>es. an obscure shandy-gaff boss would be upheld in the Arbitration Court if ho statpd that the men were having crib at the time together, and the children, broken wives and hroken homes would he relentlessly left on the outside of a democratic society.

As to Westport coal monopoly—what a wealthy concern the strength of the toilers has raised! Tlie conditions on. Denniston. I should say, are unparalellcd in New Zealand.

Despotism suuerb! What a. list of accidents of Deamiston carry. And Knight is refused as much as to Send home a halfpenny Santa Claus stocking to one of his children for Christmas. Ah, the tragedy! What a fine type of manhood —broken to-day.

What despotic conditions on Denniston. The "homes" of the toilers who have given their best possible to this mighty wealth-creating machine are huddled together under conditions sureIv the limit of human endurance. At their best, 2000 ft. above sea level, amid snow, fog, rain and glimpses of sunshine, the women and children especially dra_ out a tragic existence. Nothing practically of the beautiful, outside our own dreamings, is ours. If ever money were stained with blood no dye is deeper than that soaked in the coin of the Westport Coal Co. Fellow-workers, there is only one permanent solution to our problems. Being only one, and that one permanent, there should be no confusion, no hesitancy, as to what to do. This is clear: that we'labor to provide our daily bread, but must create wealth for those who neither toil nor spin, who own and control the means of life. Because a few own and control the industries, the means and distribution of wealth, they are our masters and we are their slaves. Also if we would get rid of our troubles, breathe the pure air of mem, instead of master and slave, we must secure the ownership and we must control the industries etc. Then having gained industrial and social freedom and lost forever our chains and evil concomitants of industrial and social despotism we would elect our own men to supervise our industries etc. and having eliminated the master-class we would have risen supreme over our problems. Then— "To each according to his needs; From each according to his ability." Forward then, 0 inspired workingclass I