THE PELORUS GUARDIAN FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER, 5, 1890. The Strikes.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 1, Issue 64, 5 September 1890, Page 2

THE PELORUS GUARDIAN FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER, 5, 1890. The Strikes.

All our contemporaries are full of the varying phaaes of the strike movement, and the public are so engrossed with the subject that it would be next to impossible to direct attention to any other .question. There is one thing which is very noticeable that the labour party is in-an excellent, state of complete organisation and the. employers of labour are not, and for that reason we believe the present will be a bitter struggle, and if not mutually arranged it may possibly last a long time. The’ employers are receiving substantial monetary assistance from England, one firm having sent out £10,000; but against this the Shearers’ Union of Australia • have stated that they will be prepared with £IOO,OOO, and'the whole of England is being placarded, asking for assistance to. the Australian strikers, which we have no doubt will be heartily responded to, as the feeling in England among the working classes is strongly in favour of the Australians since their generous act in sending so much money at the time of the dockers’ strike. At one time strikes were confined merely to one particular locality, but now a strike takes place on a small scale, and if it does not involve the whole world it has certainly spread all over the Australasian colonies, and; snowball like, it increases in size as it rolls along, and if nothihg occurs to prevent it rolling there is no knowing what dimensions it will assume. The interests of one body of men are so interwoven with another that if one section strikes it becomes necessary for a dozen or so more to follow suit. The officers in Australia strike for higher wages, and to enable them to secure their demands, the sailors strike, then the wharf.labourers, carters, and a host of others. Then it reaches New Zealand, although the' men had no difference with their employers; but they are fighting for the principle of Unionism and the sailors strike, then the officers, then the wharf labourers, and so it goes round to every trade or calling until the whole affair gets into a maze of complications, and to try and unravel which is like trying to think what comes after the end of space. There is a good deal of talk about a conference being held, and for the good of all concerned it is to be hoped that matters will be so arranged as to end'the present difficulty.

Mr Matthews, of Blenheim, who has been on a tour of the Australian colonies, and who was on board the Wairarapa when the men struck, gives a very graphic description of the way in which the free labourers set to work to unload the vessel. They took about half an hour’s inspection of the gear etc., and when started put a few bags of sugar in a sling and allowed it to go the full length, and the consequence was that the sugar would not swing over the hatch, and had to be lowered again. There were also many other instances showing that it requires practice to unload a vessel. But the most laughable affair was the clerks and others of the masher class coming down to discharge the coal in their white shirts, collars, and neckties which were soon all one colour. They had evidently mistook their vocation as they pulled the rope when they should have let it slack, and vice versa; they also put some of the coal on the wharf, Some into the sea, and what balance was left went into the trucks.

The question of the appointment of an Inspector to the Marlborough Education Board was again postponed. It is said hope deferred maketh the heart sick, and there is no doubt that those who have any show for the position must feel the full force of that saying.

The nomination of candidates fo ‘ the office of Commissioners for: the Havelock Town Board takes place next Wednesday, and the election, if necessary, on the Wednesday following.

While Mr 0. H. Mills was on his way to the Education Board meeting, he was met by an officer of the law, who requested his attendance at Wellington to give evidence in the case against John Tucker Robinson. It is hardly necessary to again remind our- readers of the opening of the Athenaum Theatre to-night, and of the complimentary benefit to Mr Chas. Voss to-morrow night. We notice in the Wellington Post it is: stated that Mr Karr, the present member for Motueka, has decided to contest Nelson city. From what-we can hear his chances of success are very good. Mr Kerr’s decision makes the election of Mr Mills almost a certainty, for he will receive large support from Mr Kerr’s old constituents.

As one of the effects of tlie strikes,Messrs Newman Bros.’ coach from Nelson on Tuesday was full up with mails, there being no less than twentyfive bags. These were principally mails from the West Coast going to Canterbury via Blenheim and Kaikoura. A discussion has taken place in : the House with regard to the State taking oyer the coal mines of the colony. II this is done the State might just as well take over the sea carriage business, as they have already done the land carriage, when we may look forward to everything being under under State control. Mr A. W. Dillon announces that he will be able to accomodate travellers at his new hotel, at Waikakaho, in about two weeks. ;, , ; , , . Our readers will remember that an ambitious poet asserted in our first issue that Havelock was getting more like Paris every day, and if he goes to the Theatre to-night he will no doubt be still more impressed with the idea. A gentleman in a Midland town, dying recently, left the bulk of his fortune to the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. : But the deceased : had several relatives ill provided for and the trustees resolved to place their cases before the preacher. They saw him at his house at Norwood, with the result that Mr Spurgeon placed the property in their hands for distribution among the needy relatives of the testator. - Owing to the : disarrangement of the. boats Sylvo and Lawton’s Company will not be able to show at Cullensville on the dates advertised, but will appear on a future date, 'of .which 'due notice will be given. . If possible they will appear' as advertised at Havelobk. : • : 1 It has been decided by the Hall Extension Committee that there will be ho dance after the 4 performance to-night.