BOY AND GIRL SERIKE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 9015, 30 November 1907, Page 1

BOY AND GIRL SERIKE.

An extraordinary state of affairs prevails iu Paisley, in tho thread industry, of which the town is the chief" centre of manufacture. On October Ist, 12,000 workers, mostly young women, found themselves locked on!, as the result of a minor dispute with a number of lads in one of the mills and the foolish action of a section of the girls who sympathised with them. " There arc two groat thread mills in Paislev —the Anchor mills, in the oast end.'and the IVryuslie mills, in j the ".vest end. Tlio former at one j time belonged to Messrs Clark and < Co but both are now owned by j Messrs J. and P. Ooates. The dig j pure arose in the Anchor mills, i where certain machinery -rearrange- j meuts were being effected. Tlio j bovs emploved preparing the. wo-id j blocks for the spool turners thought- j that the proposed change would re- | suit in a reduction of their wages of j about :jd per hundred gross of blocks, j Although the, firm pointed out that tlio svstom had been working satis- j factorilv in Ferguslie mill for some i years, and though they also offered j a time wage until the new arrau re- ■ mont could be tested, the boys I stopped work. Iu sympathy with them. and because of their "loyally" to the lasses on former, occasions, the girls in some of the j departments refused to go iu uoxt ; morning. A dav later, however, } when tiie facts of the dispute became j kuown, rhe girls returned to their j duties, huldiug that -the societies: 1 ought to give the new system a fair s trial. Meanwhile the turners had j been rendered idle by the action of j the boys, and a. large number of tlio l workers had to bo temporarily sus- j pended. Matters assumed an acute j phase, when a section of the girls smashed tlio window in their department, marched into the yard, | and, making a noisy demonstration j tried to influence the other girls to j join them. They did not succeed, j however, and a force of police which ! was summoned ejected them from j the works. This aroused their in-.[ diguation, and the young women j wiio remained at their employment j were treated to so hostile a demon- j strati on. ami were so much bustled j on leaving the promises, that tlio ; directors issued a. notice that the j Anchor mills would bo closed. ' Thereupon the strikers marched in j procession to Ferguslie mills, iu the. i west end. with the oj ot of inducing the strikers there to join them. ; Their intention, however, bocamo , known, aud when they arrived they j found 'the gates closed and guarded ; bv police. Nevertheless they made j ah effort to storm the gates, but a ; hose-pipe turned upon them offee- < tivelv kept them at a, distance. The j Ferguslie hands refused to partici- j pate in tlio dispute, and on leaving the works they were attacked by the j strikers, who lay in wait, and many of them were so badly treated that they had to have medical attention, j Bands of girls also paraded the j streets iudulging in horseplay, and j kept the town in a ferment. lucon- j sequence of this state of affairs the j Messrs Ooates posted a notice at ; Ferguslie mills that work there : would also be suspended until further notice, but that the workers . would bo paid full wages during the j stoppage. ; A' force of extra police was ■ drafted in from tlio country to \ assist in preserving the peace. In ; the course of the afternoon negotia- ! tious were open d up between tho strikers aud their employers, and it was stated that as tho outcome the Ferguslie mills would be reopened and' that- an early settlement of the trouble at the "Anchor mills might bo expected.