LAST YEAR'S STRIKES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5, 6 September 1913, Page 4

LAST YEAR'S STRIKES.

from the annual report of the Labor Department it appears that though the past year was abundant in industrial trouble, there was a, great development of tiie secondary Industrie: ofj the Dominion. Since, the passing of the Arbitration Act in 1894 the average annual number of strikes ir Xew Zealand has been five, but lasi year the total was thirty-five.; consequently, the Department describes th< past'year as the most notable for serious .industrial unrest in the history o! the dominion. Happily, continues the report, the major portion were of r minor nature, but three disputes were of some magnitude, namely, those affecting the Waibi gold miners, the Reef ton gold miners and the slaughtermen throughout the dominion. The first-mentioned was one of the mosl serious industrial disturbances in the history of Xew Zealand, and was remarkable for the fact that the dispute lay, not between employers and their workers, but between two bodies of workers; that is, those in favor Oi the Act and those opposed to its principles. The most regrettable feature to record was that there was much rioting and disorder, which, unhappilj ended in the fatal shooting of one of the participants. The Keefton dispute may be considered as second tc the Waihi trouble in point of magnitude, the industry affected being at e standstill for a period of six months. The Slaughtermen's strike, which was one sympathetic dispute, spread practically through the dominion. It took place when the season was at its height, and consequently must have resulted in serious loss and inconvenience to the freezing companies and tithe farmers. Since the Act came into force ninety-eight strikes have taken place. The men were fully successful in twentv-fivo cases, the em-

ployersiu forty-two, and a compromise was effected in twenty-eight cases. Workmen lost £283,206 in wages, and employers are estimated to have lost £160,414.