THE STRIKE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 81, 5 December 1913, Page 5

THE STRIKE.

AT AUCKLAND.

TAUPIRI MINES DISPUTE.

VICTIMISATION DENIED.

[Per Press ‘‘/ssociation.l

Auckland, ./December 4

The directors of the 'iaupiri Coal Mines have issued a statement in which they say; If the company has deliberately picked out men for dismissal because of the active interest displayed in trades union matters, why has no attempt been made to prosecute the company ? By a very simple and inexpensive process the whole of the facts could have been elicited, and the grievances, if any, of the discharged men fully ventilated, “it is significant that no such suggestion has been made by the union, and the only inference that can be drawn is that the company has not committed any breach of the Act, nor has it ever been suggested that it has committed any breach of he agreement. What is the cause of the complaint against the company? The only cause of complaint that remains then, is that the company has exercised its undefiable and legitimate right of discharging workers, and in doing so, giving them notice but stating no reason. Reasons in plenty have been invented and circulated, but no attempt has been made to justify the statements made, although they provide a plain, simple way. The company has no quarrel with unionism, no sane employer can have. The company has no quarrel with the Miners’ Union at Huntly, nor would have had, so long as the terms of the agreement wore observed. The union has asserted that the directors have pursued a policy of ‘pinpricking or ‘irritations.’ This assertion the directors unhesitatingly deny, 'i ley have, however, contended and do si’ll contend for the right to manage their own business, a ’’girt whi.di tpo union seeks to take away, substituting a ballot under union supervision to determine which men in the company’s employ shall be lis"iarg ;d." The stf/e----ment then deals in detail will; the allegations of victims-v ion. ARBITRATIONISTS HIT SACK. A BIG COAL CARGO. Auckland, December 5. The new waterside union held a meeting and elected fifty new members, bringing the total up to 1000. Sixty strikers’ names were submitted, eleven rejected outright, and forty-nine were submitted to a ballot, but all were black-balled. The Japanese steamer Kwantamaru has arrived from Newcastle with 5000 tons of coal, presumably diverted from Java. . , THE YOUNG CHARGES. Wellington, December 4. Mr G. W. Riddell, S.M., gave his reserved judgment in the case of W. T, Young, President of the Federation of Labor, on the charge of iucitng to volence. He convicted defendant and sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment. He also ordered him to find sureties to keep the peace for 12 months, a personal bond of £250 and two? sureties of £250 each.

Notice of appeal was lodged on the ground that the decision was erroneous in point of law. The Magistrate fixed the bail pending the appeal as a personal surety of £l5O and two sureties of £75 each. The other cases against the strike leaders were adjourned till the afternoon.

The question of bail was mentioned) again in the afternoon by Mr Wilford, who said that there laid been a misunderstanding between himself and the Crown Solicitor, and he asked to have a ruling. He asked if sureties for good behaviour were imposed on top of the sedition charge and bail for the appeal, and also what it was necessary to find before tylr Young could be got out of gaol. ■ The Magistrate said he was satisfied that defendant would proceed with the appeal, and to get over the difficulty, he proposed to reduce the bail on the charge of. sedition to one surety of £IOO and two of £SO each, and to leave the recognisances of the peace at one amount of £250 and two of a similar sum, and also to leave unaltered the £lO I.os security of appeal.

Young was remanded on the indictable charge of using seditious language. BARKER’S BOND. • Wellington, December 5. Barker, charged with inciting a breach of the peace, was bound over by the Court to keep the peace for twelve months in a personal bond of £SOO and two others of £SOO each. l.e charge of using seditious language was withdrawn. Work on the wharves is very brisk. HOLLAND CASE DISMISSED. Wellington, December 4. Henry Holland was charged at the Magistrate’s Court with inciting persons to resist the police and commit a breach of he peace. Thechar ges arose out of the same meeting at the Basin Rserve at which Young’s statements were made.

Leo. S. Fanning, a member of he Evening Post’s literary staff, gave evidence as to reporting the words contained in the charge. Holland had been talking about the police at Broken Hill, and was reciting words he had spoken there.