WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 23 July 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MINE OWNERS AND MINEWORKERS.

THE DEADLOCK. ■£ *f (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, July 22. The official statement issued by the Coal-miners' Federation in reply to . the manifesto of the Coal i/iine Own- . evs' Association puts the case for the '• men very strongly and seems to place the employers upon the defensive. The Federation has shown in .plain figures that- in spite of the advance made in their pay since the commencement of the war-the miners are <substantially worse off now than they were in the time of peace. In 1914 their average wage was 16s 101 d a day and working 240 days in the year a man could make £2Ol 16s 4d.This year the average wage is 19s 10Jd a day and the annual earning £238 13s od. But while the average earning has increased £36 16s Sd, hte average cost of living of a miner with a wife and three children has-increased £74 4s lOd, so that the man is really £3S 8s 2d a year worse off thai>he was before the war. MEN'S POINT OF VIEW. If this is really the position the men have a reasonable claim for consideration. 'They maintain that 240 days work are as many as they can put in during the course of the year. There are 52 Sundays, 26 pay Saturdays, IT holidays and 30 days for accidents, sickness, breakdowns of machinery, lack of shipping and so forth. It is said that "speeding up," which is repugnant to miners everywhere, would seriously imperil the safety of the miners, and that already the New Zealand miners, ton for ton, are producing a higher average of coal than a-e any other miners in the world,; The men further claim that while the price of coal to the public since 1912 has advanced by from 6s to 14s a ton in Wellington and by still more in other places, the rate for hewing has increased by only 4Jd a ton. THE EMPLOYERS AND THE GOVERNMENT. The coal mine owners have not yet •had an opportunity to reply to the statement of the men, but it is expected they will adhere to their former contentions that the agreement entered into between the men and themselves must be respected aPdhhat the men, if they like, may increase their earnings by taking fewerV" holidays and hewing more coal. What the profits of the mine-owners may be no one outside their confidence can say, but one might judge from their present attitude they would (be very glad for the State to take over their properties at an equitable valuation and. run them as national concerns. Nothing of this kind is likely to happen in the immediate future, but the Minister of Mines has quite made up his min dthe production of coal is not indefinitely going to keep the country in a state of anxiety and unrest. TRAFFIC ACROSS COOK STRAIT.

The official announcement ,that "purely as a matter of precaution" it is deemed advisable ships navigating Cook Strait should do so during daylight hours has given rise to all sorts light hours hasg iven rise to all sorts of wild stories concerning the perils lurking for shipping in the narrow strip Of water between the two is. lands. But the public refuse to be in the slightest degree alarmed by the stories. Travellers go to and fro just as they have done for years past, utterly unperturbed, and grumbling only ■at the high fares and the length of the journey. But passengers proceeding south from Taranaki, Wanganui and Hawke's Bay districts are placed at some inconvenience by the trains not connecting with the ferry steanjtrs, and business men are complaining of the earlier closing of the mails; but these are minor matters and people will readily adjust themselves to the altered arrangements.