WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taihape Daily Times, 24 January 1919, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE SHIPPING TROUBLE, GENERAL UNRESr. V (Special Correspondents WELLINGTON, Jan 22 The ferry steamers have been running without any further interruption, but a feeling of as to their sailings still prevails and in shipping circles (Here are forebodings of greater trouble to comO, The men, on their side, continue to protest, through the officials of their union that they wish to maintain harmonious relations with their employtors and that nothing is further from their intentions than a s;rike. But their general attituue is not in keeping with their fair words. The shipowners are detrrmined t'o employ no more "runners,'' and the Seamen's Union, while professing to have no sympathy with these interloprrs, appears to be taking -no particular trouble to fill their places. Meanwhile no one ean~say what a day will bring forth. THE POLITICAL ASPECT.

Orie of the significant feature of the situation in the persistence with which some of the Labour officials invited to discuss the situation drift off into the political arena. Thlw admit that the men arte difficult to manage and often unmanageable but they find excuses for them in the sins of omission and commission, whether real or imaginary, of thfe National Government. They want to know why f the cost of living has been allowed to soar so high and why the working man is bearing so much of the war burden. The ir&Jevancy of all this seems never to occur to them and any attempts to bring them back to the subject in hand simply stimulates •ir wayward oratory. THE SAFE ELEMENT. But it would fte unfair to th'e men earning their living on ships or working on the water-front to assume that all of them, or even a majority of them, share this distorted view of the situation. A proportion of the regular firemen are irresponsible ' spirits, the fault, perhaps, of their occupation and its conditions; but the men with whom they are associated" include a number of sober, hard-work-ing fellows who are anxious to do well for tlremselvcs by honest servieV" to their employers. These men stand for the observance of agreements and for a fair day's work for a fair day'S'fl' pay, and if they are socialistic at all in the aggressive sense it is in believing State control to be the remedy for all the existing shipping troubles. , * THE EMPLOYERS' VIEW. . For the employers it can be fairly said that they are exercising a great deal of patience and forbearance in j| extremely difficult and trying circumstances. They want the labour the men can supply and for tho most part they arc doing tbeir best to get it in a reasonable way. As far as the firemen arc concerned they prob- : ' ably rjiave Isome ground for plaining of the accommodation provided for them on certain steamers,, but it is the fault of the authorities if the law is not being observed inthis respect, and it is well known tfcafc the men's quarters on most boats ane to a great extent what the men themchoose to' mahe them. And' they do not usually choose very well..