THREATENED MAMMOTH STRIKE. NORTHERN S.S. COMPANY THE CHIEF CAUSE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 287, 4 August 1888, Page 5

THREAT ENED M AMMOTH STRIKE. NORTHERN S.S. COMPANY THE CHIEF CAUSE.

SYoxiiV, July 30. Should the fiiea ened stiike of seamen take place it will be the largsst known in the Southern Hemisphere. It id difficult to ascertain the exact facts in consequeii' c of the reticence of the Seamen's Union a;id the Shipowner's' As&ooiation, but i& understood that the principal cau&e of the diiKculfcy is the Northern Steamship Company of Auckland. The seamen having discovered the Shipowners' Association had subsidised and assisted the Northern Company, called a conference of delegates to consider the difficulty. They were determined to bring ■aJairs to a crNi«, and invited the owners to confer for the> purpose of settling the dispute, but the latter declined, at the same time expressing their readiness "to refer to arbitration certain matters -which had been at issue for some time past. Subsequently, it appears, the owners agreed to a conference on the Northern Company's dispute, two questions, of overtime and over-man.iing. and made a proposal that time for time .should be allowed, eight hours' work only in the 24, for the ordinary rate of pay. The latter proposal led the seamen to suspect an attack on the eight hours' system and the prevailing rate of wages, and they intend to decline arbitration including tbese points, holding the owners responsible for the continuance of the strike against the Northern Company. The ownei-3 denied haviug any designs either upon hours or wages, but the seamen persisted in their suspicion, and gave not/ice to all Unionists to withdiaw if rom their vessels on a date hereafter to be fixed. There is depression in coal shares in consequence of the probability of a strike.