DOCK LABOURERS' STRIKE. LATER PARTICULARS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 410, 12 October 1889, Page 6

DOCK LABOURERS' STRIKE. LATER PARTICULARS.

The London correspondent of, bhe Sydney "Morning Herald." writing under date 'August 21st a letter which was received by telegraph from Albany, thus describes the position when the last English mail closed : — The import and export trades of London are paralysed by the strike of the dock hands, and business in bhe shipping world is' at a standstill.- The strike first originated with the casual labourers at the South - wesfc India Dock. The men had been receiving 5d per hour with Id per hour extra for overtime, and in the middle of last week they struck for an extra penny. The dock authorities refused to comply with the demand, and the strikers then induced the stevedores, who receive much higher wages, to come out in sympathy with them. The stevedores have been followedby the labourrersof all descriptions from the various docks and wharves on both sides of tho river till the number of men now refusing to work is about 50,000. The strikers have now been joined by the employees of numerous manufacturing firms, and several hundred carmen have been called out by the officials of the labour societies. It is stated that the carmen employed by fickfords, by the London and North- Western and the Gr,eat Western Railway Companies, will be called out if the dock labourers' demands are hot granted to-morrow. So far the proceedings of the strikers have been orderly, and they have merely marched through <the shipping portion of the city to the Dock Company's office, where their spokesmen have interviewed the directors without arranging- anything satisfactorily. Mr. John Burns, the notorious ' Socialist, has placed himself at the head of the strikers, and is conducting negotiationswith the United Dock Companies. The strike has already caused great loss, both of time and money, to shipowners and merchants. Hundreds of vessels are lying in the docks with cargo partly ashore and partly on board, while many which have arrived since the strike began have been alongside the quays several days without having the hatches unfastened. The mail steamers are in a very bad plight. The P. and (X Company have had to postpone the depasture ot the R.M.s. Khedive, which should, have sailed for Bombay this week, but they have succeeded in despatching the R.M.s. Massilia, which carries next -week's Australian mails, with only a quarter ot her cargo,- which was shipped before the strike occurred. The New Zealand Shipping Company are also sufferers, as they cannot get the R.M.s. Ruapehu away to time. The ship should have started yesterday, calling at Plymouth to-morrow for < mails, bub she is still in bhe Albert Docks,' wibh. the saloon passengers on board, whjlebhe steerage passengers are , being kept at the Company's expense 'ab< the Emigrants' Home. It is worthy of notice that very general sympathy iss A felt for the strikers, not only by the general public, but also by the shipowners, who, like the poor labourers, are sweated by the dock companies, which charge the' shipowners 8d per hour for labour which' costs them sd. The dock companies excuse their action on the ground that even now they can barely pay their way, and that an increase of Id an hour would da ■ away with all their, profits ; but ib is urgedby the strikers that the companies should * be able to make profit on other resources, rather than on their labour. The followingis the ultimatum of the strikers : — 1. Thafc outsiders called in to work in the docks should not be discharged with less than four hours' employment. This the directors have agreed to. 2. That engagement men shall be paid to fixed periods only, namely, at 8 and 12 o'clock each .day. 3. That piecework shall be abandoned throughoup the entire system. , 4. That^the minimum pay for daywork be raised from 5d per hour and 6d per hour overtime, to 6d per hour and 8d per hour overtime, respectively. 5. That the pay under contract should be raised to 8d per hour and Is per hour overtime.

"Well, doctor, how did you enjoy your African journey? How did you lfke the savages ?" " Oh, they were, very kindhearted people ; they wanted to keep me therefor dinner." '