NEWCASTLE.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 317, 2 November 1860, Page 3

NEWCASTLE.

Miners' Strike.—An advertisement appeared in the local paper of Saturday last, stating that " The miners lately employed at the Mmmi Colliery, beiug at present.out on strike, are desirous of informing the public that the dispute out of which it arose was not occasioned by them, but from an attempt on the part of the owners to lower their wages sixpence per ton, without any corresponding fall in the market to warrant such step. The men, therefore, resisted the proposed reduction, and were put off work in consequence." Whatever the circumstances may be which have led to this strike, the result is much to be regretted on public as well as private grounds, the withdrawal of so much labor from profitable application being a general misfortune, while the present inconvenience to the men themselves, and to those who are, as storekeepers, interested in the dispute, being a serious consideration. The Messrs. Brown, the owners of the Mmmi mines, have exhibited extraordinary energy in the importation of machinery, and in the adoption of improved facilities for bringing forward their coals for shipment since they became possessed of the property, and that energy must commaud for them the sympathy of every man 'who can appreciate business enterprise. Thi3 remark is without reference to the merits of the point in dispute with their men, of which, as explained in the above announcement, the public must judge for themselves. The subject has created a very considerable interest among the Newcastle miners, and on Saturday last, being a partial holiday amongst the class, a good deal of excitement was exhibited here in connection with it, some 200 men from the suburbs having marched in procession into the town, with music and a flag, in the forenoon, to meet the Maitland train, which brought a large number of miners from Mmmi, whom on their arrival, they received with cheers. The two bodies, then joining, marched to Macquarie Road, where meetings were held during the day, the business being understood to be the union which connects the miners in this quarter. There is no doubt that there is an understanding between the whole $n the subject of the strike, which, considering the numbers and intelligence of the men, gives the matter a more serious aspect. The movement, however,,it should be clearly understood, is entirely of a moral character. Nothing of turbu* lence has been exhibited, and the procession on Saturday was of the most orderly and sober kind. The meeting passed off in the same manner, and, for anything shown in the conduct of the miners, the whole might as well have passed for a festival as for a partial strike. This much it is necessary to say in order to prevent misapprehensions, on the supposition of a probable breach of the peace.