The Daily News MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18th, 1907. STRIKES OR NO STRIKES?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81918, 19 February 1907, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18th, 1907. STRIKES OR NO STRIKES?

Is the industrial and Conciliation Act. about which we boast so much, the very cllccivc instrument for preventing strife between master and man. aiier all; A lilfle tine ago there was a strike of tramway employees in Aucklai.U. Li-t week there, was a butcher.-' strike at Wellington and a\so one at Timarn. Yesterday a portion of the men, those employed at tlie (Icar Company » works, Potonc, through the mediation of ketone's Mayoj-, resumed work, after gi't- I ting what they struck for, or at least a good part thereof, namely, an in-

crease in the amount of their pay. They were receiving 21s a Ihi,'.hlred sheep, avid as .-.ome Sydney men were paid 255. tiii-v iiatmallv fek they were entitled lo a" similar rale. And, the ArbiwUiMjn and Conciliation Act notwithstanding, they struck work in I lie ol:l-f.islii(j.,cd way, with the result we know. On Ihe merits of the case, our sympathies are tv.tli the men The lug meat companies, like most monopoii >s : are as par-iniouions as they can wvil be in 'their relations witii the.r emThci Cear Coni)pan,y >•• a

very wealthy concern. It regularly pays hg dividends, annually sinks thousands o'i' pounds in new machinery and improvements, and, in the case ol iSMt year, carried forward £30,000, th:s after paying a handsome div.deud. And despite'all its huge profits, it begrudged its butchers an extra few shillings a week. The life of the butcher in these big establishments is not all beer and skittles. He earns every pertny he receives. He works -for about three or four months in the year at high pressure. The nature of his work unlits him for ether kinds of endeavor, and for the most part he is unable to rind sullicicnt during the time he is away from the meat works

to keep body and sou! together. Wo quite believe our statcniq.vL made, Unit tko butchers iiv these places do not average 30s a week the year -ilii-oujrli. Of cour.-e tin- juslicc or injustice ol his ease does not allect the main issue. The issue is, is >thc law supreme jn these maltcis—can any party, employer or employee, llout the l.iw at its own convenience? To be effective, the law must be rejected by both parties. Jf it is not, Ihe whoie (to'.ti'i's 'to tlie [;)-ou!,k.l. The workmen ha\e their obligations as well as the employers. in most canes the former have been given the fat end of the -tick, and therefore the Act has up to lately worked l'ai,riy smoochly; but liiqrc are not wauling signs that .f the men's demands are uiisiilistieu the law will mot be respected: Instead it will be taken into iiie men's own hands, as it has been in the slaughtermen's ease, and the old condition oi things reverted to. It should be one thing or the other—arbitruuon aiid coneilial/oii proper, or every man for luiii&elj^