"BANK TO BANK" CLAUSE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 20 December 1907, Page 2

"BANK TO BANK" CLAUSE.

TROUBLE BREWING WITH MINERS, Per Press Association. W'estpurt. Tliui>:d.< y.

The dispute over the l>ai:k-10-b:itikJ question in the WesLporl Coal Compaiiy'ri eollieries' is reaching an aeule stage. The company slate* that an oli'or was made to give .something beyond the award of the Arbitration Court, Inn it was refused. The men stale that lh;»y rely oil their legal right to count their time from bunk to bank. A deadlock has been reached.

Mr. Nixon, the manager, say* that unless a compromise similar to that ellVeted at Urauity is arranged within the next few days he will be compelled to advise the directors to cease operation* till a settlement is arrived at.

Mr. Joachim, general manager of the company, has arrived. It is understood that correspondence is going on between the Minister for Labor and the Union. The men are dissatisfied with the d(Jcis:on of the Court on the I>ank-to-bank

question. [The Arbitration Court decided that the men's time should count from the time they reached the face in the part of the mine in which they were working to the time they left it. The men claim that they are entitled to count from the time they leave the bank on entering the mine to the time they return to the surface. The dill'erence in some eases amounts to over an hour.]

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS AHEAD.

Dunedin, Thursday. There is considerable unrest among the coal miners throughout the Dominion. Some interesting developments may be looked for shortly.

A SERIOUS OUTLOOK. Per Press Association. Dunedin, Last Night. William Scott, who has taken part in all the conferences and disputes between the Denniston Coal Miners' Union and the Westport Coal Company, looks upon the position as the most serious that the Arbitration Court has yet had to deal with, and that if the Court cannot enforce its award, in this instance, it will mean the breaking down of the Arbitration Act. It is regarded locally as significant that there is also trouble brewing in connection with the coal mines throughout Otago and in Auckland, but so far as can be ascertained, the unions are acting independent of one another. So far as in Otago, the employers have met the unions in confereiife on several occasions, but without satisfactory results. It was anticipated that the matters in dispute would be brought before the Arbitration Court in February next, and that both parties would abide by the Court's decision. It stated, however, that circumstances unknown to employers have, arisen and brought about the present state of affairs. No reduction in wages has, it is stated, been insisted on by employers, who are at a loss to understand the attitude of the Unions. The opinion is he'.d that any decisive step l>v the Westport miners will be similarly followed elsewhere.