The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3. YIELDING TO A SECTION OF LABOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 37, 3 February 1908, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3. YIELDING TO A SECTION OF LABOR.

Jt Jul- Ih'ou humorously allhmed that Ireland would bo quite a lovely place to live in ii il were not Jul- the Irish, and Ihul Irishmen are tlio wui?a toes of Irishmen. JSo out 1 , oi course, i.-, expected lo to tliifl uilirmatiuii, the merit of which rests in a wit that no out' \ei ha- heeii aWe to completely I'm hum. There be those and their number i- n°t lew-who are disposed to ihinU that lalmr lias tin greater enemies | than the hilMHet.-, who proles themI selves iu greatest liiends. They lake up a cause which may have a shadow

and, .M'eing nothing but their own narrow standpoint, reckless ot tin* forces [hat their action may cause to up against thorn, they light for it to the bitter end. whatevvr tiie end may be. An illustration of the truth of lin- has just been allorded to those interested in labor questions iu New Zealand.

From about the time when lii>t a man employed another to work for him there hav,. been some very well understood though unwritten laws governing and controlling labor. For instance, in this Dominion every artisan or laborer is understood to lift the instrumenta with which he is to toil punctually as the clock strike* eight. When the clock strikes twehe drops his tools and has ! one hour for dinner. At one o'clock the tools arc again in his hands, and he labors on tilt live. As everyone knows, tint? is the law applicable to every class, to all branches of physical labor, livery toiler is supposed to be punctual in getting to the tools of hib trade al the appointed times. As has been said, this i- the governing and the general under, iving principle: but away down in the Delusion coalmine, on the West Coast of the South island, there are a few oumptious and undoubtedly determined men who, laboring, as they believe, under a particularly heavy grievance, propose to subvert ail this so far as they are concerned, and they do not care the value oi one straw how far the innovation they propose strikes at the very basis upon which all labor has hitherto satisfactorily rested.

It may be perfectly superlluuurs to point out that for a year or two now, in many and various parts of the world coalmining has been carried oil and has developed into a recognised industry. A shaft is sunk, galleries are driven, coal ib sent to the surface. It is a strikingly singular fact that it has been left to the hewer* of coal in the Denuiston mine to discover that the more coal they send to tiie hurface the further the scene of their daily labor gets removed from the bottom of the shaft. This discovery is the la-t black leather to wave in the cap of New Zealand. It, of course, depends entirely upon the distance the face of tlie workings may l>e irom the shaft thi'V mav lie as far as half a mile—

- hut it may liappen that to descend the :ihaft and travel along the galleries tu the face may occupy a quarter of an hour. The miner* at Dennistoii contend thai that time should be counted in their day's labor—that, in fact, it should be paid for by their employers. It will thu* be seen that it i* proposed to abrogate the old law. Jt is no longer to ! >e a" question of getting to and lifting the tools, but getting to the top of the shaft which is part of the journey they have to maky from tlieir homes to the actual scene of their labors that is to constitute the day's laoor. Upon what principle does this rest? If an employer has to pay for the time lost by the miner in traversing a portion of the distance tlwt lie* between his home and his work, why .should he not be called upon to pay fur the whole way? If the demand was that the employer should pay Tor the whole of his employee's time from the moment he left his cottage door, then it would po>sess the merit of consistency, and might even Im» elevated to a principle. but to claim payment for only part of the jiiurney -thai pari -pent in the mine in going to the face-i- neither "lie thing nor the other. Doubtless if the Dennision miner*, succeed in the achievement of their aims they may be expected to presently go a step further.

Here it may be well to reflect that there is no branch of labor without its particular drawback, iu >oiue instances very' scrioiits hanNhip, and comparisons invidious may be almost everywhere made. The freestone cutter needs only his mallet. chisel, and rule, but the line sandI du-1 gets into his so that very i rarely is his life worth more than fortv. live years. The bricklayer needs only a tmuel and rule. Ou the other hand, it is necessary fur the carpenter to have a huge chc>t ot' tool*, which require to be kept sharp and up-to-date. The lives of those wlm work in chemical factories may be measured bv a comparative day. Before drainage systems were introduced there was one occupation sickenjngly offensive, but, unlike the Denniston miners apparently, those who were employed at it knew what to expect More they went to work, lleally, the Denniston miners are to be deeply commiserated on their particular grievance —having to carry a candle and stumble along a drive to get to their work—and doubtless when they have succeeded ui making their employers pay for this ther ( » will be a general uprising and demands for the lectilication of grievances all round. Jt would not be at all surprising if in some occupations perfumes ih well as stimulants were required to be supplied.

In this Dominion there is established | an Arbitration Court for the settlement |ol any cases of dispute that may arise | between those who labor and their employers. but—wise in their generation—i would have nothing more to do with the Arbitration Court in this instance than they could help. They preferred to seek from Parliament a special law to deal with their particular case rather than face a stern unyielding Judge whose de. cisioiis must be based upon principles of general application. It will be recognised 1 hat the attitude of the employers is unassailable. They simply say. if we pay for eight hours' work we have a right tu gel eight hour-.' work. Parliament gave to the Denniston miners the Act tljev clamored tor. but tliev find it is ot j)0 use to them, for the Arbitration I'ourt i* Mill k-ft supreme, hence disappointment and the recent disturbance. The settlement arrived at is « just one—namely, the establishment of a system of piece-work. When every man is paid according to th ( . results of his labor then the time spent in coining and goill"' cea-'-- to li,. oi consequence: hut the ! niu-t iH'uare how they vidd to tiie cianii'r ot a few r.elf--eekiug iii-ii\iijii.il- who by no means represent the stiiee or teeliug of Labor in this Dominion.

OX FOURTH PAGE, Commercial. Athletics. Educational. His Own Coroner.