THREATENED MINERS' STRIKE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 184, 25 July 1908, Page 2

THREATENED MINERS' STRIKE

POSITION REUAKDED AS SEIUOUS. J3y Telegraph.—Press Association. Cliristchurch, Last Night. The Minister for Labor (the Hon. J. A. .Millar) has received a telegram stating that if the miners go on strike some 11000 men will be implicated. it is understood if a settlement is not arrived at by U on Monday, the strike will take, place. The miners down South arc aggravated at the delay occasioned! in the hearing of their ease. Well-in-formed authorities regard the position as serious.

Wellington, Last Night. The .Minister of Labor (the lion. .1. A. .Millar) lias been informed that the decision of the miners is the ouicome of negotiations that have been in progress for some time past. The miners went before the Arbitration Court in Duncdin, and the Court instructed theni to go back to the employers and try to arrange a conference with a view to settlement. They stale that they had previously endeavored to settle their difference by this means without Success. The "miners now fear that they will not be able either to bring about an agreement or conclude the conference before the end of the present sit-,, tings of the Court, and they have therefore decided, as already stated, that thev will strike unless by .Monday a settlement has- been • arranged, or they have been granted permission to go before tlie Court. Duncd.ii), Friday. The coal mining dispute appears to have passed the acute stage locally. Tlie parties concerned expect to adjust the differences next week. The miners' representatives report that no drastic actions are pending so far as the Otago coal-miners are concerned.

Napier, Last Night. In connection with the rumor of a threatened coal strike in August, the manager of the Napier Gas Co. informed a reporter that a feeling of unrest had been recognised by the company for some time, and, in consequence, large stocks had been laid in. *