THE AUSTRALIAN COAL STRIKE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 305, 3 February 1910, Page 5

THE AUSTRALIAN COAL STRIKE

DISLOCATING THE TRADE. CHAOS AMONG THE WHARF LABOURERS. By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Sydney, February 2. The Government commercial agent in the East says tile coal strike is seriously dislocating Australian trade. He adds that Austrn.i.'. lias gained an unenviable reputation as being the only country in the world to have a strike clause in contracts.

The wharf labourers, at a boisterous meeting, reversed the decision carried previously to work ships coaled by nonunion lumpers or crews. The meeting was so noisy that the police were called in. It is difficult to arrive at any real idea of what the men wanted, but on a 'rough and ready division there appeared to be a majority in favour of throwing the previous ballot overboard.

Chaos reigns among the wharf labourers, and it is' supposed that each wharf will go its own way, work or strike as the spirit moves.

THE WAGE'S BOARD. THE ATTITUDE OF THE OWNERS. MEN REQUIRED TO RETURN TO WORK. Received 3, 12.10 a.m. Sydney, February 2. The Newcastle owners informed the Wages Board of their desire to come before the Court, and submitted claims which were very comprehensive. Counsel thought it would facilitate business if time were given him to consolidate the claims. The Court agreed.

Counsel and the owners then urged it was desirable that the miners shotikl return to work, and that the Board should make it clear that in the interests of the determination of the industrial dispute work should be carried on without outside unlawful attempts to obtain concessions, which was the function of the Court to grant or withhold, according to true justice of the case. The owners felt at a great disadvantage in being asked to proceed while the men were trying in an unlawful way to obtain their demands.

The Judge said that although the •Board had no right to order the reeuiup,tion of work, it had the privileges of doing everything it possibly could to bring about such resumption, but in , the meantime the taking of evidence must go on. He fixed Wednesday next for the miners to file their replies to the owners' claims. i THE OWNERS' DEMANDS. | LOWER RATES ALL ROUND. j Received 3, 12.15 a.m. i Sydney, February 2. The Newcastle-owners' claims geni erally demand a reduction upon the present rates of payment. The reductions may be fairly guagcd by taking any of the first-class seams. On the bo-'e hole seam, tne hewing rate proposed is 3e lOd per ton, when the declared se'lj ing price of coal is lis. with a rise cr fall of fourpence for every shilling alteration in the selliiicr price for working. Pillars rate is threepence less, for tops the average earnings ie to be compiled and a rate struck te give lis a day. On the Maitland seam for pick-'work, the rate to be 2s 2d per ton, with tne selling- price at lis, with n decrease of twopence for every shilling the price falls. The wages of machine men are fixed at lis per day. The rates proposed for filling dirt and working wet and deficient places are considerably lower than those demanded by the miners. The owners demand eight hours at the face. NEW ZEALAND SYMPATHY. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. At a meeting of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers held to-night, the matter of the seotenee on the Newcastle \ miners' strike leaders was discussed warmly, and it was unanimously resolved: "That the Auckland branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers <learns with regret and astonishment cf the drastic sentences passed on Mr. Peter Bowling and his companions an.l <lesires through the executive of the strike committee to offer them its warmest sympathy. The branch holds the sentences are further evidence of class bias in the administration of ihe law, inasmuch as the extreme penalty ■which the law permitted was given for a first offence and hard labor liarsh'.y included. The event should satisfy 'a•bor for the need of solid combination to send to Parliament representatives who would keep in check such legislation as that of Mr. Wade's."