THE STRIKE BILL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 229, 26 March 1912, Page 5

THE STRIKE BILL

A GENERAL STRIKE SUGGESTED. PBOTESTS AGAINST THE MINIMUM. NOT YET STARVED TO SUBMISSION. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. London, March 24. The Transport Workers' Federation and the Sailors' and Firemen's Unions are being urged to a general strike in retaliation for Tom Mann's arrest. A mass meeting of miners at Benton condemned the Minimum Wages Bill. Meetings of colliers at Shirebrook and Warsop demanded that the surfacemen's grievances should be remedied, and passed a resolution refusing to accept the Bill. The Independent Labor Party ha* framed an official resolution to be moved at the conference at Easter at Merthvr, in favor of a minimum wage for all workers.

■Mr. Keir Hardie, interviewed, said that the miners were not at the point of being starved into submission and were good for another month. The alliance of the front benches against inserting two shillings and five shillings dispelled hopes of an early settlement and convinced the men that they must rely on their own strength.

Scotch steelmakers passed a resolution protesting against the establishment of a minimum coal miners' wage and demanding that it should not come into operation until 1913, thus allowing existing contracts to be executed before the price of coal rises. Six thousand at Birmingham waited five hours to buy twopenny worth of Corporation coke. It is estimated that 2,500,000 workmen are on strike, without work or have been reduced in wage?. The South Western Railways Company announces that it has sufficient coal to continue the present sen-ice for six weeks, having bought a large quantity at forty shillings per ton. Churches and chapels in many country districts are holding services in the afternoon instead of the evening in order to save gas. J TOM MANN'S ARREST. j Received 25, 10.25 p.m. London, March 25. Demonstrations at Manchester, Sal- ] ford, Liverpool and Glasgow have been held, protesting against the arrest of Tom Mann. NO TORY GOVERNMENT COULD PRODUCE A WORSE BILL THE POVERTY OF THE MASSES. AGAINST THE MILLIONS OF THE FEW. SOUTH WALES AGREES TO THE MINIMUM. Received 25, 11 p.m. London, March 25. Addressing five thousand miners at Caatlehead, Herbert Smith, president of the Miners' Association, said that no Tory Government could introduce a worse Bill. They were not going to mark time to the tune of five shillings per day. The meeting resolved that the, schedule must be incorporated in the Bill.

Ramsay Maedonald, at Bradford, denounced syndicalism, which opened the doar to the worst form of reaction. The minimum must be inserted in the Bill, he said, if the strike ia to be settled. Jowett, at the same meeting, said that if the military were called out it was their duty not to shoot. They were enlisted solely to fight a foreign foe, and not to shoot a unarmed crowd of fellowcountrymen. Albert Stanley, speaking at Stoke, said that a short, sharp period of suffering was better than the masses grovelling in poverty and distress while a few made millions. J. Thomas, at Newcastle, said that the coal strike was not the result of syndicalism, which was horrible to contemplate, and would assuredly lead to disaster. The workers agreed with Sir E. Grey and Mr. Balfour that the right of the minimum couldn't be confined to the miners. Mr. Thomas, interviewed, suggests that the Bill should be withdrawn until the ■trike ends. The masters and men of each district In South Wales are voluntarily agreeing to an all round minimum living wage of five shillings for adults, except for old and infirm, and two shillings for boys.

FATAL ACCIDENTS. APPALLING WAGE LOSS. THE EFFECT OF THE MINIMUM. A COALITION AGAINST LABOR. Received 25, 12.5 a.m. London, March 25. Three hundred colliers at Chirk, North Wales, have returned to work. There have been a number of accidents, several of the them fatal, through members of the unemployed getting coal from the outcrop of the seams in various districts. One man was killed and nine injured at West Bowling, Bradford. The miners have lost 23,000,000 working days and £5,850.000 in wages. Other trades have lost 12.000,000 days and £2,350,000 in wages. The daily loss of wages is now £700,000. The masters in South Wales explain that the two shillings minimum to boys is a small matter, but that the five shillings to adult* in important, as the men merely fill the tubs with rubbish. The demand is really levelled to secure the raising of the wages of skilled day laborers, as tlif latter afterwards will demand that the present margin between skilled and unskilled should be preserved. Many hewer- are only paying their adult as-istant> ."?-■ «<i.

The Daily \>ws states that there are powerful groups of Liberal and Conservative employers in the House of Commons favoring the delay as the best means of breaking the Miners' Federation and countering the menacing demand for

more wages in all industries. The piesent peril is the crisis, which may unite the Conservative and Liberal employers of the House of Commons against Labor, which may be disastrous to the peaceful handling of the now urgent wage problem. The Times states that the Government intends passing the Bill whatever the conference decides. THE COST OF THE STRIKE. Received 2C, 12.40 a.m . London, March 25. Professor H. S. Jevons ntates that the strike is costing the nation ten millions weekly. FAR REACHING EFFECTS. Rio de Janiero, March 24. Merchants have notified shipping companies that stocks of coal are exhausted. In connection with the message that coal supplies at Rio de Janiero are exhausted, a Taranaki resident who witnessed the departure of the lonic last weSk for London via Rio and Monte Video, learned that the vessel had laid in extraordinarily large supplies of coal, expecting trouble in coaling. One man said the vessel had enough in the bunkers to carry her Home and half-way out again, but this was looked on as probably a piece of fiction. Anyhow, every available inch of space was used for the accommodation of coal and cargo.