THE "GO-SLOW" POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1917, Page 2

THE "GO-SLOW" POLICY.

IS TERESTiXG EVIDENCE. At tlio Auckland Court on Momlaji, Mi'. Meredith, Crown Prosecutor, in the courso of his address, gave some interesting details of the "go-slow" policy and the intimidation tactics practised by tho leaders. He said:—

"The average normal earnings taken over the previous six months prior to the 'go-slow' period was as under:— llnntly, l'3s Cdj Waijia 20s; Pukerairy, llis Gil;. Denniston, 18s 2d; State (Point Elisabeth) 20s and (Liverpool), 17s lOd; Stockton, 18s Gd; Paparoa, '22s "2d; Blackball, LBs 9d. These wages are bank-to-bairk, which means tram ZK to 7 hours' actual work lid'y. As a result of-previous arrangements among certain tinioa officials, the 'go-slow' started at Huntly on- January 3 ; ' J. 1 his was fffected l>y' not allowing the men to earn, more than lis aday plus a war bonus •of' .10 per ciinf; Tie actual redmtjon was for each man to fill six skips, or tracks, ip«r day. .On February 2 'go slow' started .at Waipa mine, and the reducjiion was done with a: nicety and exifcti* tude that is in itself an absolute proof of the strike: Each pair of men were reduced to a definite amount of 10 skips per day. In all n-.iiios earnings always vary considerably amongst individual miners, going up in some eases to £'2 Ds Od per day-. Now; nvel luyve in Waipa efery man on a low output absolutely equal. In' Pukemiro the 'go-slow' started on February 3. On the West Coast it started' on February 12 at the following mines:—State mines at Dunolley and Bcwanui.-Blackball mine, Paparoa mine,"and Denniston mine. The restriction 'placed on all these mines was to reduce'the output of each miner so that 'lie .would only earn. 12a' exclusive of war bonus, or -13s 3d- with it. The drop hero by comparison with average at these mines, as I indicated before, shows 1 the decided restriction of the output. > GREAT LOSS OF COAL. "At Stocktoni the restrictipn w on from February -19, on exactly similar, linos. Now the result of all this is that there is.an average drop of output In these mines as'under for a fortnight's, work:—Huntly, 1032; Waipa, 926; Pukemiro, 742) 'State Liverpool, 163J);Stato Point Eli?a.bctlty 1G20; Paparoa, 700; Blackball, 1700; Denniston, 24(H); Stockton, 2570; total, 13,900. In other words, thero was a loss to tiiis country of 0050 tons of coal per week, or of 320,0(10 tons -per year of 48 working weeks. As the conditions were, the same before the, restriction commenced and after it commenced, it is perfectly obvious, that the result is that of premeditated and concerted' action. Prior to its institution,. the miners always were complaining' of' the truckers not Hiupiying ■ sufficient -tracks, impeding them in. their outputs From now, never a'lCoiu-, plaint.

RELIEVED FROM FIGHTING-AND "GO-SLOW

"Many of "the ntrrie'rs engaged in this 'go-slow' operation in the various mines were men 1 who had been relieved from compulsory service oil the understanding that- they * were to return xo the mines to win., coal. The majority of these men showed.how little regard.tliey had for their own manhood by escaping service to assist in this iniquitous policy instituted by the federation. To tlie everlasting credit of four miners at Blackball, whose names I will not mention, for fear that they will suffer for their attitude, replied, when ordered to 'go-slow'. by the union secretary, that they had been released from acjivu service to get coal, and that they were going to get as much coal as they could, and be damned to union, and. they have been as- good as their word. One of these men was a meniber e-f the local executive, and was promptly expelled from office. The views- of the unions' secretaries as to the Military Appeal Board is exemplified by a letter from the patriotic Mr CUinming-to Arbuckle, in which the writes as folioAvs;—Some of our chaps were- up before the Appeal Board in Hamilton the other day, and got a .pretty rough time re the "go-slow" —the chairman remarking that if thingdid not change they would be liable to be. called iip at "any Minn (just so; I forgot to mention in l;uc- letter that we had the sub-inspector ol police and Eome other members of the lorces out here looking for information re the "go-glow," I hear they had all the deputies making statements. I don't know "what is on the move but I hear tliey are trying to make a case. Has the same thing gone on down the* coast!" "Arbuckle replies that the police are doing so, and reckon they are going to play hell, but they will find they have got everything in front of them."