THE COAL SETTLEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 February 1920, Page 6

THE COAL SETTLEMENT.

HISTORY OF DISPUTE. IN FORCE FOR 25 WKEKS. The coal trouble, which hcu just now been settled, has Listed far twenty-five weeks. The "go-slow" poh'cy was put into operation in a number of coal miiife on September 1 of last year, and within, a few weeks it was adapted practically throughout Now Zealand. It soon became evident that the hewers had decided to limit their'daily earnings to las, The bulk of them had been earning from £1 to £1 las a day. The action of the men was the result of the abortive conference held the previous month. Their demands had included the abolition of the contract system, a wage of £1 a day for miners and 17s Od a day for truckers, drivers and others, and a reduction in the hours of work. The conference ended without result on August 12. The employers refused to consider the abandonment of the contract system and finally offered a 10 per cent, increase to' contract workers, and 15 per cent, to shift wages men, the percentages to be on the prewar rates, and payable as an increased bonus. The Miners' Federation then asked for the same wages for all mine workers, other than men working on the face, a? they bad asked in the first instance, and for the face-workers and others not specified they asked for an increase of 25 per cent, in the rates, the same to be permanent additions to wages and not payable by way of bonus. The coal-owners replied that they could not increase their first offer; and* this ended the conference.

The dispute at this stage passed definitely into the hands of the Alliance of Labor. An appeal was made to the Government, and in a communication on August 22 the Prime Minister 1 urged the men to accept the owners' offer, which, he said, would raise the rate of earnings in the case of contract workers to an average of 35 per cent, above pre-war rates, and in the case of wage workers to 45 per cent, above pre-war rates. The employers' offer, he said, would involve an increase of from £125,000 to £150,000, which would mean an increase of from 2s to 3s a ton in the price of coal to the consumer.

. Tlie first fruits of the strike was an increase in the wholesale price of house coal by 4s a ton. The increases were immediately "passed on" to the consumer by the retail merchants. The increased cost'of" the limited supply of New Zealand.coal was not the most serious consequences of the strike however. The public services and in' dustnes were threatened in all directions, necessitating the importation of large quantities of coal from overseas at prices which continued to rise. During that period fabulous prices were paid by concerns which almost reached famine point. Another direct consequence of the trouble was the restriction of industries in dozens of directions. One of the most serious effects was the closing of the Warkworth cement works and the reduction of the output of the Whangarei works by 50 per cent. Thd resultant shortage of cement, in addition to the scarcity of bricks throuffh the same cause, delayed building operations to a great extent. One of the most outstanding results of the coal shortage was the recent tramway "cut" in Auckland.

The number of men employed below pronnd by the mining companies of New Zealand is roughlv 2000. The coal produced in New Zealand in 1918 was approximately 2,034.250 tons. The output for the 25 weeks the "go-slow" strike has been in operation is stated to, he roughly one-third less than normal.' It is impossible to estimate the loss in wages drawn by the coal hewers, but the sum for average men must be considerable.