THE MINERS’ STRIKE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1783, 30 August 1888, Page 2

THE MINERS’ STRIKE.

During an interview a prominent Newcastle miner put the men’s case as follows“ It should not be forgotten that this dispute is not a new one, but of long standing, It is a fight for arbitration, which we want, and which the masters don’t want.. There are many matters which the public don’t understand mixed with it We once had a conciliatory agreement with the masters, but they’ broke it. We have submitted our proposals for a new agreement, which they have rejected. They promised to submit a fresh one, but have hot kept their word, and they are now trying to justify their breach of faith and to render negotiations impossible by charging us with attempting to coerce them, and by asking us to stultify ourselves as an organisation 1 by withdrawing certain resolutions* come to. The real cause of the trouble is the aversion of the proprietors to arbitration.”

The miners argue that they have done three things which showed their desire to secure a peaceful settlement by concession—First, they have formally repudiated any desire to coerce; secondly, they request a conference; and thirdly, they have decided to go into, the conference with the result of the ballot officially unknown. It is said on behalf of the masters that the idea that they want a strike is preposterous. The coal trade was never more brisk, and the prospects of coal owners were hardly ever larger. A strike would cripple trade for some years to come, and subject the shareholders to great losses.

A prominent colliery owner said today “ The proprietors are indifferent as to whether the strike takes place or not. It would not last long. If it did the men would be bound to return at far less favorable terms than they now have. A prolonged strike would scatter the men and smash their Union.”

Another large shareholder and director in one of the mines observed : “ The men are trying to bully us with the threat of a strike. . . If a strike is to come it had better come now. The owners were never more indifferent concerning a strike, and never better able to meet one. One thing is certain—if it takes place the miners will never be allowed to resume work on such advantageous terms at now. This I know to be the determination of the members of the Proprietors’ Association. On the 30fch June there were 6,160 men employed in connection with the various collieries in the town.”

The present prospects of a settlement of the dispute between employers and employed at Newcastle, seem to be unpromising, “ Lifting the graith,” as the Scotch miners term the taking of the tools out of the mine, is a serious undertaking on the part of the* men. Those who are acquainted withi miners and their customs will realise* that this step is seldom if ever taken until the men have made up their minds to prosecute their demands to the utmost stage. It is the act which avows the severing of all agreements and obligations, and the outbreak of a strife which rarely ends except by a complete surrender of one side or the other.—Dunedin Star.