THE STRIKES IN PARLIAMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2093, 2 September 1890, Page 4

THE STRIKES IN PARLIAMENT.

On last’Friday Mr O’Connor Paid thej shipping company he believed were atfai'-i ing, themselves ;of .unskilled ‘lahoriio'Tliej law providedj.that a certain (proportion df, skilled, persona . c el)ould be], copied- in: vessels*, yet, that very d»y biysjand ptjjerj person* totally unfit, for'thoipdsitions jßfie; nominally put into the steamers in order! to enable the boats lb pasV o r ut of thej harbor. He ' asked the ' Qoverhiileht (? t ! oi consider who would bear the responsibility) if any of the people were lost at sea in consequence of '-this,..or their,,.properties destroyed.' It was said th»t' > th^ s£ ,C4pyern-1 merit had even,gone further than Ibis and I sent ineri 1 out of their erpplhy , : 6 tv toliie! ahips at West pbrt. ‘*Ha 1 appealed 1 ;to ’the Government- to got the GuritofiJs authorities; ; al i ;bnce: ito ; mova; in; tbef difeotionUef putting * etpp.to what he had;ihentidnedvi Mr : Fish said the laborers in the employ of the at Weptporit had struck, thatj.paorning, and.the platelayers ,were .1 hep,' palleij ,upop ,tot ( ake*|vip their wort. The platelayers .refused to do so, and; were* suspended. This showed that the Commissioners 4 were disphsecl ’Yh interfere s between' labor abd r capital; *nd;if the-Goyeroment permitted'them to persist they would be to blame dor; the terrible results which would certainly follow. The Cotmnissiensrs moreover made no secret of if, and he hoped the Government would do something to ;avert the possibility .of something far worse than at existed. 1

Dr Hodgkinsbin characterised the present movement aS dishonest, and said that no honest man could have any sympathy with it. Mr Fisher said the strike had taken! place and it was the duty of the Govern-, ment to see that the Union Company should not man their ships with boys. He condemned the action of the Railway Commissioners in sending the platelayers from the railways to man the ships, arid said that it was llie duty of the Government to see that the Commissioners should) not violate the law.of the land in this! manner, If the railway servants were to, be placed at the disposal of the Union Steamship Company, there would be aui end to all good government in the! colony.

Mr Mitchelson said that the Government; very much regretted that this struggle hadj happened, but they were going to remain at all events for the present strictly neutral. As to the remarks of Mr O’Connor wit reference to unskilled persons being givbnl employment on steamers, that was a question that would have to be enquired! into, and if the company were breaking the law of course th' Goverment would! have to see that the law should be strictly! complied with. As to the Railway com-j missioners abetting, it seemed that Mrl Fish’s statement was correct in that the; men who usually took the coal from the! VYespprt strikers’ trucks and put it into steamers had s'ruck. The Commissioners had requested the platelayers to take up the work, whereupon the men had refused.! He was satisfied that the OommisssonerS would do nothing but their duty. When the time came for the Goverment to inter-! fere the Government would do everything to bring about a settlement of tbodifficUltyj but at present they intended to remain perfectly neutral, and wobld do their best to maintain the law.

Mr Moss thought the strike was a fair stand up fight between Ine seamen and shipowners —one that was deliberately undertaken by both sides, If it was that the coal owners of Newcastle had decided to refuse to coal other vessels than those of the Shipowners Association the Government would have to interfere, for the public would not submit to such a blockade.

Mr Reeves(St, Albana)axpraßßed an opinion that the Railway Commissioners would take uncommonly good care that thej did nothing hostile to the capitalist doss. They' were irrigated against the unions andj especially with that formed among their| employes. When ; the employes first! asked for redress the Commissioners' blustered in a vcry churlish w*y, but at the conference they were out-manoeuvred! and defeated in every way. The Com-; missioners were anxious now to force this among their own men so they would have! as allies the capitalist class. They knew; well that the platelayes would not do the work they were asked to do, If the Government could not control the Cora-; missioners Parliament could, and it would! be the duty ot those, » ho sympathised with the movement to demand that the Commissioners aeould not interfere with the! struggle. He did not expect to sea the House support labour ; nine-tenths of..its members were hostile to the labour organisations, while twentynine-thirtietha of the) Legislative Council were also hostile, which was proved by the scandalous treatment of the Labor Bills, Finally he said that the! Government would not be acting in a neutral way if they allow the Railway Commissioners to throw their weight into the struggle new going on. Sir George Grey said that the Commissioners sympathised with the capitalists, and if they departed from the neutrality they ought to observe it was the duty of the Government to bring them hack to their position of neutrality.] In that respect be agreed with Mr Reeyesi Under certain circumstances it was the duly of Parliament to interfere where it could do good and avert disaster. Mr Grimmond, Mr Taylor, and -Mr Reeves (Inangahua), also spoke, after which the subject was dropped.