LABOUR, ETC.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2398, 20 August 1892, Page 1

LABOUR, ETC.

London, Aug 16. The cotton mill employees arc demanding the eight hours system.

Aug. 17. The ballot taken among those engaged in the cotton trade resulted jn favour of the adoption of the Eight Hours system. New York, Aug, 16.

The police refused to act against the Leheigh strikers and the militia have been summoned. It is feared that the pointsmen wid join in the strike.

The mine-owners in Tcnnosse, and Bridgp -rt accept the Unionists instead of convict labor. The prisons jn the disturbed districts arc terribly overcrowded. The police, citizens, and volunteers appear quite powerless to restore order. In Buffalo moving trains are boarded, roads blocked, and telegraph wires cut. Some passengers were robbed when emerging from a capsized train, Non-union hands are in a state of terror. The Leheigh railway station,with 270 carriages lias been burned. It ivas expected that there Avould be a general strike of railway men. Two hundred regiments have been sent to maintain order. Ang. 17. Traffic js being resumed on the Leheigh section under tho protection of troops. The switchmen on the New York Central Railway have also struck, which, with the Leheigh strike, ties up ap enormous umoupt of traffic,

The miners intend making another attack on the convicts, and have destroyed the railway line leading to the town in order to prevent reinforcements of soldiers being sent. The Governor of the State is mediating in the dispute with regard to the employment of convict labour.

Seven hundred miners at Olive Springs demanded that the convicts should be released. A body of twenty-five soldiers barricaded themselves within the convicts’ closure, and firing low on the miners completely routed them, killing five and wounding a large number. Washington, Aug. 17. Tire miners at Nashville, Tenessee, made a second attack upon the prison. After a desperate fight they defeated the warders and released two hundred convicts. Twelve were killed and twenty wounded in the afi’ray. Troops are being massed, and the whole district is in a turmoil.

The miners are blowing up the railways with dynamite to prevent the arrival of soldiers.

- The strikers at Buffalo were charged and dispersed by the troops. It is feared that the drivers and stokers on the New York Central Railway will also strike.

The damage .already caused by the railway riots at Buffalo is estimated at £50,000. Sydney, Aug. 16.

The mine-owners have resolved to adopt the old schedule of wages, which, however, is largely subject to a satisfactory recovery in the price of silver. They intend to re-open the mines at these rate's on the 25th inst. If sufficient men do not apply for work they will be compelled to make other arrangements. Aug. 18.

The miners are hopeful that the manifesto of the mine-owners, with reference to the terms on which they will work the properties, will be the means of opening negotiations. The secretary of the Owners’ Association telegraphed to the miners that the time had now passed when a conference, even if the pickets were withdrawn, would be productive of any good. The shareholders are by no means anxi ms for resumption of work in the mines, and are quite prepared to allow the ore to remain in the ground till its removal will be more profitable. They say that the strike disorganised the whole system of work, which, combined with the low' prices of silver, prevents normal working for some time. The Proprietary mine is unlikely to engage more than half the usual complement of men.