THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1913. THE SHIPPING.
There is reason to fear that the watersiders' strike will be extended when an attempt is made to discharge the vessels with what is known as "free labour." The seamen and firemen of coastal steamers are working tinder an award, and they will probably refuse to do duty when free labour is employed. This, of course, is only conjecture; but there is an unwritten law among unionists that what affects one man affects them all. That such a combination is possible for the restraint of trade, without regard for either circumstances or public convenience, iB a reproach upon our sys» teen of government. Still, we suppose that a law to prevent a combination of this kind would be difficult of enforcement. There should, however, be some means of preventing a strike among registered unions without reasonable cause. It is a monstrous thing that a handful of shipwrights, or of wateimdars, should be in a position to throw thousands of men out of employment and to paralyse trade. The least that could be expected, is that a secret ballot of all concerned should be taken before any industry could be closed down. This is what is provided for ia the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill now before Parliament, and'the hope is generally entertained that it will speedily become law. In the meantime, the question that is uppermost in the people's minds is whether there will be a strike of, seamen and firemen. .'Should bucK a calamity occur, Parliament will Be compelled to consider the advisability of establishing a State ferry service between the North and Sowth Islands. This has been advocated for some years past, but no definite proposals have yet been submitted That such a sefrice would
pay, .and pay handsomely, goes without saying. It will, of course, be urged that the seamen on State vessels would be liable to strike in the same way as seair en on privatelyowned vessels. This would hardly be probable, seeing t half the State servants would bo regarded as civil servants, and would not be under an award. Moreover, a system of superannuation could bo established for State seamen, and any person who refused to work would lose all benefits under the scheme. It seems to us that there are very strong reasons why the steamer service between the two Islands should be uncbr State control. So far as the ser.men on ocean-going steamers are concerned, they cannot be required to cease work, and would be unlikely to do so under any circumstance®. An effort might be made to induce waterside workers at the other end to refuse to handle cargo that has been loaded by free labour. It is questionable, however, whether this would succeed. The wharf workers of England are not in a position to know the facts, and if they were in such a position they would most likely refuse to "down tools" at the behest of the Federation of Labour. The Australian trade is in a slightly different position. There is a oommon binder standing between the waterside workers in the Australian States, that goods handled by free labour shall be "tabooed." Hence, it will be injudicious to load cargoes in New Zealand for Australia with free labour. The greatest danger at the present moment, soi far as the transport service is concerned, is that there will be a shortage of coal. If the West Coast coal trade is suspended for any length of time, the effects upon transport as well as upon industry will be far-reaching. Meanwhile, it is devoutly to be hoped that the water aiders themselves, realising that they are being made tools of by. their leaders, and that they have public feeling strongly against them, will 'aoesept ijhie poteition in good grace and return to work. Every day they remain on strike they bring themselves into closer conflict with the public, and if they wish to avoic 1 a calamity to their organisation they -will offer no further resistance.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19131101.2.11
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 November 1913, Page 4
Word count
Tapeke kupu
674THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1913. THE SHIPPING. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 November 1913, Page 4
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.