The Shearing Difficulty.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3971, 24 November 1891, Page 2

The Shearing Difficulty.

(The Australasian.)

An official statement of the facts and history of the shearing difficulty in Australia has been compiled by Mr E. W. Abbott, president, and Mr Wbilley King, Secretary of the Pastoralists' Union of New South Wales, by order of the Pastoralists' Federal Council of Australia, for presentation to the Royal Commission on Libour in England. The report deals succinetly with the causes, the progress, and the settlement of the troubles. As showing the importance of the interests involved, it is mentioned that there are 95,000,000 sheep and 11,500,000 cattle depasturing in Australia ; that the season's clip is estimated at a value of L 20,000,000 and that the amount of money invested in the industry is L 800,000,000, The first unjustifiable movement made by the unions was the declaration in May, 1890, of the intention to block the shipment of wool shorn by non-unionists in Queensland, and this caused the formation of unions amongst the pastoralists to resist the increasing aggressiveness of the labor unions. In July of the same year unionists were called upon to draw such a cordon of unionism round Australia as would effectually prevent a bale of wool leaving unless shorn by union shearers. At the same time it was declared that members of unions could not work with non members, or in other, words that no pastoralist should employ a shearer who <vas not a member of the union. This raised the question of freedom of contract, and after several abortive attempts on the part of the pastoralists to settle the matter, the matter was fought out on that issue. The report states that the results of the struggle have been to establish the unquestionable right of every employer to employ whom he pleases, and the unqaesti»nable right oi every man in the country to work for h's livelihood under fair and reasonable terms, irrespective of whether he belongs to a labour union or not. A more conciliatory spirit has been established between employers and their workmen, and the former have been relieved of much irritating interference on the part of the irresponsible representatives of labor unions in the management of their , business.