THE MINERS' STRIKE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2534, 6 October 1888, Page 2

THE MINERS' STRIKE.

(FROM OUR SYIINKY COHRIi.sPONOOT). Sydney, September 26. " He who knows only his cuvn side of a case knows very little of that." There was :i crowded meeting hist night to hear the miners' fide of the Newcastle strike, which, as I have told yon before, has been very generally condemned. The principal speakers were Mr R. Goundry, the miner's chairman, and Mr J. Curloy, their secretary. These gentlemen made it very plain that there is ;i great deal to be said from their point of view—that the miners have many grievances fur which, under present circumstances, they have no redress, and that their average earnings for the twelve months are very much smaller than has been generally believed. The statement published by the masters gave the miners' wages at from three to four pounds per week, or very nearly two shilling-' an hour. But it admittedly covered only the seven weeks immediately preceding the strike, when all the collieries were working at their full strength. The wages paid, there fore, only give an index as to what could be done under favourable circumstances—circumstances which seldom or never obtain for many weeks together. Mr Ourley's figures, which extend over the whole 12 months, and in some cases, over 2 years show that the average takings ot the men are only about £2 a week taken all round the district, or about £2 10s in the best collieries. Still they are not striking for an increase of wages, but for payment of work which they now have to do for nothing, and for a definition of what is a standard seam. It need hardly be said that tho interest of the public in the matter of being furnished with a regular supply of coal was altogether ignored. So was the brutal and cowardly treatment meted out by some of the miners to the men whom they called ''scabs" and "blacklegs." In brief while tho speakers showed the merits of tho case were not altogether on one side, they altogether failed to show that their action in striking before the resources of negotiation had been exhausted, had any jostilic itinn. The audience was composed chiefly of the working classes, and it accorded its sympathy to tho minors cause in a very uuinistakeable manner. One feature of tho meeting was the appearance of Sir John UoOcrtson, who has been vpry much in tho back ground of late. Tiie old knight was very heartily cheered on rising, but with characteristic courage he faced the opportunity to read the strikers a lecture on the enormity of intimidating non-Union workers. Then the cheers gave place to loud uproar and dissent. "It was a disgrace," said Sir John, for working men to hound away other working men from the mines because they were not Union men." Then lustily yelled the Unionists, "they should be, then." But Sir John was not to be daunted. "If lie had not stood forward •JO years ago, when people hounded him," he told them, " those present would not have improved the liberties they now had," which was trvie enough. Unionism is a grand and growing fact. Whether they like it or not it has come to stay. It cannot be criticised or browbeaten out of existence. It has to be reckoned with just as it is. 4nd wne or two most unpleasant features is a tendency to that very oppression and tyrnnnv, against wliicli, when exercised by the employer, it strongly revolts. However, the hope for unionism as for society generally lies in the elevation of the masses. " \Ve must educate our masters," not in the mere Chinese parrot- like style, which delights the ollicial mind, but in everything that pertains to true manhood and true womanhood, anil the implantation of generous instincts, which will scorn to be tyrannical as well as to endure tyranny. The prospects of an ultimate settlement appear at present somewhat brighter. Tho masters, metaphorically speaking, are biting their fingers at the thought of the big profits that are slipping past them. The men als > are beginning to get tired of " ease and hunger," and their apprehensions are also excited by the numbers ot outside labourers who are being brought into the district to supplant them. There is more disposition mi both sides to listen to reason, and less inclination to stand upon dignity. The Mediatory Committee is busy, and hopes are freely expressed that a speedy solution of the difficulty will be arrived at. The attitude of the tiovp.rnment in the matter has provoked considerable hostile criticism, not merely from the miners and their representatives, from whom it might be looked for as a matter of course, but from independent sources. At a disturbance at the New Lambton collieries the police, through bad generalship, as it appears, allowed themselves to '<e outnumbered, reinforcements, of permanent artillery with a Nordenfelt pun were promply sent up, although there did not appear on the surface any neceessity for such an extreme course. This, however, was not all. Not only were the colonial military forces ordered into tho district, but they lmmeidiately began to make unwonted demonstrations in the shape of a sham fight and such-like manavivres, which looked very much like a challenge to the disaffected minors. Of course, no one can blame the Executive for having its forces in readiness, and there can be no doubt that its action has tended to the prevention of outrage if not to the promotion of good feeling. But it is taken for granted in democratic countries that no recourse is to be had to military force until all the resources of the civil arm have been exhausted. Even then such an expedient is a confession of egregious failure, as well as an assertion of power. It is the employment of binto force by the State, and the State is organised chiefly to prevent the necessity of a recourse to brute force. Sir Henry if not blamed for taking precaution*: against contingencies which were sufficiently obvious. He is blamed for being in too great a hurry to play his last card, and for flaunting bis forces in an offensive and irritating manner. However, such emergencies, fortunately, seldom arise, and some allowance must be made for inexperience. If trouble should ensue the chief part of the'blaine must be held to rest on those who were the first to bring a state of virtual warfare into a peaceful community.