The Carpenters' Strike.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 296, 21 December 1885, Page 2

The Carpenters' Strike.

The simultaneous occurrence of a cry of scarcity of employment, and tho voluntary idleness occasioned by strikes, may seem a little incongruous and vory unfortunate, nevertheless they naturally go together. When there isasuperabundanceof workmen, employers consider the opportunity favourable for lowering the standard of wages, and a conflict follows. Men whose capital is their labour are fully justified in combining to maintain a fair standard, and where contracts have been taken on the basis of a certain rate of wagee, very little sympathy will be felt for a movement intended to take advantage of the necessities of the many in order to inordinately swell, at their expense, the profits of the few. Really the only question at iesuo in this strike is whether 10s a day represents a fair standard wage for carpenters who supply their own tools and have much broken time. In the South, we believe, notwithstanding the intense depression, no attempt has ever been made to reduce the rate; and thoso who are best acquainted with the average earnings of carpenters, including some experienced builders, express a strong opinion that 10b is a moderate rate. We believe, therefore, that public sympathy in this conflict will be very strongly on tho side of the men, and that much as the rupture and its consequent distress^are deplored, the carpenters will be sustained by the other societies in a protracted struggle if it should be found necessary.