THE MINERS' DISPUTE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 130, 3 June 1901, Page 3

THE MINERS' DISPUTE.

SITTING AT WAIIII

(By Telegraph—Own Correspondents

WAI II r, Saturday

At Conciliation Board to-day mine manager VVoarne, continuing- his examination, deposed that he paid his chamber men 7/6. He never had a miner working on the face for Jess than S/, but had young- fellows who i never worked in a mine before. | The chairman at this stag's read ilif following' letter from the Government Life Insurance Department: "Pueroa, May 27, 1901: Rev. A. [].. Collins, chairman of Conciliation Board. Sir, Jn the evidence given be fore the Board when .sitting- at Waihi Mr Kill/ in reported to have stated thai the Government Insurance Department would not take risks upon the lives of men engaged In dry crushing- batteries. If the report is authentic permit me* to correct Mr Katz, as he is evidently under a wrong- impression,- and his evidence on this point would lead your Board and the public to a wrong conclusion. Ihe department takes proposals for men employed in the capacity referred to in the same manner as from all other persons, and treats them in exactly the same manner in the matter of medical examination and such bke. If the medical report upon the man is satisfactory, a policy is issued m the ordinary way." _ Frederick Bovvden 'Anderson, examined by Mr Rhodes, deposed he was employed, by the Ohinemuri County and was in a position to tell the Board what the Tauranga County paid their surface men. They paid G/ per day The boundary of the Tauranga County was about three and a-half miles by i-oad. He was receiving-' 7/ per day. Adam Elliott, examined by Mir Harry, deposed he. lived at Waihi, and had followed mining-, with the exception of four or five years, for the last ::.'< years. LL> had worked for the Waihi Company for eight or nine years, and always had 8/ per day. There was a little overtime worked when it was necessary, but in Mr Russell's time, before Mr Gilmour came, overtime to a great extent was worked. He had not heard any complaints from men for working overtime. On the contrary they wore anxious to work overtime; Witness was foreman of the mullockere on the surface. He did not thinkany extra pay over ordinary pay should be given for overtime. There might be occasions when a man might be entitled to overtime, as when having to repair a shaft or any other hard work. Overtime, in his opinion, must be unprofitable to mine owners. Eight hours a day was a fair thing for surface hands. He did not see any more reason for a rise of wages now than there was two years ago. He did not object to any qf the conditions in the contract of tJie Waihi Company. He was well satisfied, and had done a lot of contracting for this company. He considered that a manager should have the power to dismiss a man from contract, fri some instances the manager should also have power to cancel a contract. He had not hoard of any eases where injustice had been done under the. contract conditions, lie had always been treated well himself. He would be satisfied to have a deposit forfeited if he failed to complete a contract. He did not consider mining more dangerous than other occupations if a man was careful. He could ! not say that he had felt injurious 'effects from smoke. The Waihi mine was a comfortable mine to work in. He had never worked in a better. The cost of living was 25 per cent, higher twelve years ago than it is now. He ' was able to live comfortably on 8/ a day, and had always been able to. He had a boarder at present who paid him 12/ a week, including board, lodging, and washing. John Aspinall deposed he had control of 34 houses. In his opinion rents bad not increased for the last ,two or three years. In sftme instances he himself had decreased them. In his experience rents had not increased as stated by other witnesses. He had let two five-room-ed houses at 9/. Witness stated that ifrom his store accounts he and his wife lived at 11/8 per week, including tobacco. ne considered living was cheaper now than when he first came to Waihi. He had been residing iat Waihi six years. By Mr. Morgan: He owned three sections, and had four 4-roomed houses on them. He was receiving 9/ Ifor two of them, and 7/ for the other two! For a four-roomed house and porch he received 7/ per week. He had five houses on three acres of ground near Lock's boarding-house. He was receiving 0/ for a three-room-ed house, 2/6 to 3/ for one-roomed huts. These houses were about 1| I miles from the post office. Houses in i the town were demanding higher rent. No property-owner had told him their properties had risen in value. He had no conditions on his titles, but he held some by miner's rights: others were free titles. By Mr Drumm": He would not swear that four-roomed houses were receiving 12/ per week in Waihi. There were not many houses in Waihi where four houses were built on 1J acre. The ones which he quoted were an exception. Some of the places which he had quoted he had not had in his hands four years ago. David Coutts, examined by Mr. Barry, deposed he was a miner at Waihi, and had worked on contracts. He considered the conditions of contracts fair and reasonable. He thought it only right that the 25 per cent should be kept back till the end of thirty days. He had known of cases where the 25 per cent, had been paid before the expiry of thirty days. He did not know of any unnecessary work being done in mines on Sundays. It depended on how a pumpman was engaged whether he should be paid extra rates or not. He considered that it was necessary that the main pump should be kept going on Sundays. He thought if no increase of wages was given the minimum rate should be as it was now, and if an increase was granted it should be based on that increase.

By Mr. Tunis: He considered that all workmen were not equal. If he had the fixing of the minimum rate he would arrange it so that all could live. He' was aware that ordinary miners received under 8/ at Thames. In fixing the minimum wage he would take the majority. By Mr BeH: He considered the minimum rate should apply to all mines. He thought that older meta

should have a chance to receive a lower rate of pay so as to be able to support themselves. By Mr Drumm: He considered six hours was long enoug-h for -workingin wet places, and a miner working| in a winze and rise should have a| slight increase of pay to that of men! working in stopes or drives. He didj not think a man should grumble if he had to work a few hours overtime. He did not agree with the entire demands of the Union, but as regards his own work, that of miner, he thought it fair. By Mr Morgan: He was receiving 22/ per foot for a private contract he was now working on. If it had been made public, he would not have tendered lower. He didn't consider it unfair to others that the contract had not been let publicly. Ammunition cost £3 10/10 per case outside. The company's charges were a slight increase on this. The fourroomed house he was living in cost 10/ per week. By Mr Morgan: A competent miner should get 9/ and be able to work anywhere in the mine. By Mr Drumm: A stoper was entitled to 0/, and if put to shaft work lie should get 1/ per shift increase. William Corbett, examined by Mr Hhodes, deposed he was assistant county engineer for Ohinemuri, and was acquainted with the general conditions of county contracting. There was a clause allowing him dismiss wages men* of contractor. There is nothing compulsory in the clause to give reason of such dismissal. By Mr Morgan: Generally speaking a reason should be given, but under exceptional circumstances he. would not give a reason for dismissal. H. L. Simmons, examined by' Mr Tunks, deposed he was superintendent of Waihi Grand Junction. About 1!) men were still working for the company, as they were working when he took charge first. He had no applications for increase of wages, and no dissatisfaction was expressed as far as he was aware. The miner in New Zealand was mostly better off than those of other countries he had lived in. The present rate of wages paid in New Zealand was all that the min- | ing industry could stand. Anything that would tend to the increase of wages would only diminish the industry, and would have a decided influence on London and Home capitalists. His company had spent one hundred and five thousand on their property and had no returns. About half of that sum had been spent in wages alone. He was paying a striker 6/ who was about 17 years of age, and who had commenced at 4/. His surface labourers worked 47 hours per week. He paid 9/ to shaft men, and shift bosses 10/. As a minimum wage 7/6 as paid at the Thames would be fair. By Mr. Curtis: It would take about £150,000 to develop a 100-acre ! block for mining. The Waihi properties could not be worked by local capital, as, judging by the present companies, it had been very difficult to obtain capital for local development. By Mr. Morgan: The Waihi Extended Company were developing now with local capital. By Mr. Bag-nail: Miners and surface men in America worked ten hours on day shift, and Worked eight hours when on continuance shifts. lialph Reginald Lewis, examined by Mr. Barry, deposed he had been working as contractor in the Waihi mine. He considered the contracts were fair and workable. He had no objection to work overtime at the ordinary rate of pay. It was not unreasonable for a company to ask a man to work an hour or two overtime at the ordinary rate, b/ut beyond that time it was unreasonable. By Mr. Tunks: He had always been fairly treated by the management at Waihi, and had not seen any evidence of tyranny on the part of the management. By Mr. Morgan: He was a member of the Union, and had noted on the scale of wages. He considered it fair and reasonable. James Carter, examined by Mr. Barry, deposed he was a miner at Waihi, and had been engaged mining twelve years. He had contracts in the Waihi mine, and he found the conditions of contract fair and workable. He did not know a case where such powers had been used to the prejudice of a contractor. By Mr. Tunks: He did not think it fair to fix a rate of wages so that inexperienced miners could not get. employment. By Mr. Morgan: He hardly thought it fair that the manager should dismiss his wages men without a given reason. He had voted for that part of the scale of wages referring to miners. He considered that overtime should be paid at time and a half. If Sunday work was necessary it should be paid at the same rate. Miners in rises should be paid more because it, was more dangerous work, and the ventilation was not so good as in other parts. He considered that some of the demands of the Union in the schedule were excessive. He had had to pay exchange on companies' cheques, and he objected to it, and refused to take chequr*; from the office. By Mr. Tunks: It was only on contract cheques that he had to pay exchange. By Mr. Drumm: Under present conditions in Waihi 8/ per day for a family man was barely sufficient, but necessity compelled men to do it in many cases. The Chairman read the following letter from Adolf Katz: "Dear Sir,— I learri that a letter has been sent to you refuting certain evidence given by me before the Board re the life insurance of dry-crushing bat-tery-workers. I beg to point out that I am in a position to provide corroborative evidence that an officer of the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Company did state that the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Company did not insure drycrushing battery-workers.

The following appeared in our second edition- of Saturday:—^

Mr. E. G. Banks deposed that he resided at Waihi r and occupied the position of the metallurgist and chemist for the Waihi G.M.Co. He considered it was detrimental to the process' of wet crushing to stop during work for repairs. The most serious objection was the effect it had on slimes, and also losses in extraction of" gold. With regard to the cost of living, it was, in his experience, aboilt the same as six years ago. Witness submitted a schedule of living

costs, covering a period from 1896 to 1901. Witness was examined by Mr. Druinin.

Mr. J. E. Wearne, manager of the Union Waihi G.M-Co., deposed that be had held that position for close on five years, during which time he had let fifty contracts, and only one of these was cancelled before completion.