THE DELPHIC HELD UP.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 187, 7 August 1913, Page 5

THE DELPHIC HELD UP.

SEAMEN HANDLING CARGO. DEMAND HIGHER PAY. BACKED BY WATERSIDERS. All cargo operations on the Whiti Star steamer Delphic, now lying at the Railway wharf, were suspended thie morning, while a difference between some of ihe seamen a,id the captain, as tn tho status of the'former when unloading cargo, was being smoothed over. Thi incident, which only came to a head thie morning, occurred last Friday afternoon, while the Delphic was lying at the powder ground discharging explosives. The seamen on the vessel -were unwilling to handle carj-o at their ordinary rate ol pay (they sign on at £5 per month) in a port where waterside workers get 1/E per hour for doing the same sort ol work. Waterside workers were accordingly engaged in Auckland to go down to the powder ground to undertake the work. Nothing more was heard of the incident until Tuesday evening, when eight seamen of the Delphic were served with an official extract from the ship's log, stating that a charge of £1 8/2 waa made against each of them to defray expenses in connection with the engagement of shore labour to do work which seamen should do in accordance with the articles under which they signed on. Tbe amount 'was assessed as follows:— Payment of ID/5 each to eight waterside workers, with cost of launch hire to convey .workers to the powder ground, £3 10/. The matter was referred by the seamen to their varion uthorities yesterday, and it was ascertained that the captain's action was strictly within the requirements of the law. When the waterside workers heard of the incident, they refused this morning to work the Delphic until the chargo against tho men had been remitted. Negotiations were entered into, and to expedite tho working of the ship the request of the Waterside Workers' Union was agreed to. The position, as outlined to a "Star" reported by Captain Maxwell, superintendent for tbe White Star Co. in Auckland, was to this effect. By the nriiclco of agreement which the men sign in London under the Merchant Shipping Act, seamen undertake to work cargo when required without any additional compensation. >When the Delphic arrived at the powder ground, off- Motuihi last Friday, they refused to work the cargo (unloading explosives) without compensation. Substitutes were accordingly i-cnt out to do the work, and the cost was charged against the men, to bo deducted from their pay when they were paid off in London. There was also launch hire, which would not have been involved in other circumstances. The mon were furnished by the captain with the slip showing the charge against them. "When this came to the cars of the waterside workers,"' Captain Maxwell continued, "they tool: up the cudgels on .behalf of the seamen, and held lip the ship till an assurance was given that tie charge would bo remitted and tho entry in the log cancelled. We've done it," he concluded, laconically. Tho superintendent and the captain both explained that tho men were given to understand that the cost of securing substitutes.to work the cargo would bo charged Kgainst them. For an hour on tho Friday afternoon the seamen wre engaged at the increased pay, which has been duly credited to them, but, tho captain explained, when the increased rate had to be paid he did not feel disposed to make what Fas practically double payment to the crew and engaged mon used" to the work. In casca where additional pay has been given to scanicn for handling cargo, it has been done to expedite tho loading or unloading of a vessel, but it is not a right that can bo demanded. The story told by the men seems to indicate that there has been some misunderstanding. They state that, when they made representations to the captain that it was hardly a fair thing to expect them to handle cargo at their rate of pay when the port payment for such work was 1/5 per hour, they were given to understand that their request was to. They turned out on Saturday expecting to continue the work which they had begun on the Friday afternoon, and at the same rate of pay. The notification of the charges made against them camo, therefore, as a big surprise. They consulted Mr J. K. Knecn, secretary of the Searaens' Union in Auckland, hut he advised them that, strictly speaking, they had nn redress. Discut-sing the incident with a "Star" reporter, Mr. Knecn, in advocating the cause of the seamen, said that the master had acted in nn pxtrcmclv highhanded fashion. lie considered that the launch hire ( £3 10/) was extortionate, and that in any case it ought to have been reduced. There was an understanding, too, he believed, that all cargo within the port of Auckland should be worked by waterside workers, The men, in his opinion, had good cait'e for complaint. The Merchant Shipping Act was, Mr. Knecn declared, the most barbaric Act in the world. Tbe fan.7* of the Act had been clipped in New Zealand by Mr. Soddon, Sir William Hall-Jones, and the Hon. Mr. Millar, but the English Act was as bad as ever. It was tho only Act in the world under which a single individual, for refusing to work, could bo gaoled. Thcro were, of course, Acta that prevented united action, but this Act dealt directly with tbe individual.