THIRD DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 268, 11 November 1937, Page 8

THIRD DAY.

MINERS , DISPUTE.

PROSPECTING WORK.

EMPLOYERS' CAtfE RESUMED.

Argument concerning the application for an award by certain goldmining unions and allied workers entered on the third day in the Arbitration Court to-day. Mr. Justice O'Regnn presided, and with him were Messrs. A. L. Monteith nnd W. Cecil Piime. Mr. R. (J. Milligan appeared for the Martha Ooldniiniiig Com-panv (Waihi), Ltd., and Mr. M. H. Wynyard for the Golden Dawn mine and certain Thames mine owners. Mr. J. Roberts, of Wellington, represented the applicants, the engine drivers, engineers, carpenters and miners of the Martha mine, the miners at the Golden Dawn mine, and certain other Thames miners. With the resumption this morning, Mr. Milligan continued hie case. He called .lames Long (Jilmour, mine manager of the Martha mine since 1902, who said that the character of the underground work had not changed. Witness said he did not know of any area close to the mine which waa worth prospecting. Nor was there any corner in the mine area which had not been prospected by diamond drilling or of which a geophysical survey had not been made. Mr. Roberts' Cross-examination. Cross-examined by Mr. Roberts, witness said that in 1922 he had submitted a report stating there was little ore left. "You said it then," Mr. Roberts added, "you have been crushing ever since, and you etill say it." Witnese said he did not know exactly what ore was in the mine, but ae a mining man he did not think there was much not explored. Regarding further prospecting work, witnese told Mr. Milligan, when reexamined, that the decision did not rest with him. His duty was to make recommendations. Mr. Milligan completed hie eubmiseione yesterday afternoon. Effect of Increase in Gold Price. The increases and alteration* claimed by the Waihi unions, he said, would involve an additional cost in the first year of about £44,000 to the Martha Company. "This i« an impossible eum," Mr. Milligan said, "and I say quite definitely that the burden could have onlv one result—the rapid extinction of sold mining in the Waihi fiejd, and the disintegration of the townships of Waihi and Waikino." Reviewing the hwtory of the mine. Mr. Milligan eaid that the improved price for gold had saved the eituation, inasmuch as lower grade ore could be worked. Nevertheless, there was a big progres#ive falling off in production each year, while ore reserves were also decreasing. Further, against lower production there had been a serious increase in working cost*, frdm 25/5 per ton in 1928 to 33/ in 1930. The increase in the price of gold had not meant increaeed profits to the company or the shareholders. Nor had the dividend amount been increased since 1913. Mr. Milligan pointed out also that increased wages would not simply cause a reduction in the company's profit. It would mean * •ortailment of developmental work, *nd that would hasten the procew of exhaustion. "It can be tnlf aaid," he added, "that the mining industry in the Hauraki mining district is languishing, largely because of high working costs and the heavy burden of taxation. There is little prospect of the industry being able ; to expand under conditions as they are lat preeent. If those conditions are rendered more adverse it would, in my I opinion, be the death knell of the industry." When the evidence of the Martha mine manager was finished, Mr. Milligan read a statement which said that wages at Waihi had never been eettlmd in relation to the market value of shares, the dividend rate, the general prosperity of the company or the price of gold. He produced figures in support of this. He also said that the existing award at the Blackwater mine should not be used as a basis for the new Martha award.

Onus on Union. Reviewing the case enbmitted by the union generally, Mr. Milligan, reiterated that the onus was clearly on the union to prove the necessity and propriety j from that standard. Mr. Milligan submitted, in regard to the question of health, that as those men who suffered from miners' dieease were provided for by meane of a Government pension, to which the company contributed, the matter of dust in the mine could have no bearing on wages. "The argument of the union is based almost entirely on the past glory of the mine," said Mr. Milligan. "The award is to govern the future, not the paet. The problem before the Court in a eimple one, to fix the wages for surface labourers in relation to their 1831 standard, with a differential rate for regular work ami caeual work. If the Court thinks that a weekly rate should be awarded for men on regular work it should not exceed £4." Forty-hour Week Problems.

Mr. Milligan added that the 40-hour week had created problems for the company. The company had tried to carry out the legislation, but the mine could not do so unless it was prepared to sacrifice some of its tonnage,- and if that were done, then the life of the mine would be shortened. Mr. Wynyard, endorsing what Mr. Milligan had said of the dispute generally, added that as far as Golden Dawn was concerned, it could not bear a heavier burden than it had to-day. This concluded the employers' case. Conditions at Blackwater, submitted Mr. Roberts, beginning, his review of the case, were much the same as at Waihi, and there was no reason that the award should not apply to Waihi. He asked the Court to give the miners the same consideration as it had recently given other workers. Referring in his turn to the 40-hour week he said, "The Martha Company is determined to fight this legislation, and the company has said that it will beat it. I want the Court to take particular notice of that." (Proceeding.)