PRESS OPINIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 195, 12 May 1908, Page 8

PRESS OPINIONS.

; THE TRAINING SHIP. _We liavo left the Koaring Forties far behind, and tho,boys of,the Amokura will liavo' no experiences comparablo to tlioso of the baby midshipmen of tho days of. revenue cutter, gun brig, corvctto, and'three-decker-oif which Captain Marryat loved to write; ' But jt' is mainly ships that alter; tho sea and the gale retain their. infinite variety, and the troubled waters round New Zealand's coast aro calculated to evolvo.a race of se.T;nien second to none in the world. We are glad to see that the desirability of assisting such a process has been latterly recognised by the Government in a practical manner. Tile Amokura, with her sixty boys in training, is but a beginning, we hope, of what will develop into a system of much greater, possibilities.' As anticipated, much. timo has. 'ngt', been necessary to demonstrate that the present training ship is too small for tho purposes for which she is utilised. Wo hope this ca'uso of complaint will' not remain too- long unrerabved. The Dominion's late Minister of; Defence.had it expressly in mind that tho'Amokura should be but tho beginning of a movement which would bo extended and eventually coupled with a training eolle'go on shore. That the system of training Now Zealand boys for the 'Navy or for tho mercantile marino is capable of' being extended even now. considerably beyond its present scope can hardly" bo doubted. .. . It: is ...s • matter probably requiring "careful consideration, but with tho increase of population it will becomo manifestly more , evident,; that, the training-ship system is'capable of extension in tho direction of making, provision for a class of lads not at present considered in the regulations governing applications for enrolment. It' is at- present quite beyond' the power of New Zealand to ' contribute ships to tho .Navy, which is tho great defensive buliVark of. tho Empiro; but ships aro useless without sailors to man'them,' and New Zealand'can make seme return for tho great boon of naval protection she now -secures at so small a cost by contributing increasingly to the -Supply of sailors manning tho ships of the Australasian squadron. An idealj moreover, well wortily of striving/after, is tho manning of New Zealand'ships''as. far as possible by New Zealand sailors. Now Zealand '.s so situated' that tho importance of the maritime ole-\ mont in her future becomes ever increasingly obvious. The training ship "Amokura, rolling out on tlie blue water of Hauiaki Gulf or rising to tlio long seas. of Foveaux Strait, commands a decided respect as the'first departmental cradlo for young New Zealand sailors introduced by tho New Zealand Government—" Otago Daily Times."

, THE-BLACKBALL STRIKE. The conference between tlio directors of the Blackball Coal Company and tlio delegates from the Blackball Minors' Union has concluded, and the miners,' representatives have returned to the West Coast to lay before tho members of the Union tho. terms offered by tho directors.' No ono of impartial mind can say that -' thoso aro not generous—that the£ do not go further.in tho way of concessions than might. have been, reasonably expected. So far is .this the case that there domains only ono point of divergence between N thp proposals of tlio two parties, and that is a point which was raised after tho directors had concedcd all the Union's other terms. The single outstanding matter in dispute is tho employment of truckers for two hours' overtime. Tho necessity for this being done is ' fully explained elsewhere, and heea not, thoreforo, be dealt with here further than to point out that until tho completion of the Ngfrherc-Blackball railway 'tho ' mino oanndt bo worked to its full capacity unless the aerial line; by which, the coal is removed from tho mino is worked ten hours a day. ' If the directors .of the company agreed that .tho truckers should work only eight "hours, a day, tho men would not bo able to clear away the coal hewn by tho miners at the face; tho latter would havo to, be' reduccd in -numbors. and the output of tho mine would be lessened in proportion. To support their objection to tho truckers working for ten hours, the Union officials quote one of the rules of the Union that forbids, under penalty of a fine of ten shillings for each offence, any miner who is a member of. tho Union working more than eight hours underground. This rule, it is stated, has been in existence since 1905. It is singular, therefore, that it should only be mado effcctivo in 1908, when all other grievances had been removed by tho directors' , concessions; it is even more singular that tho Union, while, taking their stand on that rule, offer to ignore it. by allowing two truckors to work ovortimo when required on some special skilled work in connection with the aerial tram. The' Union's rules aro peculiarly elastic, if thoy can be. thus enforced in some casos and overridden in others at tho pleasure of the officials. We shall, presumably, hear in tho course of a da.v or two whether tho members of tho Union will acccpt tlio terms offered them by the directors. If they refuse them, or raiso fresh points, it will bo plain prcof .that thoy do not want to work, and the Unions row contributing to their support will have to decide whether they shall continue to maintain them in idleness.—Christchurch "Press."