MANCHESTER DEMORALISED

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1209, 18 August 1911, Page 7

MANCHESTER DEMORALISED

STRIKERS' NUMBERS SWELL HOURLY. TEE POLICE ATTACKED. (Rec. August 1", 10.15 p.m.) London, August 17. Business in Manchester is demoralised, and tliD bulk of tho transport workers nro idle. Tho strikers have notified tlio post office that (hey will not. permit postmen to supplant the railway porters in unloading t hp mails. The ranks of 1 lie strikers are swelling hourly. Tlio police, in ,-irresHug n striker, wero attacked with stonc-s, bottles, and pieces

of iron. Five constables wero severely injured. Tho prisoner escaped. The railway. services liavis been reduced by sixty per cent. STARVING NEGROES, FIGHT POUCH AT CARDIFF. London, August 10. The increases lalel.v granled to llio seamen at C.'anlilV led lo a prel'erenco fur Europeans over negroes, ot whom there are same six hundred at Card ill, many of Ihem slarving. They annulled a ship's officer for refusing I'd engage Ihem, and fought (lie police, who quelled the. riot with their truncheons. Seven negroes arc unconscious in hospital. The Lord Mayor, of Cardiff, fearing furl her disturbances, has asked for five hundred infantry and one hundred and iifly cavalry to protect tho food supply. TROOPS DISPATCHED. (Rcc. August 17, 0.15 p.m.) London, August 17. A foreo of MO troaps have been sent to Cardiff. UNREST IN THE NORTH. SHIPBUILDING TROUBLE BREWING. (Rec. August 17, 10.15 p.m.) London, August 17. Widespread unrest exists on Iho northeast coast among the colliers, stevedores, boilermakers, and shipyard labourers. STRIKE PREVENTION. PROPOSALS IN PARLIAMENT. MR. CROOIvS'S BILL. London, August 16. It is rumoured that Parliament will possibly continuo sitting, instead of adjourning until October, as originally intended. Tho Government is considering the appointment of a 'Royal Commission to inquire into tho problem presented by t'he stationary character of wages, and the increased cost of living. Mr. Will Crooks, Labour member for Woolwich, has given nolice in the House of his intention to introduce a Bill making a strike illegal until t'lio dispute bad been considered by a board representing masters and workers, with a Board of Trado umpire. After tho board's decision tho men are to be free to accept the award or to strike. The Labour party will raiso a discussion on the 'strike in the House of Commons to-day. g THE INSURANCE RATES. SIGNIFICANT MOVEMENT. (By Tclctrraph—Press Association.! Christchurch, August 17. Advices just received locally from London go to show that the trouble amongst the transport workers was apparently anticipated some weeks before it actually aicsc. It appears that on July 3 about 3s. Gd. per cent, was being charged for insurance against strike or riot, whilst a private cable mcisngo received to-day states that the rato for the samo class of insurance is 10s. per cent, in London and 1 per cent, in Liverpool for fourteen days. Tho last-quoted rales aru not as astonishing as is the fact that a rate of 3s. fid. per cent, was charged early in Julv, when as far as thn cabled liows from England was concerned, there was no indication given that tho present trouble was imminent. Tho July rate seems to indicate that some neople in London at that time wero expecting serious trouble. It is also noteworthy, as indicating the seriousness of the position of affairs iu London that the war rate charged during the recent uncertainty in connection with affairs in Morocco was only 2s. Od. per cent. CONCILIATION DIFFICULTIES. • HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS. The public, wrote the London "Daily News" recently, is not a little bewildered by the prevailing and increasing unrest among railway employees, there being/apparently no sufficient cause lor the state of tension that exists. Tho reason for the present situation is a difl'crenee of opinion on tho conciliation scheme for the settling of disputes relating to hours and wages set up in November, 1007, after the averted strike—averted; it will bo remembered, chiefly owing to tho intervention of Mr. Lloyd-George. Sectional boards for_ each company composed of representatives of employers and employed (the latter elected by groups and districts) were to deal with disputes relating to hours and wages, and if unablo to agree were to refer them to a central Conciliation Board consisting of representatives of the company and of tho employees' side of each sectional board; ultimately an appeal was provided to a single arbitrator appointed by tho Speaker and the Master of the Rolls, or by one of them if the other was unable to act. The arbitrator's decision was to no binding. The placed upon tho awards by the railway companies is, it is alleged, antagonistic to tho spirit of the settlement, and leaves tho bulk of em-, ploycts worse off than they wcro before the awards were made. For example, in certain cases men in "goods departments" whoso hours previous to the award were 52 hours out of GO now have to work 51 hours out of 72, so that to obtain a net gain of one hour a week the men have to place- another twelve at tho company's disposal. At some stations the men have boon allowed to go back to the old scale at their own request, the official records, however, being compiled on the basis of the settlement. Further, the men are entitled to be paid a higher rate of wage for all overtime, but to avoid this some officials keep a spccial record of all una'oidablo odd hours tho men work over, taking advantage of any comparatively "slack days" to make things even. Again, in filling temporary vacancies tho men, instead of reaping tho full benefit of the advanced rato of pay, arc, it is staled, put off with 7s. or 2s. per week extra.