THE WHARFMEN'S FOOD STRIKE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3169, 21 August 1917, Page 7

THE WHARFMEN'S FOOD STRIKE

PROTEST AGAINST THE COST OF LIVING GOVERNMENT TAKES FIRM STAND f The threat held out by wharf labourers at Melbouriib not to handle foodstuffs consigned to jiorts outsido tho Commonwealth reflects another aspect of the industrial strife—discontent over tho fcod prices. Tho threat was put intn operation in respect to a stcamor bound i'or Eastern. I'ncific ports. Leaving dry dock in tho morning, tho vessel proceeded to her loading-berth at No. 7, Vic : torin Dock, and the usual steps wero taken by representatives of the stevedoring companies to secure gangs of men to coinraenco tho work. At half-past ono o'clock, tho usual hour for tho assembling of gangs, there was a. largo number of wharf labourers at tho "piclc-ing-up" point, but when they wero asked to load the steamer nono of those present would accept tho work. It was pointed out to them that up to the present .ihey had offere<l no objections to tho loading of general merchandise, and id whs suggested that a beginning bo made with the loading of the general cargo which had been booked for shipment on the .vessel, an asburanco being given, that if the men commenced, this work (Ley would not be asked to handle, the foodstuffs. However, tho men refused to touch any of the cargo destined for this/particular steamer, Baying that, according to a regulation they were compelled to complete tho loading of the whole of tho.cargooo v a vessel if they once commenced operations, otherwise they would 1 be liable to penalties. As a result none of the steamer's outward cargo was placed aboard during the day. About 8000 tons of cargo, including a very heavy consignment of flour, has been deposited in ' the wharf shed. A certain amount of the flour had been stacked last week • prior' to the stackers ceasing work. ■ Since then the carters built the bags into scattered heaps on the floor of the she'd, but, according to ■jnioii interpretation, this work does not represent "stacking," as when it is carried out by wharf labourers stacks are built in such ia manner that full use is made of every available cubic foot of space, fit has been since reported by cablegram that tho men had agreed to load supplies for Britain and her Allies.]

. CAUSES AND EFFECTS PKIME MINISTER EXPLAINS. Following upon a conference of representatives of. tho Wharf Labourers', Butchers', Storemen and Packers', and Grocers' Unions, with the Trades Hall Council and.the Political Labour Council, a deputation waited upon the Prime Minister (Mr. Hughes) and urged that the .Federal Ministry. should tako steps to reduce the cost of living. In. his reply Mr. Hughes pointed out the extent to which the present cost of living was due to increased wages. ' The president of the Trades Hall Council (Mr.. A. J. Pearce), in introducing the deputation, stated that the present price of most of the household necessities was causing. much conce.ru. to. the. working m<m and his wife. It was. almost impossible for the average householder to make both ends meet. He urged that steps should 1)8 taken that, would enablo the working ' mail, to get '.the necessary commodities at prices within his income. .A. .tribunal. sliould be appointed to inVestigate the present prices as compared with, pre-war prices. ...The Ministry had endeavoured to protect the primary producer by guaranteeing to him a certain price for his commodities.' If it could do that it could protect the consumer also'by regulating the price which lie would have to pay. At the present time the meat market was so "rigged" ■that the supply was kept low, and the prices were consequently high. Ho declared that there was a feeling running through all the States that there was urgent need foi.tho Ministry to take immediate action on the whole question. Mr. E. Jones (Wharf Labourers' Union) declaimed that in the course of his work lie had found out that there were ample supplies of food available, yet tho pcoplo could not get it. Tho cool stores were full of frozen rabbits, which miglit never bo shipped. Tho Ministry should opeu the'stores, and let the people have some of ,those rabbits at a reasonable price. While there were so many rabbits in the stores he protested against Tiis wife being charged 2s. a, pair. ,Mr. Hughes: What is the fixed price? Mr. W. H. Clarko (Prices Commissioner) : Is. 'Id. a pair on the market. Mi , . Hughes, (to Mr. Jones): Who charg-. cd you 2s. ? ■ ■ Mr. Jones: They charged me Is. Gd. ; .a the South Melbourne niiirket. Mr. Hughes: You said 2s. You should stick.to fact?. Mr. Jones: The rabbits ought to be made available ; to the general public at a much lower price than is charged. Mr.'Hughes: Do you suggest that tho men who catch the rabbits should not get fair pay for it? Supposing you wero loading a bunch of bananas on a ship and another man said ho was hungry, you would not mind giving , him the bananas, because they did not belong to you; but if you grew them, I bet you would stick to thenj. A man who catches rabbits is as much a working man as you are. ■ Mr. C. J. Bennett (president of the Political Labour Council) contended that the first duty of the Ministry was to pro. vido a plentiful subsistence for the people. There-was plenty of stock in the country, and the Ministry should insist upon .at .least 2500 head of cattle being provided for the weekly market in each | capital at >i price not higher than ,£2 per 1001b The community was behind tho deputation in its. requests, \

Mr. C. Anderson (Meat Industry Employees' Union) .stated that on 'August (i, 1014, the wholesale, price of beef was 30s. to 325. per 1001b.. and of. mutton 3?,-d. to 3ld. per lb. To-day primo beef was 50s. to 535., and mutton s£d. to s|d. The graziers had had a. very good innings, and the prices should now be reduced. • Mr. P. .T. Clarey <Storemen. and Packers' Union) declared that the markets were being "rigged." Prices.should bo fixed in order that it would be unprofitable for tho middlemen to hold up commodities against a rise. Ho urged that action should bs taken to reduce house rent. The purchasing power of the ■sovereign in'house rents had depreciated 63 per cent, since 1901, and it now took one and a half to two days' wages to pay the rent alone.

Mr. E. A. ,7. Smith (Grocers' Union) also epoko. Mr. Hughes, in reply, complimented tlio deputation upoa the temperate way in which it had puts, its case.. The Ministry realised • tho full importance of the matters put forward, and lie could assure the deputation that exploitation of the people would not be permitted. I'licro were certain facts, however, which made it impossible to do some of the things which the deputation had requested. Take wheat, the staple article of diet, jis an example. It cost in Australia •!■.'. 9d. u bushel. In Canada, a. country which hail as largo an exportable surplus as Australia, the minimum price of wheat had been lixod at Us. a bushel. In Australia, broad was 7<l. a -lib. loaf, or 1.75 d. a lb. In England it wa.s !)d. a 3Jlb. loaf, or 2.57 d. a lb. Nor had tho price of butter or meat gono up unduly. There was no doubt that there had been an increase in the cost of living. Whero that arose diroctly out of exploitation it could not, and must not, be allowed, but ho was perfectly sure that even the members of the deputation would not say for one moment that any one of the things lo which they had referred could be produced and put on the market to-day at the same price as'before tho war. The bag of wheat was the condensed labour of tho farmer, tho fruit of his toil. -He had to pay more lo produce it, and must therefore got more for it. He was in this samo position as all other workers. Prices had gone up, but so had wages. Thorp was not the slightest doubt that thr. wharf lahouror earned very much more now per hour of work clone than would compensate him for the increase in the cost of living. Why should a farmer not get. more also? The question was: "Is the farmer getting too much for his labour?" He said most' emphatically not. Tho .Ministry had guaranteed tho farmer Is. f.0.b.,' which meant 3s. -Id. or 3s. sd. a bushel on the farm. Tester-

day n. statement had bcwi presented to him which showed that it cost the farmer 3s. IOJd. a bushel to produ«e the wheat. It was desired that Australia, should bo u. great wheat-producing country, and that end could nut bo attained unless a fair price wero offered for the wheat, any moro than avirile population could foe expected without fair wages. In regard to rabbits, the- (rappers used to get sd. a. pair at tho nearest factory. >iow they get Is. a pair. Rabbits could not ho put on tho market at tho same prico now us when the trappers were paid 7d. a pak less. Nor could wheat be put on board ship at tho same price, when tho wages of wharf labourers had !>eefl increased from Is. sd. an hour to 2s. Tho effect, of the increased cost, of labour upon prices was undeniable. The refusal of tho mctl to work continuously at employment where it was offering had also had its effect.- It had decreased the weekly wage of tho men, and tho failura to utilisethe number of ships available to the full extent had decreased tho amount of work offering. Tho . soonor the ships wero loaded, and got away the sooner they would 6ome back and provide more work. The deputation represented the whole of tho Trades Hall, and ho therefore tooK tho opportunity to speak seriously to its mcmbor.s. There was a threat now in tho air that the wharf labourers would refuse to load flour. It was no nso for them to talk about bringing down prices that way. They could come to him and ask him to appoint ji. board to investigate the matter, but they could not do so if, at tho samo time, they said to him that if ho <did not do as they wished tliav would not load tho Uouir. As Mr. Justice Biggins said, they could 'not have it both ways. That was all he would say on that point. The deputation, had an excellent case when it said that people should not be allowed to make undue profits; but it had not a leg to ftand upon when it said that poeple should be forced to sell their goods at less than it cost to produce them. • A member of tho deputation: Give ,11s a tribunal. , Mr. Hughes: Price-fixing was aot a very satisfactory method of dealing with the problem, except by limiting or defining what was a fair profit. He would, however, put the views of the deputation before the Cabinat. Early and serious consideration would be giver, to tlie question of .is to how far the existing machinery for the fixation and regulation of prices could he extended. Referring to the proposed regulation of rents, Mr. Hughes said that ho tad reason to know that, in. eomo cases, ronts had been raised without the slightest justification. The difficulty of fixing rents was one that at first eight appeared, to be almost insuperable. The only way he saw out of it was the creation of rent courts. One would have_ more confidence in rent courts and price-fix-ing, however, if the c.ttitude of organised Labour towards awards wero different from wnat it: was. There was a great conflict raging in New South Wahs at tho present time, where the men naid no attention to existing awards.' Jt was quite incompatible with the reqnest of tho deputation to form new Courts that tho award of the existing Courts would be flouted.-

PROTESTS IN PARLIAMENT MINISTER PROMISES FIRM ACTION. In the S'tate Legislative Council, the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Hagelthorn) mnde an important statement regarding the .refusal of the wharf labourers to load foodstuffs into overseas steamers. Hβ said that the officers in charge of.tho wheat ,pool had indicated that the Wharf labourers engaged to load a vessel belonging .to a Dutch company had declined u> handle the cargo. He was mentioning tho matter in the House to indicate how serious the position, might become!. It was'only fair to say that, so far as one could ascertain, the unions were not responsible for this con. dilion of things. Tho unions had not approved of the action of the men who had been engaged to do this work. Mr. Frauk Clarke:. Don't you think that tho Sydney people have asked the wharf labourers to asairi them by cutting off sea communication?

Mr. llagelthorn: If this kind of thing was going lo continue here it would probably spread, and wo would' find ourselves in such a position that it would me impossible to send any exports from this or any other State. Mr. Brown: What do you propose to do? Mr. Hagelthorn: It was not his intention to tell members what kind of medicine it was proposed to ndm'nistcr. If wo could not get our products exported in a time such us this, when every shilling that we could secure from the salo of thorn was needed, it was going to place this and other States in a very serious financial.position. It wquld cut off the only means we had of paying tho public servants and other men who worked for this community. Mr. Baillieu: All classes? Mr. Hagelthorn: All classes of this community relied more than ever before on the proper marketing of our exportable goods abroad. Without .that chaos would reifni very promptly. There were two ships trading between hero and tho East belonging to a Dutch company. The ships, had been kept running because the company had tho trade between Australia and tho East, and wanted to keep it. In endeavouring to retain this trade the company had run the ships for a smaller return than could have l>een obtained by putting them on another route. Mr. Beckett: I wish wo had some shares in that company. . Mr. Hagelthorn: He <lid not know that the company claimed to be patriotic, but in retaining the trade it had made a sacrifice. The. , shipping' agent."! now took up tho position that, if they were going to be hum-bugged in this way, they must ask the company they represented to take the ehips elsewhere. That was a fair business proposition. . Tho Ministry did not propose to remain idle. (Hear, hear.) It wus a difficult matter to make men work who were unwilling to work. Mr. Brown: We will support you. . Mr. Hagelthorn: It was inadvisable to say what the Ministry intended doing, but whatever action it took in conjunction with another Ministry the Ministry expected from members thnt support without which very little could be done. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. Beckett said that he was at a loss to know what object the Minister had to serve in mentioning this matter. Members could obtain their information from the newspapers. He had a vivid recollection of a Minister who had endeavoured to induce returned soldiers and farmers' sons to make-' blacklegs of themselves. It was time that a forcible protest w:is made against the high cost of living. It was time that the Ministry was made to recognieo its duty to the people. The Ministry preached thrift to peoplo who were starving. Farmers in this country would be glad to see 4s. or 4s. 3d. a bushel for their wheat, and yet poultry farmers had to pay ss. and ss. 3d. a bushel for wheat.

Mr. Richardson aspressed the, hope that strong action would be taken by tho State and Federal Ministries to ensure thnl: the products of tho country wcro exported. Mr. Beekott's remarks were in keeping with the ridiculous shi'temenli) made by men of his party. They wero told that the cool stoves wero full of meat. 31 r. Angliss: It is an absolute lie. Mr. Richardson: Producers were being asked (o jrrow wheal at a loss. Population was increasing in fho metropolitan area, and tin- rishl cry was: "Put people on the. laud." Tf producers wore not to l)i> allowed to export their, products peoplo would bo driven off tho land. Mr. Bailliou said that .many (iresticks wore being dragged through the- country. Ho-wns of tho opinion Ihat.cvory . public man who made ti statement ehnuld bo held strictly accountable for its veracity, and it should bo a, punishable offence for a newspaper lo publish incor- , . riict information. It was becauso they did not get tho truth that tho people got into this slale of mental confusion, which woujd eventually break down society. .Before w« knew where wo were wn would have upheavals such hs Ibis country had never seen. It had been stated that the people in Australia wero paying tho same price for wheat as were iho people in countries dovastatcd by tho war, and that tho producer hero received (ho same price for his wheat as ho coiiild got iibroml. Producers here were paid 'K Od. ;i bushel, while the prico in England was !K lid. and in America 10s. Silly statements were beiiiT madn by- men who-wont about the country like a hungry <Jo? with a bone in his mouiHi. J.ibour in England was far cheaper than it was in Australia, and the producer thero had been getting 70s. for '

his wheat. Yet the Australian consumer was told that he was being robbed. They were told in effect that a fair price for wheat would be 26. or 2s". (id. a bushel. No one would grow wheat at that price. Why -ivevo false ideas being put into tho 'heads of people? A great number of the things used by a family were imported. Whs it suggested that we should not feel the results of the war? If the farmer did not get about is. for his wheat, he was not encouraged to go on with his work. Notwithstanding tho guarantee of is. there had been 30 per cent, less planting in New South Wale 3 and 20 per cent, less in Victoria. Tho man who worked for wages got the money regularly, but the producer had to wait and trust to his crop. Hβ was sure that there were many avenues of irada whero prices had increased unfairly. By creating this absurd outcry against the wheat farmer people were trying to bring down tho house about their ears.

Mr. Angliss said that it would not have been possible lo make the export of meat pay in 1 !)16. For the first naif of this year tho total amount -f meat exported was equivalent to 6oni9thing liko lib. per head of the population. That would not affect the prico of meat. At present the greatest cost of nil was that of distribution. It cost more at the present time' to deliver meat lo a family in Melbourne than to fend it to England. For' the year 1916 Tiis firm had declared a 5 per cent, dividend. The firm had decided that during the term of the war no more dividends would be paid nor salaries to members of Iho firm.