THE DEMANDS OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE OFFICERS.

Evening Post, Volume XL, Issue 8, 9 July 1890, Page 2

THE DEMANDS OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE OFFICERS.

THE CORRESPONDENCE. So much interest is being taken in the difficulty which has arisen between the Meroantile Marine Officers' Association of New Zealand and the steam ship owners that we make no apology for publishing the whole of the correspondence which has passed on the subject. The oorrespondenoe is at follows :— Wellington, N.Z., 26th May, 1890. To the Direotors of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. i Gentlemen, — The Meroantile Marine j Officers' Association of New Zealand desire to place before you the following resolutions passed by the Association for your consideration and adoption;— l. Whereas no; defined character as to an officer's duty on board ship has been ascertained, and has in many instances fallen to the standing of a leading seaman : we respectfully submit the following as an officer's duty, viz:— 2. The dnty to assist in the safe navigation of the ship. 3. To see all cargoes, mails, and luggage be properly received, iitowed, and delivered, as far as lay iir, his power, to the best interest of bis employers; bnt in no case is an officer to ta.Uy cargo in or out of vessel or assist in an r manual labour in connection with can toes, mails, luggage, or the work on boafd ship. 4. Whereas np to the present in sLtfps where only two offioers are carried the hours of duty are of suoh a lengthy character as to prevent the officers from performing their duties with credit to themselves, profit to their employers, or with a due sense of regard for the safety of. the travelling publio, it has been resolved : That three officers at lea«t shall be carried in every ship (where practicable), and that the system of three watches shall be strictly observed ; that the offioer who has the first watch on the ship proceeding to sea, more especially at night, shall, in the interest of auconoerned— owners, passengers, orew, and himself— have had four hours' watoh below previous to sailing in order to conduot the navigation of the ship with safety. 5. To consider and alter the accommodation as at present exists in some of the company's ships for offioers. 6. That on the offioers working late in the night, provision shall be made for their obtaining refreshment, not as now exists, granted as a special favour by a subordinate steward. 7. This Association having taken into consideration the low scale of wage paid to certificated offioers, have resolved that the following minimum wage shall be paid on and after Ist June, 1890, vie. :— Chief officer. £16 a month, with ruing scale as per number of years in the company's service ; second officer, £14 a month ; third officer, £12 a month ; fourth officer, £12 a month. Awaiting your reply, I am, gentlemen, Your obedient servant, J. H. Wat.de Hiohhan, Secretary. The above demands were considered by the directors of the Union Company, who communicated with Captain Highman, and it was arranged to hold a conference in Wellington between that gentleman and representatives of the owners. The conference was held on the 26th and 27th of last month, and Captain Highman agreed to submit amended proposals, which he did as follows : Mercantile Marine Offioers' Association. Monowai, Mararoa, Botomahana, Tara-'

wera Waih^* 4*4 * Wgirarapa, |Manap'ourij Tekano Bauro.> * a **"*. Wakatipu; Arawate, Binsarooma, 1 ' &*&^ The above ships to oarf* tht «l? 1i m f oel i S h aleaat; the rate of wages per on Alfl *il Chief offioer, £16; second, £U, tb s d « ti* Takapuna, Eotorna, Penguin, - ""®V Wanaka, Wainui, Ohan, Tanpo, Rosai.. .', DingadM, Omapere, Mawherm, Mahinapna, Hero, Qrafton, Australia, Southern Cross — The above ships to carry three offloera at least : the rate of wages per month to beChief offioer, Xl 5; seoond, £13 ; third, £12. Wareatea, Orowaiti, Banks Peninsula, Kawatiri, Maori, Ureti, Kanieti, Manawatu, Beautiful Star, Moa, Waihi — The above ships to oarry two officers (where praotioable); the rate of wages to be— Chief offioer, £15 ; second, £13. The above soale of wages to oomo in foroo on Ist July, 1890. J. H. Watdk Highmin, Secretary M.M.O.A.

The following correspondence has since aken place : — Wellington, 2nd July, 1890. Fhe Direotors Union Steam Ship Company, Wellington. Gentlemen — I am direoted to auk you to bo so good as furnish this Association with your ultimatum re oiroular put before you and dißoussod at your earliest oonvenienoo. I am also direoted to inform yon that the deoision arrived at by the steamship owners of Australia will have no effcot whatever upon the Meroantile Marine Officors' Aesooidtion of Now Zealand. I am, 40., J. H. W. Hiqhman, Seoretary M M.O.A. Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Limited. Wellington, 3rd July, 1890. The Sooretary Mercantile Marino Qffioers' Association of Now Zealand. Dear Sir — Referring to your oiroular of 26th May last, our various interviews and your final demands as banded to me on Tuesday last, I hare sow to mako the following reply : - (1) I plaoe in tabulated form tho wages paid per month by the ohief oompanics in Australasia and your demands, as follows:— Union Steam Ship Company — Large boats, first officer, £15; seoond officer, £10; third offloer, £7 10s; fourth, offloer, £Q. Small boats, first offloer, £12 to JJH; aooond offioer, £9; third offioer, JC7 10s. Australian Union Steam Navigation Company— Large boats, first oflioer, JBH; seoond officer. £9 ; third offioer, £8. Small boats, first offioer, £12 ; seoond offioer, £9. H. Smith & Sons-First offioer, £12 to £14; second offioer, £10; third oflloor, £9. Adelaide Company — First offioor, £14; second offioer, £10; third offioer, £8. Huddart, Parker & Co —First offioer, £13 ; second offioor, £9 ; third offioer, £8. Taamaniau Steam Navigation Company — First officer, £14; second offioer, £10. Demanded by Officers' Association— Large boats, first offioer, £10 ; seoond offioer, £14 ; third offioer, £12. Small boats, first offioer, £15; second officer, £13; third offioer, £12; with the addition that it shall be imperative for 32 steamers (named) to oarry three offioers. I may explain that the rate of £9 for seoond officers in the Union Company's fleet is confined to about six, all the others being paid £10. From the abovo figures it will be seen that the Union Company pays a higher level of wages than any other oompany in the Australasian oolonioß. (2) Having felt strongly that the requisitions detailed in your oiroular were in some oases hardly within reasonable limits, and that the steamboat owners were treated with but scant courtesy, to say the least of it, in having snoh a oiroular sent to thorn without any notice, and to take effeot within a few days of its date, 1 am now the more gratified that our various interviews have fed to suoh explanations and assuranoeß as have narrowed down the issueß between us to the demands whiuh I have speoified above. 3. As I oxplained to you it is neoessary that no final decision by the steamboat owners be arrived at until they have opportunity of conferring together and arriving at a joint reply. I haro accordingly oommunioated by oable with Sydney, and have reoeivod a reply ualoDgr for sundry details of information. These I am now sending over, aud must ask you to wait until time is given for disoussion and decision, before I forward a reply to your demands. 4. But on behalf of the Onion Steam Ship Company I may say that I am prepared to aßk my Board of Directors to agree to increase the pay of third officers to £9 per month, and fourth officers to £7 10s per month at onoo, and shall advise you next woek whether this is agreed to, as I have little doubt it will bo. 5. As to tho larger qnesfcion, it may bo well that I should give expression to my own opinion of your demands. From all that haß passed you will know that I think them exoessive, and that the time chosen fop making them is inopportune. Tour first requirements represented an annual inoroaso to tho expenses of this oompany of £10,000 per annum, or 2} per cent, on its capital. Your final amended demands oome to about £(SOOO a year. All this has been done without previous notioe or oonferenoe with up, and at a time of the year when freights and passage money are both scarce and low ; and also at a time whan jn several seotions of our trade, the boats are running chiefly to servo the oonyenionoe of tho pnblfa and to avoid discharging offioors and crews t and when, as you know, several boats belonging to other owners are laid up in this port, ft jb not as if our offioers were underpaid, or hardly placed in any way, for I venture to believe that their position, in moßt reßpeote, will compare favourably with that of any other similar ol&ss in tho world ' — an opinion whioh is confirmed by tho press of applications for admittance into the service, even to the extent of men>with high certificates asking to be allowed'to go beforo the mast, so that they might await their turn for promotion. 6. But however this may bo, I think that all reasonable men will admit it is but fair that all companies should be dealt with alike, both in New Zealand and Australia, and that the New Zealand companies alone should not be asked to conoode important and expensive points. 7. Ai to farther increases,' other than those I have named, the question arißes whether the officers «re getting a fair share of the earnings of the oompany or not, and if the distribution is a fair one amongsp all ths company's employee. If not, tho_ apportionment is a fair anbjeot for disonssion. The directors havo always aimed at getting the employes to work jealously in the interests of the company, and to satisfy their just demands, and £ am sure no ono of the officers will say that the shareholders have had too much out of the oompany. The question then, I presume, arises — How is more to be got from the publio P lam aware, from expressions I have myself heard, that many think this oan be accomplished by raising the rates for both passengers and cargo, but if we were to raise our rates further we would find that people would not travel. The whole process of raising ~wagos all round is very pleasant, both to the employer and to the employe 1 , when the oiroumßtanoes warrant it ; but the time is not far distant when employes making demands for increased wages will have to stop and inquire if they are earning an equivalent to what they demand, and if the money is there to give them, for assuredly capitalists will not be. philanthropic enough to divide their capital amongst their men, simply for the purpose of carrying on unprofitable or losing concents, without ohanoe of recovering either prinoiple or interest. I am snre thinking men amongst all trades will soon have to disouss this question, 8. So far this Company has worked harmoniously with the various Unions with which they have had to deal, and no grievance has been brought under the notioe of the Directors without receiving immediate attention and the complaining parties receiving redresß. Under these circumstances it would be strange that a body of intelligent men liko our offioers should be first to oome into eeriom conflict with the company, and I cannot believe, when the case is put before thara in all its bearings, but that they will approach the present difficulty with honour to themselves and a due sense of the dignity of their position. Since writing the above I have your letter of 2nd July, demanding an answer, and stating you will be in no way bound by the deoision arrived at between the Meroantile Marine Officers' Association and the Steam Ship Owners' Association of Australia, but you must bear in mind that the two largest .companies in Now Zealand — ourselves and the Nprthsrn Steam Ship Company—belong to the Sttam Ship Owners' Association, and we shall haye to discuss the matter with them. I feel qnite snre our officers will give reasonable opportunely for doing so. I am, dear sir, Yours truly, George M'Lkan. Wellington, 4th July, 1890. To the Managing Director, Union Steam Ship Company. Dear Sir— l am in receipt of your letter dated 3rd instant, the purport of whioh is now being laid before the Committee of our Association. I hope to be in the position to give you a final and definite reply in the course of a few days, I am, Ac, J. H. WaTDK HIfIHMAN, , Secretary. Wellington, 7th July, 1890. The Secretary, Mercantile Marino Officers' Association of New Zealand. Dear Sir— l observe from the Now Zealand Times of this date that some information has been supplied retpeoting the negotiations pending between your association and the shipowners of New Zealand, and that mention is made of the letter in reply to your demands whioh I sent yon on the 3rd instant. You will remember it was agreed upon at the conference that no information should be given to the press pending a settlement of the difficulty, and I cannot understand from what souroe the press hay* now received their information. I have, however, not the slightest objection to the letter being published. In fact, the matter is now one of considerable importance, and as several press representatives have to-day called upon me and asked for a copy of the letter referred to, I shall be glad, with your permission, to supply them with a copy of it.— Yours truly, Gko. M'Lean. Wellington, 7th July, 1890. To the Managing Director, Union Steam Ship Company, Wellington. Dear Sir— ln reply to your letter of to-day's date, I am equally in the dark with yourself as regards the source whereby tho press have gained their information, as in strict faith with the agreement arrived at in conference, I have declined to give any information whatsoever, and am still of the opinion that we had far better, in the interest of ourselves and the commercial community generally, preserve, at any rate for the present, adherence to that agreement. Referring again to your letter of the 3rd inst., I would remind you that all tho points raised by you in that were previously gone into in detail upon eaoh occasion when I had the honour to represent this Association in oonferenoe with yourselves; therefore it is unnecessary to rebnt them in writing. lam, Ac., J. H. Watde Hiqhman. Wellington, 7th July, 1890. To the Chairman of Steamship Owners, Wellington. Dear Sir— ln reply to yours of the 3rd instant, your letter, as advistd by me, hai been duly laid before the committee of this

Association, who, aftnr carefully weighing caoh of the points raisod by you, do not bonsidor that you have advanoed any substantial basis for declining to oooede to their domonda placed before yon in onr tiroular on tho 20th of May lact ; and I am now dlreotod to formally notify yon that Unless you are prepared to comply with our amended demands by noon of the 14th of this month, all officers sailing in New Zealand waters have docided to leave their ships. I am, dear sir, Yours faithfully, J. H. Watdis Hkihman, Secretary. Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Limited. Wellington, Bth Jnly, 1890. Seoretary Meroantlla Marino Oflieer*' Association of New Zealand. Dear Sir,— l am in receipt of your two lottors of yesterday's date, the one in answer to mine asking your permission to publish the correspondence (whioh yon decline to aoaede to), the other peremptorily oloeing tho negotiation)* and giving notice that all offloors will leave their ships on the 14th inst. unless your demands are complied with. ft seema to me that before arriving at fhia Aonataiion onr offloors oannot possibly have had an opportunity afforded them of oonpidering my bitter of 3rd instant, and I do pot think I am asking more than bare justico that snob, opportunity should be given them beforo they are oalled upon to take the extreme step of which you give notice, finder these oiroumstanoes yon have left me no option hat to commnnioato to them through the faodiwn of the press, tho only means at pay disposal ip noob a limited time. Voß*strnly, G*o. W'Ljam.