THE COAL QUARREL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 149, 20 December 1907, Page 7

THE COAL QUARREL.

POURING KEROSENE ON THE FIRE. WELLINGTON TRADES COUNCIL'S ATTITUDE. ' TO-DAY'S DEVELOPMENTS. Interest in the coal trouble at .Deris ; niston has not taken long to develop. "> Yesterday the men's deaire to make a statute override an award which was' • promulgated before the law was passed ; was made known ; to-day all New Zea- . land is eager to hear the result of the I conference between Mr. Lomas (Ohief ; Inspector of Factories), the general i manager of the Westport Coal Com,pany, and representatives of the employees. The matter is one of much • greater import, than a mere wrangle ! about hours. Jt is the threshing out of a general principle whether a statute . can interfere with antecedent awards. { It is a focussing of the light on the ~j relations between Parliament and the I Court of Arbitration. The Minister of "i Labour, as stated yesterday in The >' Post, has said that the bank-to-bank ! clause in the Act cannot affect ' tlio '. Wcslpoit award till the term baa e£ : pired. ' \; ; "MORAL AND FINANCIAL" ' SUPPORT. ' ; '{ The situation was discussed at last * night's meeting of the Trades Council;. -) and the following resolution was the m outcome of the- discussion:— -', <j "That this council applauds the ' - ,1 efforts of the Denniston Miners'' , ,'3 Union to secure a maximum eight; « T hours' shift below ground, and, 1 i pledges itself morally and financi- 1 ' -1 ally to support that union in its 1 - - f efforts: and. further, that this'! 1 council urges the Minister of Labour ' to adhere to the bank-to-bank prin-"' "I ciple so recently approved by'- :; Parliament, against all Arbitration Court awards to the contrary ; and < declares that anyone who advise the miners' nniori to accept an agree- . . ment in contravention of the eight ' * ■ hours bank-to-bank principle is un,- '„ ft worthy of the suppoit of organised - \i labour." , ~ m Tlie mover said that the miners ■in- *\ every camp of the world had' fough'b 1 %S for the principle of an "eight-hour s shift," and in most of the countries, ". excepting England and New Zealand, •- \ that principle had for a long tiri)e""6b; } IX taincd. That it was not in operatiori ;'f" in New Zealand was, the speaker coti- J tended, another refutation of the boast- '; ed progressiveness of the Dominion. In \ \ the crisis that had now arisen, it w.as 1 '„ tho duty of unionists to "go tho whole hog" even though they did risk the ' penalty of the Arbitration Act, and $$> ■ „ help the Denniston Minors' ■ Union ito ' > obtain the principle in Now Zealand*:' ,>' It was, he said, all very well for Mr. *' Millar to set aside the main issue and endeavour to "sop" tho miners over ', ' with overtime payment. No one knew . '• , better than Mr. Millar himself ihafc\.\ what the miners wanted, and what Parliament, by amending clause- 37k of tho , " Coal Mines Act, intended, was \an eight-hour day for all miners: ■" Th>ra .'',• was a great principle at stake— namely, " whether this colony was to be governed 7 by judge-made law, or by the supreme f; will of the people, and the council , "j should declare emphatically against the -';: legal fraternity. Other delegates spoke warmly on tho, matter. The men did not want „over- " time, they asserted, end thc-tv^rades ■"'- Council Conferences had for yeab';advocated the bank-to-bank principle' * The resolution was adopted, unanimously, and copies of it were ordered to be - sent immediately to the Minister ■ ' for Labour and tha Dsnniston Miners' -Union. ' ( OFFERS OF COMPROMISE WITHDRAWN. IDT ' TXLEGBAFTT. — TT.KSI3 ASSOCIATION * WESTPORT, This Dayf Tho -present position at Denniston is that- the management has called upon the union to observe the provisions of the court's award. The oilers of compromise (that have been refused) ar& now withdrawn. - A simple arrangement regarding working hours has been mutually arranged at ihe Westport Coal Company's second ' - colliery at Granifcy. The men employed on tho front shift commence worl<; afc ■ 8 a.m., and cease at 3 p.m. The back •-'". shift men start at 4 p.m., and discon- ~ i tinue at 11 p.m. Twenty minutes l jrt '* " each shift are allowed as "crib" tjme. .. - Thus the actual hours of work are six ' ■ ' hours_ forty minutes. The timo occu- < - pied in walking from the mine entrance to working places varies considerably. THE BANK-TO-BANK CLAUSE. fD-S TELEGEAPU.—IT.E.SS ASSOCIATION.] DUNEDIN, 19th December. William Scott, who has taken pait' in all conferences and disputes between the Denniston Coal M ; ners' Union and th» Westjiort Coal Company, looks upon tha positiou as the most scriou> that the Arbitration Coutt has yet had to deal with, and fkit. if tliel court cannot enforce its award in this irstnnce it will mean the breaking down of the Arbitration Act. It is regarded locally as significant that there is also trouble- brewing in connection with tho coal mines, throughout Otago and in Auckland, but as far aa can be ascertained the unions are acting independently of one another so far, as in Otago tho employers have met the unions in conference on several occasions, but without satisfactory lesults. It was anticipated that tho matters in dispute • would bet brought before tha Arbitration Court in February next, -and that, both parties would abide by*" the court : s decision. It is stated, : however, that circumstances unknown to the em> plovers have arisen and brought about tho present state of affairs. No Reduction in wages has, it is stated, " been insisted on by employers, who art at a loss to understand the attitude of tho unions. The opinion is held that any decisive st«p by the Westport miner* will be similarly followed elsewhere.