"FULL SPEED AHEAD"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 56, 7 March 1913, Page 6

"FULL SPEED AHEAD"

It i& "full speed ahead" once again with the boilers of tho Union Steam Ship Company. The threat of a fleet tied up, of cold engine-rooms, of the dislocation of the Dominion shipping* trade, and general public inconvenience has been banished by the true conciliatory spirit and sweet reasonableness of both parties at a, critical period, combined with the &esista.rto& of a tactful arbitrator in the pereon of the Prime Minister. Perhaps the best n«\vs for New Zealand ears yeeterday wee the announcement that a conference of the disputants had resulted in an amicable agreement and a- granting of the terms demanded by the company's engineers. The points of the dispute are now well known. The men, members of a, branch affiliated to the Australian Marine Engineers' Institute, have been pressing for some time past for the wages and conditions of work awarded by the Federal Court to the engine«ioom staffs in Australian waters. The matter of overtime was the rock which split the parties. It seems to us that the engineers' claim for the ordinary overtime rates— remuneration for all Work beyond the ordinary eight hours— was quite a. just one, and this was Mr. Maseey'B opinion also. Under the old conditions these trained, skilled men, working admittedly long hours, and shouldering responsibilities that did not touch the- greaser ot trimmer, whom they superintended, were denied the privileges of overtime extended to the relatively unskilled labour of the engine-room— aUrely an anomalous and. impossible position. Further, the demands in respect to the overtime could not be deemed unreasonable in view of the affiliation of the New Zealand and Australian branches. These facte, combined with the excellent testimonial for loyalty and efficiency tendered the engineers by the company in the past, undoubtedly sent a, general public sympathy to their side —a feeling which was accentuated by the action of the men in agreeing, to disregard the notice to cease work so that negotiations for a settlement should not be hampered. The company, too, is to be commended for having resiSted the temptation to try a clash with the men — a move which must have widened the breach grievously. The dispute has been carried out on clear-cut and well-defined lines, and it comes as an agreeable surprise to meet with a contest into which so little heat or bitterness was introduced. Negotiations between the parties worked steadily, and more or less unobtrusively, up to the issue of the ultimatum to the company last Monday. There was no beclouding of the issue with &. throng of words, no melodramatic appeal to an emotional public. When the crisis was reached, and the Prime Minister presided over an unusual council of conciliation, the straight issue was debated without choler and without recriminations. We have not beefc accustomed to such quiet methods of warring, but we will surely welcome them in cases of future labour disruptions. The seriousness of the position was made evident by the appeal for the intervention of Mr. Massey. It is possible that nothing but the intervention of the Leader of the Government could have prevented the dispute from developing so far as to cripple temporarily our , maritime industry. In the statement submitted to the press, Mr. Massey is given full credit, it is a tribute to the Premier's reputation for broad-mindedness, honesty of purpose, and tact that the public tension was relieved immediately it was made known that he was to act as mediator. But it is due to the representatives of the engineers to say that their bearing in the quarrel was such as to facilitate a speedy settlement. Also it is true (ftg wo believe) that they had a good cause to prosecute, but had they adopted the intemperate tactics resorted to by certain agitators in the past, it might easily have resulted in the tying-up of every boat in New Zealand waters. Happily that has been avoided. As it is, the men have had their rights recognised, and we feel sure that the company will not, in the long run, bp the losers. The amicable settlement arrived at yesterday ahould prove an excellent insurance policy for the company against unrest and dissatisfaction, so far as the engineers are concerned, for years to come. And if this dispute has dorio nothing else, it has . demonstrated that there are means, other than abuse and intolerant recklessness, of settling an industrial trouble, especially if a Prime Minister can be persuaded to lend his counsel.