WORK AND WAGES.

Evening Star, Issue 12760, 13 March 1906, Page 7

WORK AND WAGES.

A COMING STRIKE. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. NEW YORK, March 12. The N men's demands for a readjustment of wages and better conditions on the American anthracite fields have-been rejected. THE TAFF VALE DECISION. A NON-UNIONIST OBTAINS N DAMAGES. MELBOURNE, March 13. ' (Received Mitch 13, at 10.17 a.m.) The Hugh Court were called upon to give a decision of interest to trades unionista The nori-unioniste obtained a verdict against the Queensland Union for deprivation ,of employment. The Supreme Court found that th Union hail conspired to deprive a man of work, although the Union had acted on the instructions of d general meeting, and awarded him £IOO damages. The Union appealed against the verdict, • but tie High Court dismissed the appeal. The Court held that they were bound to follow the Taff Vale decision. The 1,600 men employed on the Rosea collieries (Monmouthshire) decided to resume work after having been on strike for ■seven months, the decision of Lord St. AWwyn, the. iiMtependeint. chairman of the Sooth Wales Oonodiation Board, being that under clause 5 of the Conciliation Beard agreement the men's notices were illegal. After Lord St. Alcbwyn'si decision, however, "Mahon," M.P., Mr Alfrt?! Onions, and Mr Thomas Richards, M.P., urged the men to loyally abide by that decision, and return to work, pending the settlement of the dispute. Tbero was considerable opposition to this course, and it was suggested that the leaders should be severely censured and asked to resign. "It is all very .well," said one speaker, "for those on the platform. For seven months we and our wives and children have suffered terrible hardships, while our leaders have grown fat, and want for nothing." Tin's statement was received with cheers, and by others the action of the, leaders was described as a " disgrace," l"a confounded shame," and so on. Ultimately, after much excited debate, the recommendation, of the workmen's Committee that, the men should return to work was adopted by a largd majority. Presiding at the annual meeting nf the Van Ryn Mining Company, Mr F. A. Gdllam. referred to the Chin-eee " slavery" business, saying that without Chinese labor it would have teen impossible for the mines to have yielded the results they had. It was only since tbey had been able to obtain Chinese labor, even although it has cost more than was expected, and more than native labor cost, that they had been able to woTk their 160 stamps. As to the future nf Chinese labor, while they deplored the fact that the question of Chinese labor had terved as an election cry, and had been ' misrepresented by politicians in the way nt had been, they were not in the least anxious ot alarmed about the matter, as they could not flunk for one moment that anything would be done to seriously injure the Rand mining industry—the industry which was the basis of the whole economic fabric, not only of' the Transvaal, but of the whole of our South African Colony—by depriving it of the benefits of a sufficient supply of labor. An industry in which there was invested approximately a sum of 150 inillious, and one in which it was well to remember thai not only thousands of the people of this country were interested, but also some thousands* of investors in France. Germany, and elsewhere. They asked nothing better than that tlie Prime Minister would do what he had promised, and leave the question of Chinese labor to be settled by the inhabitants of the .Transvaal itself. Provided that nothing was don© in the matter of granting the re° sponsible government which the Transvaal was now to have, would impair the free expression of the popular opinion on this subject, they looked forward to the settlement of the question with the utmost calmness and confidence.