STATE MINE DISPUTE

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 April 1914, Page 8

S T ATE MINE DISPUTE

CASK BEFORE ARBITRATION COURT CONCLUSION OF CN'IOX'S EVIDENCE At the'Arbitration Court yesterday the following evidence was taken after we went to press in the I'oint Eliabet/.h State Mine dispute:— John Elliott. shiftman, working in the State .Aline,, in the main corroborated the evidence given hy Mr Arbuckle. John Brown, miner, of Denniston, with 20 years' experience, gave evidence at Icnoili. and stated that the pillars at Den ni.-stMiv.ert anything from 12ft to 25ft.. bnt thev were free from stone. The aver aire earnings were roughly between lis ind 12s. That at least was the amount he understood it to he. Men working 10 clay; in the fortnight had received a fortnightly iverage of 6s per day. It was a fact thai the company could not keep the mint i'ullv manned ; he had known men who had been told to go to the Cascade mine, but dad "walked flown the hill" rather than {o to work at that mice. The new agreement had been entered into for two years, md the men were now working under pro •est through the agreement being forced on them through a "bogus" union. If Mi Brown, the manager, had said the earn ings were 15s he would reduce it by tin cost of powder, which' he estimated at 3? per clay. In answer to the Court Mr Brown, man agcr, said he had given the gross earning in his evidence, but did not think the powder rate was anything like that stated bv the witness. 'To Mr Kimbell : Witness said that only since the strike had he recommended the new agreement being signed. He believer at the conference it was agreed to recommend the men to sign the present agreenent. Some of the men in the Cascade ■nine, about 10 pair, were only making 6. >cr dav.

To Mr Arbuckle: The conference rc"errcd to represented Granity, Stockton, and Millerton men: they had recom mended the agreement, but the old union had turned it down by a large majority. Joseph Patterson, miner, at the State Mines, said he had been through the State Department's proposals, and he .did not think it reasonable that they should grant a reduction in the hewing rates. Hi would prefer the ordinary single shift to an extra 2d per ton for double shift work. He did not think the dirt scale proposed by the management was fair, and instanced a case where he had worked stone that had reduced his earnings 8s per day. and under the management's proposals no allowance was to be made for such cases. He had done trucking in conjunction with "face" work, and during that time hue not been free from colds as a result oi working in two different classes of air. His mate had also been similarly affected. He did not agree with the proposed nev. cavilling clause being inserted. He thought 12 months a long enough term for an award in view of changes in the cost of living. If signed for 12 months it could be renewed again at the end of that period, lie would sooner not work SaturJnv afternoon at all, and did not think the proposal to increase the back Saturday shift hours from 7 to 8 <- l >ould be entertained.

P. C. Webb, M.P., 10 years' experience said he considered there was no seam of co:il in New Zealand the same as at tin State Mine. The State Mine seam had regular bands of stone which made it more difficult to work than any other seam in the Dominion. The dirt rate had been conceded to the State miners years ago without any pistols at all, and the men had since tried*to get an incr'caes in that dirt scale. If they came across a seam „f stone in hard coal, that coal would be worth 6d per ton more to get. In Blackball there was no stone, no brass, no impurities, and men were allowed to fite their own" shots as they liked: besides, there was no gas at Blackball, andnaked lights were used whereas "safeties" weu used in the State mine. He would rather have 2s a day less and work with naked lights than 'have to work with safety lamps. It had been slated that the con••es'i'ms granted to miners in regard to trucking in 1609 had been conceded at the ■oiiit of the pistol, but all the miners bad obtained, and bad struck for, were the ome conditions as existed in all other mines in respect to trucking. The Minister (Hon. U. McKenzie) had recognised I he Justness of their claims, which he concede".!. He considered the State Mine a very dangerous mine, and that was the cjhiso of the extraordinary number of accidents. If the management's proposals were granted he believed the men at the State Mine would be under worse conditions than in other mines, and it was the opinion, he could safely say, of every man in New Zealand that State employees should receive a little better treatment than that given by the private employer. In answer to Mr Kimbell, the witness said he had worked at Denniston, but there was no stone in No .4 section where he had worked .; the only stone there was at thi! roof. During his whole time in Denniston he never saw a pound of stone in the. Denniston Mine. He would like to iro down the several West Coast mines with members of the Court to show that there was no similarity in the State conditions in other mines when compared with the State Mine.

Heniy Finch, president of the Blackball Miners'' Union, said that at Blackball the miner was allowed to'shoot the coal at his )\vn discretion. He described the system of working high coal at Denniston, and said there was no comparison with the pillar \\o. kings at Blackball. In reference to the trucking agreement at Blackball this was different because of fire. The trucking clause had been conceded to at Blackball > y the nun on the assurance that it would not be used against other mines. Very rarely a seam of less than sft was worked at Blackball; if the smaller seams were worked it would be necessary for the Union to ask for a revision in the rates. In places sft and under men had stayed from work rather than work the coal at the ordinary rates: men had been put on, on the smaller seams, at the daily rate for miners, vi/.., 12s. The men had complained at Blackball about being taken out of hot working faces and going into cold air to do their own trucking, but in this connection the t rouble had been reduced considerably. To Mr Kimbell : Witness said lie never saw auv stone at the Ironbridge (Denniston).

■fames Moffat. 17 years' experkuiee, and at |no;rii: working a) the. Liverpool mine, said lie had worked under the solid rates a'l tin; Point Kiiwibcth mine, and it would be unreasonable, to cut them down: lie could not make 12. s in some of the places he bad lu-cii in. Double shift places should bf! paid t»xtrn. In pillar work he thought it unreasonable to ask a miner to drive past pillar fast at pillar rates; he should be paid solid rates for such work, in one mine lie had worked in he had been paid 20 cents (lOd) per inch for working stone, lie thought it unreasonable to ask men to truck or jig coal ovel the presenl specified distance. The miller's work should be to i;et coal ; not to do trucking. Some places, pillars for ill stance, were isolated and dangerous, and it was not safe for one to leave the face and leave his mate alone in a dangerous place, which would also apply to the places where the management refused to allow one mail to work alone because of its beint,' unsafe. In regard to cavilling he had not the chance to say at Blackball lie would not take a "special" place, and had left his employment rather than be forced into it. He considered the roof in the State mine a treacherous one; his mate had been killed at the Point Elizabeth mine by a fall from the roof; there had been a crack, and- thousands of tons had fallen without warning. George Leitch, miner at Blackball, 14 veal's' experience, said he had worked at the State mine and other mines in the

Dominion. The .short shift on back Saturdays was the. rule in New Sunt!] Wales, as also was . v -il a ton extra where men worked double shifts. At Blackball there had always he-en difhYulty in getting men into special places; men eventually refused to ■jo into these .section- and had left the mine in consequence. Had extra remuneration been offered for the places he believed there would have been no diffi culty in getting men to work them. To Mr. Kimbell : If all men refused to go into special places in mines those places, Of course, could not be worked. He believed in the general cavil The reason why the average earnings at' Blackball were less, compared with the State mine, was because the men could not get sufficient "boxes" at Blackball. Frank Jackson, 10 years' experience in Xew South Wales and the Dominion, and it present secretary of the State Miners' Union, gave evideene at length in support of the Union's proposals and in objection to the reductions proposed by the Departncnt. A< secretary of the Union he could .av the old cavilling clause had given

satisfaction, and he raised the same objections to the new clause as outlined' by other witnesses. When the proposals were before the Conciliation Commissioner, the Manager had agreed to the insertion of the old clause dealing with this matter. He considered a 12 months' agreement a sufficiently long term for the •eulies to be bound. To Mr. Kimbell: He admitted 19s 7d a ■lay was a good average from April 12th to'March 13th, but he did not consider 'he Department was justified in asking for t reduction. That average included pillar ales, but it vas not proposed to reduce Ihe pillars. They were paid Is 3d per truck for brass. Although the average on he solid coal might have been 22s 5d per day it was not fair to propose a reduction because there were other places where the arnings were considerably less. To Mr Coppersmith: He had a pay icket showing 15 shifts where 16s had been earned.—(Ticket produced). Other nan got similar tickets, and therefore he -nnsidercd 'die averages put in by the Department were unduly inflated, and made to appear greater than was actually he case Many men did not note the number of shifts, they were more particular in regard to the correctness in the totals of their pay, but there were numerous instances he knew of where the -.mount of shifts had been understated, although the total earnings were correct. William Aitcheson, mine, working at Blackball at oresent. said lie had aiso worked in the" Paparoa and State mines. There was a great deal of difference n the Paparoa and State mines on account of the tone in the latter. The Paparoa coal was for more easily worked than the State mine ; Blackball was better to work than the State mine; the miners at Blackball were allowed to hew the coal ;nd fire -.hots according to their own d.scretion. The lampman at Paparoa was paid lis, uid for the last 11 months he had not known the lampman to do shiftwork To Mr Kimbell : He had seen the lampman at Paparoa at work up to the last two months ; the lampman may have been doin<T other work since then, but he had uificient to do in being employed at the lamps all the time. He usually saw the lampman between the hours of going to and knocking off work. He relied on the lamnman's own statement for what he (the lampman) did between those hours.

CONCLUDING ADDRESS. In his concluding address Mr Coppersmith covered the points already published in his opening remarks. ihe only exception the Union made in the old agreement was a slight rise in the pillar workings and an extra is a day for pumpmen, otherwise they were only asking the Court to allow the present conditions to -rmain. He s'ated the system of trucking which thry were now working under had been in vogue on the Coast for the past ,j vears, and the trucking work in the State mine was heavier because of the -imber truckers had to handle. He asked the Court to reinstate the old cavilling .•;:'i>se the same as existed in aIJ other coal mines. It was tie management who ere seeking radical alterations to the last agreement—not the men. He asked the Court to put in its own preference clause, and accept the list of accidents at the Staff) Mine previously referred to. His Honor said the list could be put in, but he might say the Court would not attach much importance to it in this case. His Honor then said to Mr Kimbell he would like assurances i 5 to the average earnings put in, and attacked by the evidence of Jackson.

Mr Bishop said complaints had been made of an incorrect number of shifts be;uj stated on pay slips, but on inquiry it was generally found the error was with the man himself. -Men often worked short shifts; the averages were according to the books. Mr Kimbell, in bis concluding address, said his instructions when leaving Wei lington had been to the effect that then was no desire to make radical alteration! in the men's earnings; it was desired that the conditions should be placed in such a position that the men could make reasonable wages. It was regretted that the dispute had not been settled by tl ° Conciliation Council. He submitted that the averages showed the State minesr to have earned from 2s to 5s per day more than was earned in other mines, thus putting the State mine in a position in which it was unable to compete fairly with private companies. He drew attention to the loss of over £7,0C0 last year, and the greater corresponding loss for the present halfyear, slatoments of which were already ill the hands of the Court. In regard to fatal accidents it would be noted from tlu Departmental report that there had been nine during th year, four of which had occurred underground, and five on the surface. He submitted the whole case depended upon the agreements made by other mines : if, under those agreements 15 i to 16s per dav could be made it was good evidence that a similar agreement would allow of reasonable earnings at tne State mine. ~ . . . ~ His Honor : That would be all right if the conditions were c';ujil. Continuing. Mr Kimbell urged the Court to make an award for at least two or three years. , His Honor said the Court would make an award as soon as it could. lliey bad to proceed to Cbri.stchurch and Dunedni, an( | it might be some time before I'icy ~,,,1 i .make the award. ' This concluded the Pent Elizabeth mine dispute at 6 p.m., and it was decided to resume at 8 o'clock the sane evening to consider proposals for a separate award in regard to the Liverpool 'Slate) mine.