The Coalminers’ Strike

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 200, 25 September 1888, Page 3

The Coalminers’ Strike

A REVIEW OF THE SITUATION. [from our own correspondent.] Sydney, September 6. The miners’ strike, with its wide spread consequences of privation and distress, is the most momentous topic. Some little element of hopefulness has been imparted to the situation by the fact that the coalowners have consented to meet the miners in conference, a result which is due to the efforts of Messrs Brunker and Greer, M.L.A., and Can non Selwyn. There are no difficulties which cannot easily be removed by negotiation, and it is hoped great things will result from the projected meeting. Meanwhile we cannot forget that the last meeting led to the strike, and that the spirit manifested by some of the leading men on both sides is even more aggressive and unreasonable now than it wa® then. Yet they both desire the sympathy o 1 the public, and, in order to gain it, it is neces* sary that they should at least appear to be willing to treat with one another. On the other hand there are many who are sincerely anxious for a settlement, not merely because of the injury which is being done to Newcastle and the district, but, because of the distress and inconvenience which is being caused among the general public. The chief incident in the actual struggle has been the victory of the Greta coalowners. For many years this colliery has been working, and in consequence a very large p.le. some 20,000 tons or so, of small coal has accumulated at the pit’s mouth. At present prices this is immensely valuable, and as n can be obtained without mining there ought to be no obstacle in the way of utilising it. Any laborer who can use a pick and shovel can load it into the trucks. Accordingly the company sold at a very satisfactory price, some 10,000 tons or so to the Victorian Government. But when they wished to give delivery the men whom they employed were promptly secured by the miners’ representatives and by mingled threats and cajolery were induced to leave the work. Ultimately, however, the company engaged some 30 men in Sydney, made arrangements to board and lodge them at the mine, and secured an escort of 25 policemen to protect them from the attack which it seemed certain would follow. This is almost the first instance in which any sign of vitality has been displayed by the authorities and* it is proportionally welcome. Up to the time of writing the attempt to coerce the company and deprive the public of the coal has signally failed. Failing Newcastle, the chief reliance for a supply of coal has been placed on the Illa* warra mines. But the labour troubles are beginning to be felt there. Fired by the thought of the high prices which it was said the ooalowners were getting for the product, the miners not unreasonably thought that they ought to share in the bonanza—an opinion which is of course sedulously encouraged by the miners who are on strike. But on the side of the masters the case is not so clear. They point out that the greater part of their output is covered by contracts previously entered into at a very low rate with the view of getting their coal into consumption. The quantity which they are able to sell at higher prices it a very small fraction of the whole, and they maintain that if they were to increase the hewing rate by 6d a ton all round, as demanded by the men, there would be no profit left. It is abundantly evident that under present circumstances, the lot of those who are dependent for employment or for profit on a regular supply of coal is by no means a happy one. Wnea we consider the paroxysms of fury into which society allows itself periodica ly to be lashed about some trumpery question affecting the “ins” or the “ outs’’—mere chips in porridge—the apathy with which this crushing blow is borne is astonishing. It can only be accounted for on Carlyle’s hypothesis—that mankind are “ mostly fools,” Sydney, Sept 15. The Newcastle strike continues to paralyse many departments of industry, and to stimulate others to unwonted activity. The widespread distress and loss which are being caused are directing attention to the relations of capital and labor, and many thinkers are endeavoring to devise means for preventing similar calamities in the future. One of the moat hopeful of the devices which have been conceived by the emancipated intelligence of the nineteenth century is that of a partnership of industry, The main principles are concisely stated in a pamphlet which has been forwarded to me by Mr H. Bell, of Melbourne : “It is simp’y a wholesome utilitarian principle applied to industry. These partnerships are based on a principle form which all new civilization has sprung—a spirit of intelligent selfishness, self-interest which seeks its ends through a liberal consideration of the interests of others, pays far better than the savage covetousness which impatiently picks the bones of labor. , . . Good sense now perceives that a thousand workmen will produce far more profit if they have an interest in whs they are doing and have a motive to avoid waste of material, loss of time, and to work with all their skilfulness. The workmen who can be induced to work in this way, create in a year a great additional sum of money for their employer, and if the employer divides this new profit with his men he benefits the men as they were never benefited before, and employers obtain half the new profit thus created as an additional bonus for themselves, as a reward for their trust in the men, and for their own sagacity and good sense.” As for the manner in which an industrial partnership may be effected, it is given in the following words:—l have only to fix upon that percentage of profit which pays me to carry on business, and say to my men, “ I expect and require to make 10 par cent (or 20 per cent as the risk may be) such is my average paying profit, and for the future ail we make over this by your co-operation, goodwill, prudence, care and skill in working, I will divide with you and add to your wages.” Briefly, it is designed to remove the antagonism which causes masters and men to regard one another as enemies, each grudging the money or the service that is paid to the other, and substitute for it a firm alliance. There is the more hope for the new principle because under the present system the relations of capital and labour are so strained as to have become well-nigh intolerable,