SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. COERCION AND HEARTLESS CONDUCT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 18 May 1912, Page 4

SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. COERCION AND HEARTLESS CONDUCT.

Coercion on the one hand and heartless conduct on the other —these would 3eem to be outstanding accompaniments of the strike at Waihi. As an Auckland, paper says, the strike involves no dispute with the mining companies; no question of wages or working conditions is raised; the quarrel is solely between two sections of the workers, and at the call of the officials of the Miners' Union the whole mining industry at Waihi has been brought to a standstill in the hope that the engine-drivers may thus be forced into the arms of the Federation of Labor. The root of the matter is a difference of opinion amongst the men themselves concerning the old and new unionism. The engine-drivers and winders recently formed a union under tfte Arbitration Act, but this is objected t>> by the Miners' \ Union, which has affiliated itself to the Federation of Label, and tii order to punish the enginedrivers for wishing to avail'-themselves of the law of the land, the Miners' Union (or the Federation of Labor) has forced a strike. ..This is absolute and arbitrary- coercion.; It is inconceivab'e that public opinion should support such conduct; and surely the law, if effectively applied, could not only put a stop to it, but punish the men who take it

upon themselves to prevent their fellowworkers from availing themselves of the specific provisions of an Act of Parliament—in this instance, the Arbitration Act. Not less glaring is the inhuman- I vty which is involved in the action of. the miners in connection with the supply^ of coal. If what is stated in this connection is true, the miners have not only declined to allow .coal to be sent to Waihi to the mines, but even to allow coal already in Waihi to be taken to the gasworks or the hospital. Many will hope that this statement may prove contrary to fact; but if the interdict has j really been lsbiied and enforced, those ; who have ordered the action, and also i those who have carried it out, will ' assuredly be execrated throughout the ' country for their vindictive inhumanity, i If coal is not allowed to be taken to the gasworks, it will follow that gas cannot he produced, and the domestic and public lite of the whole community will be subjected to much serious inconvenipene. or even worse consequences. But t still more aggravated is the offence in connection with the hospital. Almostthe whole of the work connected with the nourishment and medical or surgical treatment of sick, ailing, or even dying people, will necessarily be inter- I tered with if the hospital "is without coal, and we must hope that the miners have not actually determined that the hospital shall b 3 kept without supplies, [f thpy have, the charge of inhumanity will indeed lie heavily at their doors, and if there is a law under which they cap bp punished, the majority of people will hope to see it brought into operation against them. If there is no such law, every humane heart in the country will nonp tfie less execrate them and their heartless conduct. [A later message qualifies the text and application ot the earlier report, and states that the strike committee would see that the i equipments of the sick in the hospital would be considered by their com•nitt*e." This is as it should be in such ft matter, and the reader will observe by the text and spirit of the foregoing article that we were hopeful that the action of the miners might yet be seen m another light. However, the article as originally written may stand as an expression of public opinion -on such things. As it is, the essential circumstance is sufficiently astonishing—that the social and mistrial life of a whole community should be paralysed by such a strike.]