CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3864, 30 October 1928, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor). Sir, —As one who is directly and indirectly affected by the deadlock in the flax industry, with all due respect to the parties concerned, I think a brief survey of the facts and arguments at this juncture will not tend to make matters any worse than they are at present, but perhaps are more likely to have the opposite effect. I have closely followed the correspondence on the subject, and I feel that I have no other option than to conclude that

the dispute is being used for political propaganda with the employees as pawns. That nothing could have been fairer than the suggestion of the Conciliation Commissioner is patent, yet when that recommendation was put before the Union meeting on Saturday only about fifteen local men had the courage to stand up and vote for it;

and here’s the rub: The biggest protion of the hostile section were men employed at outside mills, who are still in work, and I stand to be corrected, there was a large element from Shannon. Sir, with 25 years experience of various unions, I must say the apathy of the majority of the local members oil this question, is evinced by the number who idled I heir time away on Saturday afternoon instead of asserting their determination to settle the trouble irrespective of the imported members of the Union. It seems to me that the Union’s case was built upon the demand for the production of the millers’ books, and on such production their case collapsed, and other tactics had to be adopted to save the situation, but what of the tactics? 'Simply by hook or !crook Foxton must be kept under the heel of a number who have no stake nor domicile in Foxton and, as I said above, political reasons. I have seen the namle of a large flax company’s' affairs mentioned at various times, whose turnover or profits were supposed to be enormous, yet that firm’s £1 shares, I am informed, can be bought in bundles at 16/- per share, a loss to the settlers of 4/- per share. So where .is the huge profit? Further there is another aspect the local men have lost sight of, or it has been carefully ignored, and that is the disadvantage of local milling as compared to Shannon mills, where the, cost of flax is 11/- per ton at the stripper, yet the local mills are paying a royalty of 11/- per ton, and as it takes about 9 tons to produce one ton of fibre, it only remains to multiply by nine the cost of cutting, tramming, river carriage, and handling on arrival, also the cost of cartage to paddocks, and high rents for the paddocks, whereas the Shannon mills have their own lands and paddocks round the mills, thus the local mills are ait’ a disadvantage of roughly £9 per ton. Now, Sir, the millers can apply for a variation of the award, just the same as the employees can. demand a secret ballot on the question. I know there are a few irreconciables who voice loud-mouthed opposition to a ballot, but they are no asset to this town. In answer to the question “what shall we do now” of one of the fifteen at Saturday’s meeting they were told to apply for charit■able aid! Wjhat an insult! Are the officials going to do likewise? Had the Union hailed the millers before the court, charged with a lock out, the -whole que§tion would have been settled then, but instead all the futile squabblings getting nowhere, simply for obvious reasons the suggestion was ignored. To form a local Union a petition must 'be presented to the registrar stating the reasons, and signed by those employed in the industry, but at present forced out of work by a majority who are at present still in work. Further, the local men can apply to the Labour Department for a secret ballot on the question, Avhere the men can vote without fear of intimidation. The question would be settled in one hour locally if common sense prevailed. Yours, etc., E. G. MARTIN.

Sir, —Will you allow me to make reference to the flaxmills trouble, as I am an interested party. It was a foregone conclusion that the Foxton members of the Union would, be outvoted at Saturday’s Union meeting re going back to work at 13/0 per day (for labourers about the mill), and 10 per cent, reduction for other workers on award fates until hemp reached £27 10/-. 1 think every sportsmanlike person will admire the fifteen members who had the pluck to stand up against the misrepresentation dished out prior to the meeting. ‘The few ,other Foxton men who lined up and voted with the mob of outsiders (I enclose the names of all Foxton members present) did not all vote according to their convictions, but were led to believe that the millers were bluffing and that the mills would bo going in a fortnight. The balance-sheet showed that £2OO was outstanding for members dues and that the secretary’s salary is £llO behind, so there isn’t any chance of getting any financial assistance from the Union’s funds while we are out of work and talk and abuse about the capitalist and millers’ bluff and formation of a “scab” union isn’t going to buy food and pay rent. One specimen suggested that we should boycott the Foxton tradespeople for stopping credit. I want to thank a storekeeper for keeping me going and doing a dam sight more for me than ever the union has done. The whole business from the start is a piece of political junk and when Coates got things going for us it

didn’t suit the political book of the Labour tin hats. I may say I am in favour of 15/- per day and that is little enough for a family to keep going on, but I know that the Foxton millers cannot pay it at present, and lam willing with most of the others to accept the reduction until the price of hemp will pay the award rate'. But, Sir, I’ve had enough of union dope from this out. Yours, etc., TOILER,