BIG STRIKE YEAR.

Northern Advocate, 3 September 1913, Page 5

BIG STRIKE YEAR.

LABOUR DEPARTMENT'S FACTS WELLINGTON, Sept. 3.

Since the passing- of the Arbitration Act in 1894, the average annual number of strikes in New Zealand has been five, but last year the total was 35, consequently the Labour Department in its annual report describes the past year as the most notable for serious industrial unrest in the history of the Dominion. "Happily," continues the report, "the major portion of the strikes were of a minor nature; but three disputes were of some magnitude, namely, those affecting the Waihi gold miners, the Reefton gold miners, and the slaughtermen throughout the Dominion. The strike first-mention-ed was one of the most serious industrial disturbances in the history of New Zealand and was remarkable for the fact that the dispute lay not between the employers and their workers, but between two bodies of work-

ers, i.e., those in favour of the Act and those opposed to its principles. The most regrettable feature to record was that there was much rioting and disorder, which unhappily ended in the fatal shooting of one of the participants. "The Reefton dispute may be considered as second to the Waihi trouble in point of magnitude, the industry affected being at a standstill for a period of six months. "The slaughtermen's strike —which one of sympathy, ' and the dispute, spread practically throughout the Dominion—took place when the trade was at its height, and consequently must have, resulted in serious loss and inconvenience to the freezing- companies and to the farmers." A table shows that cf the 98 strikes since the inception of the Act the men were fully successful in 25 cases, the employers in 42, and a compromise was effected in 28 cases. The workmen lost £283,201 in wages and the employers are estimated to have lost £19,414. One satisfactory feature of the report, however, is the increase of 428 in the number of factories in the Dominion, and 7808 in the number of hands employed.