NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1920. FOOLISH POLICY.

Northern Advocate, 18 October 1920, Page 2

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1920. FOOLISH POLICY.

Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper.

With the settlement of the Pukemiro dispute rwe may presume that all the coal mines in the Dominion have been in operation to-day, and we fancy that this is the first occasion in some months when there has riot been a strike in progress somewhere. The spirit of unrest has been, particularly active in the mining industry; not only has the go-slow policy been practised but every smallest grievance has been magnified, apparently for the solo purpose of making it a pretext for the cessation of work. The position had become so bad that the possibility of -a very, serious industrial upheaval was being discussed widely a week or two a,go ; but there is some ground for hoping now that wiser counsels may prevail, at any rate for a time. The State miners appear to have been working satisfactorily since the Prime Minister threatened to leave them without employment, and the resumption of work at Pukeniiro suggests that the militant element among the miners is not anxious at present to force a pitched In connection with the Pukemiro dispute the representatives of the Miners' Federation displayed a very obstinate spirit and talked very truculently, their attitude a week ago indicating that their aim was to precipitate p, conflict, though it was obvious that they were in the wrong. The orjgin of the dispute goes back to the difficulty that arqse whep the Waikato miners demanded certain concessions from the Railway pepart.ment. The rejection of the demand was the excuse for a strike, and when the miners at Pukeniiro downed tools the engine-d*rivers,"Wffo~work the pumping machinery at the mine, joined them, leaving the mine to be flooded. As soon as the strike was setr

tlnd ihe owners of the Pukerniro mine demanded safeguards against a repetition of the abandonment of the inine by those employed in pumping, their request being that the engine-drivers should withdraw from the Miners' Union, so that they would not be involved if the miners stopped work. The union raised objections and the owners waived their claim, agreeing to ;iceej>(, a simple undertaking from the .ifinei\s' I'Y'deration and the Pukemiro Union that in the event of a dispute or stoppage of work tho engine-drivers should carry on the pumping and ventilating operations. After long negotiations the representatives of the Miners' Federation and the Mine Owners' Association agreed to refer the whole question to the National Disputos Committee, but the Pukemiro Union failed to keep the agreement, thus causing further delay. Work was not resumed, and th? owners, naturally objecting to tho union's trifling methods, renewed their demand for a guarantee that the engine-drivers would remain at their posts when required. It is on these terms ihat the dispute has now been settled. The engine-drivers are not to be compelled to withdraw from the Miners' Union, but.they and the union have given the necessary guarantee in regard to the maintenance of pumping operations. Because a particularly silly strike was precipitated in the Waikato mines the Pukemiro men have been out of work for nearly six weeks, losing their wages, and great inconvenience has been caused in Auckland and elsewhere Yet the original dispute and the later one should have been settled in five minutes if the miners, had been prepared to listen to A few weeks ago, however, /he£ were riding a very horse. We can only hope that they have at last really made up their minds to work. The miners have

wilfully thrown away a great deal of money during the past two years, and sooner or later they surely must realise the folly of their policy. When they do they will get rid of their present leaders, manage their own affttiivr' and become honest, industrious citizens.