AUSTRALIA'S COAL CRISIS

North Otago Times, Volume CIV, Issue 13754, 13 November 1916, Page 8

AUSTRALIA'S COAL CRISIS

' • UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASING,, PROTRACTED STRUGGLE CERTAIN. (Per o»ble—Press .Association—Copyright.) SYDNEY, November 11. Owing lo the coal shortage, SOI) employees nt the Broken Hill Company's steel works, Newcastle, have been paid oil', resulting in the cessation of the manufacture of steel for the British Government, MELBOURNE, November 11. The colliery proprietors state that the strike is against constituted, authority, and the real object of the Miners' Federation is to obtain by force the abolition of the present wage system and the substitution of common owner-, ship, The Associated Chambers of Manufacturers of Australia have sent a representation to Mr Hughes, with reference to the supply of coal for industries. It appears that there is little possibility of the Federal or State Governments intervening, and a protracted struggle remains certain.

ATTITUDE OF NEW ZEALAND MINERS. MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL CONCESSION. * (For Press Association,) WESTPORT, November .11. Mr John Dowgrav, a prominent Mintrs' Union Official, interviewed to-day said: The miners of Newcastle are on strike for a privilege enjoyed by Ihe coal miners in New Zealand and Britain for a number of years. He denies that the reducing of hours means a reduction of the output, As far as the band-to-bank rule is concerned, ths reduction of the hours of work, even more obviously than the increase of wages, benefits not only the employee but the employer, and that is why U has so frequently been accomplished without friction,

Asked whether the strike was likely to affect New Zealand, Mr Dowgrav. replied: "I am not in a position to say .at present. The Australian miners certainly have the best wishes of the New Zealand miners in the struggle for the same conditions as are enjoyed here. The local men also consider that the Australian right to the eight hours bank-to-bank is unanswerable and ought to have been granted without a stop of work, Personally, Ido not think the strike will affect New

Zealand so long as no attempt is made to ship coal to Australia, The New Zealand coal companies, owing to the shortage; of labour, can hardly meet our own orders, so coal to Australia from New Zealand is out of the question."