THE MARINE ENGINEERS AND THE NORTHERN S.S. CO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7161, 29 October 1884, Page 6

THE MARINE ENGINEERS AND THE NORTHERN S.S. CO.

The marine engineers are anxious that their case should be discriminated from the strike of the seajnen. Mr. T. D. Hay, General Secretary of the Australian Institute of Engineers, sends the following :— Sir,' —I am informed that much misapprehension exists as to the merits of the dispute between the Northern Steamship Company and their engineers. I ask you, therefore, to publish the following facts :—Having come from Sydney at the request of the members of the Australasian Institution of Marine Engineers sailing out of the port of Auckland, I applied to the Manager of the Northern Steamship Company to pay to his second engineers the current rates. He refused to do this. Several of the engineers sailing in his steamerß then applied for their discharges. This was also refused until the expiration of their current six months' agreement, and further, a prospect of a residence in the stockade for a period was held out to them if they left previously. The engineers serving in the boats had unfortunately been foolish enough to sign- articles, giving the captains power to discharge them at any moment and in any port, with or without fault; they only having the right—however much they might be inconvenienced by so doing—to leave at the termination of the six months' articles. Believing that no such uneven agreement could hold good, they asked tie manager, through me, to have the question settled by the Resident Magistrate in a friendly way. ThiE was at first refused, but eventually agreed to. The case was argued last Wednesday, and the decision given on Saturday against the 'engineers, except on one point. The magistrate held that, however foolish and one-sided an agreement may be between owners and their crews, the fact of their signature make them binding. The engineers have, of course, bowed to the magistrate's decision. Of course none of the engineers will again sign such unequal agreements, and in the meantime will complete their contract in spite of its inequality. Throughout the dispute the engineers have evinced a desire to cause as little inconvenience and loss as possible consistent with getting the legality or otherwise of the articles decided, which was happily effected without one of the engineers in question absenting himself from the vesseL I may add that the Northern Steamship -Company have only been asked to Concede the same terms as have already been readily agreed to by every other steamship company in Australasia. The payment of £16 pfer month (to second engineers) and the men, as well as the company, to have the option to terminate the articles, by giving twentyfoul- hours' notice on the arrival of the steamer at the port at which the crew were shipped, are the terms applied for. There lias been no strike on' the pact of the engineers; as previous to moving in the matter it was determined that if the case went against them in Court, they would complete their present articles, but on no account sign again, except on the terms laid down by the association, and agreed to by every other company. I ask you to publish this letter, as it is important to the engineers in question that their course of action should be clearly understood by the public. In the eyes of many to agitate is to Bin; it is, therefore, of vital importance to those who are compelled to do so to obtain their rights, to have the justice of their cause clearly appreciated by the public. No body of men can afford to have their actions misrepresented, and engineers are no exception to the rule. -P.S.—Of course, if the appeal to the Supreme Court should be in our favour, certain parts of the above letter do not apply."