THE MARITIME DISPUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9142, 25 August 1888, Page 5

THE MARITIME DISPUTE.

INTERVIEW WITH MR. J. MILLS.

HIS VIEWS ON THE MATTER.

ASIATIC LABOUR AND THE EIGHT

HOURS' SYSTEM.

AN UNFOUNDED RUMOUR.

[by TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Friday. As the dispute which has arisen between the shipowners and the Seamen's Union is assuming alarming proportions, I took the opportunity this forenoon of interviewing Mr. James Mills, manager of the Union Steam Ship Company, on the subject. In Auckland the primary cause of the dispute is well known, but I thought it would interest the people of the North to get a leading shipowner's opinion on the subject. A REGRETTABLE misunderstanding. In reply to my questions, Mr. Mills expressed himself to the effect that he was very sorry indeed that such a misunderstanding should have arisen between the Northern Company and the men in their employ. He thought that when the seamen discovered the fact that the line was not paying they should have made some concessions. The proprietors of the company were handicapped by numerous circumstances, notably the number of tidal ports of call to which they trade. The traffic was of a somewhat meagre description. It could not be expected that any body of men would go on week after week using their money without making an effort at retrenchment. He did not believe in reducing wages, but there were at times exceptional circumstances which rendered such a step necessary. He thought that it would have been wiser on the part of the Union men to have made some kind of compromise with the company than to have gone to the extreme length of starting an opposition line of steamers, which could only have the effect of injuring both parties. THE PRESENT POSITION. In reply to a question as to the present position of the difficulty, Mi'. Mills informed me that the ship-owners were now resting under a threat from the Seamen's Union, which has issued a manifesto to the effect that unless their demands are complied with, they will withdraw all Union men from the whole of the colonial fleets. They also threaten to get the assistance of the miners, wharf labourers, provision dealers, . and others to carry out a system of boycotting against the ship-owners. It is stated that a ballot is now being taken to ascertain the number of seamen who are willing to resort to this extreme course. Mr. Mills said that he had sufficient faith in the good sense of the men to believe that they will not be so foolish as to adopt a' line of action which would prove disastrous to the colony and to the proprietors, and more than all to the men themselves. ASSISTING THE NORTHERN COMPANY. I then inquired what he thought of the action of the Shipowners' Association of New South Wales in assisting the Northern Company against the Jubilee Company. He replied that the Shipowners' Association were only actuated by a feeling of sympathy with a weak, struggling company. They had not the slightest idea of acting in any antagonistic manner towards the seamen. They felt that the establishment of an opposition line under the circumstances was a system of coercion of a pronounced type, and they sympathised with men who were striving to save their property. Mr. Mills then referred to some minor matters of the dispute between the shipowners and the Union. The former had offered to refer all their differences to arbitration on the distinct understanding that both parties should be bound by the decision. The Union refused to agree to such an arrangement, and would only consider the one question—that of the Northern Company, This is the immediate cause of the present rupture.

CHINESE LABOUR AND THE EIGHT HOURS

SYSTEM. I next interrogated Mr. Mills 011 the Chinese and eight hoars question. He assured me that there was not the slightest ground for the rumour that the shipowners desired to introduce Asiatic labour. Speaking for the Union Company, he said that snch a proposal would not be entertained* for a moment by himself or his co-directors. Then, as regards the eight hours system, there was no idea of attempting to interfere with it. In conclusion Mr. Mills informed me that it has always been his aim, and that of his co-directors, to make the men in their employ comfortable, and to pay them well. The Union Company had as fine a body of seamen he believed as any other fleet of the same size in the world. He wished the good feeling which had heretofore existed between the employes and employers would long continue, and he trusted the men would not be led away by the extreme agitators, who are striving to smother that spirit of fair play which has so long been the leading characteristic of British seamen.