THE SHEARERS MILITANT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8581, 1 June 1891, Page 6

THE SHEARERS MILITANT.

UNIONIST VIEW OF THE SITUATION. It has already been announced in those columns that a delegate; .from the • Australian Shearers' Union, Mr,' iT.; R. McDonald, is now in Auckland, - he •having' arrived from Sydney, th 8.8.'. To Anau* the lother day on a mission in New Zecdand.' To ascertain .the' precise object iof 'that mission,, to learn generally 'the ' attitude taken lip by r the unionists, and to gain as much information as possible relative to the matters in dispute between '• the pastoralists -■ and ■ the shearers,', a Herald reporter waited upon Mr. McDonald on Saturday, and was favoured with an interview. »Mr. McDonald said : The .main cause of the disturbance is nob so I much as to the prices for shearing or the conditions} all of which have been practically - admitted by the Pastoralists'> Union.to be quite fair, as to # the working hours; and several other rules about fines, etc. The fact that they can be agreed to was shown by a section of. the Pastoralists' Union discussing : them with representatives of the amalgamated; unions, when a settlement was come to on I the points in dispute., It was hoped that I the South Australian pastoralists would | have ' abided, by. this agreement, more especially as they gave the shearers to understand that they were not affiliated with the i Pastoralists' Union. However, such - was not the case, as on the agreement being remitted to the members of that sec-' bion and returned to the shearers [it was so mutilated as to be almost unrecognisable. Of course the , stand which the pastoralists take at ■ present is that we should work with non-unionists. When this "freedom of contract" proposal was first pub forward it included the racial question, and would : have necessitated the shearers working, eating, and sleeping with Chinese and Kanakas. •This has 1 been modified, the racial auestion has been excluded, and the modified agreemenb was submitted to a ballot of those who struck in Queens.land, when 98 per cent.- voted against it. The unionist view of this " freedom of contract ' is that it would mean the breaking up of their Association, which has actually gained for them from 25 to 30 per cent, on the shearing prices paid in the pre-union days. ' It -would also destroy, the fair conditions at present existing, and, in short, would be fatal to our union. ■' We ' claim that if combination is good for those who suffer in pocket only, it must be' much better for us who suffer in pocket and jberson. We claim that if combination is good for those living in affluence, they . should nob deny < ib;; to .us, and apart from that they dealindividually ; with us, and hence: they- resorb to individual competition. Ib - Was" this individual : competition and the inherent -selfishness of mankind that have ; reduced labour ■in all its branches'to its present state. 'A lot', of harm has been done to the unionist cause by a section of the press circulating biassed reports. 'For instance, Mr. Temple, head secretary of the Amalgamated Unions, wrote a letter to the Pastoralists' Union defining clearly what was meant by " freedom of contract." The press misconstrued it into a concession of the point altogether, and . the misconstruction was circulated among the men on strike in Queensland, causing a few secessions and' endless dissension. \ Then, with regard "to excesses and outrage, the shearers, I find, have Been credited on this side with : going about in armed mobs. Such is not the' case abv all. . The shearers congregated in large camps, 'or what we call depots, where rations can be procured cheaply, and finding time to hang heavily on their hands, they went in for . a little amusement. Some diversion;: had to be found for them to keep them away from the public-houses and the towns. . There being a number of musical men among them.they formed a band, and.when the band had attained a certain amount ■' of 4 proficiency, they marched through the streets and took a prominent parb in the amusements of the camp, and because of ; this it has been reported that the shearers have taken up the work of military organisation. Another report is that a poisoned apple was given ,to a trooper." "Well, an ;• apple was either given'to or picked up by a trooper, and after he ate it he 'was*.sick, but the Government analyst- afterwards examined the vomit, and' declared that he could find no traces of ■ poison in ib. Reports of this kind have done a tremendous amount of harm to us. We • have , also* : been -s - accused- -of setting fire to runs, and . burning woolsheds. It seems a curious thing that, this being one ; of . the . wettest seasons ever known, the shearers should be setting fire to - thousands of acres of grass, , while the reports always concluded by showing the boggy state of the country, and describing the splendid long grass ■ that is % growing everywhere. : With regard to the wool-, sheds, it is ' a fact that,. with one exception, ho very valuable wool-shed has been burned down,; and ib, as well as several of the others, was heavily insured. ■> Some of the judges have also shown : unmistakeable signs of partiality. - The prime mover the ; formation of the " Shearers') Union; was Mr. David Temple, a practical shearer, who afterwards induced Mr. Spence, of the Amalgamated Miners Union, to become what he still is, the president. Mr. Spence is also a practical worker, and ; successfully formed the miners into, a union numerically ■ the strongest in Australasia. He is also secretary • now to the new. union just ; formed, the 'General Labourers Union of Australasia, ■ a body _ which ib is expected will outnumber \ both the Shearers and the Miners' Unions. " By the advocacy of a just and moderate policy.; these gentlemen have 'thus: organised, in the three bodies named, nearly 100,000 men at present in Australasia, and they have, never shown a disposition to make a monopoly of unionism by fencing, themselves with prohibitive entrance fees such us those which materaffected.;the .result of the recent maritime strike. ; The ways and means for the Shearers Union are derived from an annual contribution of -10s each. We recognise in the institution of this General Labourers Union that, it will materially affect strikes in the future, because ib is froth the* ranks of disorganised;; labourers that "free labourers" are obtained, and occupations that require little skill have always been at the mercy of the unemployed. It would seem that the employers took f advantage of the very best time to introduce the last strike —this was ■ admitted to a certain extent. by ; the president of the Employers' Union —namely, at the time when the unemployed annually;: congregated in Melbourne and Sydney and petition the Government for work.. .It is. a strange thing that on last August there were no petitions from these unemployed,."the explanation being that they jumped into the unionists' places, and lienco the failure ot the maritime strike. The object of my visit- is to frustrate the move of the pastoralists who . are endeavouring to organise labour in New Zealand with which to fight the Australian unionists in the: pending struggle. The shearers in the Middle Island of New Zealand have frequently petitioned the Amalgamated Union to again take up the work of organisation among them, their previous union having been abandoned. The difficulties are, it is feared, too great at present, bub I have been delegated to ascertain the position here of shearers and shearing ' generally, ' with regard to organisation should ■ sufficient inducement offer. The difficulty in forming j a union is to get at the head a man in whom all the shearers would have every confidence. Then, again, as it is probablo that we shall very soon want £2000 a week to meet expenses in Queensland, I have also to enlist the sympathies of the i New Zealand public in the cause. For that purposo I intend conferring with the different trades unions,'-'and I will also address public meetings, the first of which.-will bo. held in the Lorne-streeb Hall on Monday evening next.- The position at the present time is, that there are only 1000 shearers employed, whereas in six weeks' time ten thousand will bo required. The pastoralists have purged' the southern colonics of all tho available free labour, and ib is only a question of time—the wool must come off, or the pastoralists will' be ruined. The Governments of New .South Wales and Queensland have the settlement of the disputo in their own hands. If they would compel the pastoralists'to meet us and discuss tho " freedom of " contract" question, I am certain an agreement would j be arrived at. The whole trouble is that the pastoralists wish us to concede the ," freedom of contract" point before meeting us. As I said lam confident that an agree-< inent would be arrived at, because we are not afraid to - work with non-unionists. What would a paltry thousand of them be | to ten thousand of .us, and besides; the best ■ . labour must always have the preference. '

My private personal opinion is . that this trouble ■is the 'I outcome of the labourers' strike. The employers' federation now. appear to recognise that the greatest difficulties they will have to contend with are the unions that are led . by moderate and jusb 'policies. A few - years f ago :we ' heard of nothing bub socialism, anarchy, and things of that kind,' but now comparatively; no-: thing is heard of them. /; That ; sorb iof exbrteme unionism, if given rope enough, will always hang • itself, bub the moderate men/ who ; are . just in their demands and : earnest in their objects, must ultimately gain the , approval of everyone. The employers' -associations recognise. this fact, and hence the stand thoy are taking. ■