WAIHI MINERS' AWARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13486, 13 May 1907, Page 7

WAIHI MINERS' AWARD.

— — . ITS EFFECT ON THE MINING Iv-' INDUSTRY. 15" ■■ -, • . ; • $\\ THE NEW CONDITIONS criticised. The' award which was delivered by the Arbitration Court at Auckland on Friday y : in connection with the Waihi miners' dis- ■ pute, granting certain concessions in favour I? of the workers, especially in reference to IP jj 0 rate of wages to be paid, has created h good deal of interest in mining c ir- ' cles locally, and with a view to collecting the opinions of gentlemen associated with ' the industry on the new conditions framed, jt- a Herald representative was engaged mak- ■ ' ing inquiries on Saturday. Several inter- . 'views- were arranged and the results appended. • . ; >'* FROM THE INVESTOR'S POINT OF .. VIEW. - ' , " "Mr. G. A. Buttle, chairman of the Auckland Stock Exchange, speaking more from 5 -the point of view of ,the investor, was most definite in declaring the award to be iagainst the interests of future development of mining areas in this district.. He pointed out that there were practically . only three companies paying at the present time, the great bulk of the mines, which are nonpaying, being supported by.the sharehold- ■ ers., "If the shareholders are to receive V' 110 consideration," he said, "they will go , out of the industry and put their money into something safer. To me it appears as S if. the Court had based its award upon the- ' success of the. two or three companies that !,'v ore now paying dividends, and have given very little consideration to the.fact that the >: larger number of the mines are being supported by and the wages of the workers paid out of the pockets of the unfortunate shareholders. lam inclined to agree with air. Brown that cognisance must be taken of that fact, and that the Court should not allow itself to be led astray by the large dividends being paid by two or three com- > panies, and close its eyes to the position that a majority of the employees are works'.-"' ing for companies which are non-payable." Referring to the Waihi fields, which the j,: award at present more particularly affects, Mr; Buttle remarked that the mining pro- . positions required large capital'for syste- , matic development work, which alone could i ensure success, to be pursued, but the ' award was calculated to intimidate capital- > ists, and consequently ground which with i;-.v reasonable possibility could be worked with > profitable results will, no doubt, be left /-J. v lying idle for years to - come. He was strongly in favour of the miner receiving a • ; fair wage for his work, but l thought the wage now granted was beyond what lie was fully entitled to considering all.the circum- <?•>:' stances attaching to the industry. ~ Mr. C. Rhodes,: local attorney of the - . Waihi Gold alining Company; declined to make any comment on the award. r J ; . "A BOMBSHELL IN MINING ■ . : - CIRCLES." ' •; ' ' A well-known business man, when ap- . j proached on the subject, stated that the V . award had come something in the nature of •V. a bombshell among those connected with the ; mining industry.: "It will,"; continued the speaker, " no doubt have a very serious effect on the London money market, as capitalists, - when they hear of the award, will not look favourably upon •an additional 1 risk being added to the present risks of gold mining. The facts - that the -personnel of the Court | has been changed, and that it is increasing \ a wages in the way it has done, will naturally cause them to hesitAte before 'investing further moneys, in this colony.'" ' The speaker !also - pointed out that so far as' Auckland Province was concerned the ores were mostly of a low grade character, and required to jj'i be economically worked, and that to further i, .develop the mineral resources of this coltfhy required a large amount of capital, which had i f «hitherto been obtained from ' outside ' the ,"i " > colony. The fact that wages-had.been^rais- ; ed Ti"seriom fV effect : upon ; a |v v prosperous company like the Waihi, but it §$~ would, without doubt, have a prejudicial effect on the smaller ones round about. :• The : speaker also wanted to know when finality was going to be reached in raising wages. FROM THE LABOUR STANDPOINT. ■ The next gentleman approached by our re- • presentative was Mr. Arthur Rosser, who • conducted ' the case, for the union before the Court. <- Asked as to what he'thought of the award, Mr.' Rosser said:. ",T think it is a ■ very fair one, although there is'nothing to ■.v...-. • waxienthusiastic over. The principal ad- ; .o. i vances in wages • have : been' to .the under- , ; .. ground men, and these advances have only v'v i amounted to sixpence per shift; the union . asked for -A'shilling rise all round, but did 'not get it. t The surfacemen the exception of one or two—have not received any ; . alteration to their pay, and "I therefore see ■ no reason; why the men should go into ■j / testacies over the matter. At the same v time Ido "not wish you to run, away with the impression that we are not thankful for y the advances granted to. the underground is . men, who earn every penny they get. % If ever men were entitled to a rise in wages, it is the miners," ~. . - ! " But do you think the mining industry ?*?:.-'can stand the increase ' *' "Stand it! Yes, of course ,it can," re- . plied 'Mr. Rosser. A great deal of "balder■Ji dash has been put forward as to the injury that will be inflicted on the small struggling companies * which have not yet paid a dividend ' if the wages arc raised, but ,it must * not be overlooked that the bulk of the inV crease will be paid by the wealthy. Wailii ' Gold'; Mining Company, which can well p'■ afford to pay it. The smaller companies em- | : ploy very little labour compared with the < big company, and the time has evidently gone by when the Waihi Company can shelX ter itself under the protecting mantle of the fe-i smaller struggling .companies. This -has ' -been'the position in the past; it has hitherto succeeded, - but, not this time./ In my .- summing up at Waihi I pointed this out J. very strongly, to the Court, and the matter & V' has been rectified." ■ "But the finding is not a unanimous one. 'f.' What do you think of Mr. Brown's dissent?" "Well, it does not surprise ma in the. . least. The employers' representative has had his'own way so long that it is only natural that he is not satisfied .with the turn! p;. things have taken. Award after award has • been giVen, in which the workers have not . gained anything. In some cases we have • w not failed to express otir disappointment, but we have always been advised by the Employers' Federation to take our gruel , patiently, and not to rashly imperil the ' \ existence of the Arbitration Act, This wc rhave always done, and the advice was good, and was accepted in good faith. Now we : can only return the advice so freely given us * t I feel sorry, however, that the employers' representative should have, so far forgotten the dignity of his position as a member of the Court as to express himself in the fe sinner he has done regarding the President. <; e, During the years that the unions have had i/. to put up with disappointment, their repref sentative on the Court, Mr. Slater, never gave way to his feelings in public, whatever - he may have suffered in private, and I feel deeply sorry that Mr. Brown has not been able to follow the good example set him by - the representative of labour." g-y. "But has it not been generally accepted J- : that the high water mark of wages has been ' reached?" • v..

"It may have f been accepted •by some C.- t people, but not by the workers themselves, asvj , and even those pessimists who have consoled themselves with that thought must rea--1! " lise that there are ■ such things as : spring ; ' _ tides, when even high-water marks themtV ' selves are covered. This rise, lam con- £ fident, will not paralyse the industry, ;as f|3V some pessimists dolefully predict. ' There are at present, at the highest estimate, not more X than 1500 men affected by the sixpenny rise and that 1 rise will cost' the employers not | \ Wore than £4000 per year. The . Waihi m . Gold Mining Company- has already, with a I? capital of £500,000, won from the mine over 111 £5,000,000, out of which £2,500,000 has. ,r' 1 been paid in dividends to the shareholders, s and only £92,000 of this has been paid to j , shareholders in the colony, according to 1905 p- • statistics. This being so I think any iin-, "U;\ biassed person must admit that the miners, & ~, 0 . follow the dangerous occupation of SM|3 ■Wifunng this vast amount should also 7-'' participate in some of the benefits. Ani; other most important point not to be lost V ' sight of, is that this rise in wsges means a Ife"'- . ■'; . v ' .... , .... Wv:

bigger circulation of money in Waihi. The money is kept in the colony, instead of going to swell the incomes of absentees, and I can assure you that the rise will be appreciated in the little .township of Waihi by miners and' tradespeople as well." "Do you think that the rise in wages will have a prejudicial effect on foreign capital?" " No, I do not. ' The extra £4000 per year spread over the mining companies affected is a mere bagatelle, not to be taken .into consideration. Besides, if the employers are wise, they will not paint the picture any blacker: than-they can possibly help. Ire conclusion; I may state that the effect of the award will be to give the Act a new lease , of life. It is an open secret that the miners felt, that this case was their last hope, and had there been no difference in this award the question of the cancellation of their registration as an industrial union would have been considered with a view of taking other means to secure better advantages. The officials of the union have done their best to eliminate this feeling from the minds of the miners, and I am glad that their confidence in the personnel of the Court has been justified." - - ' • ■ -