THE BLACKBALL STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 5

THE BLACKBALL STRIKE.

DIRECTORS AND DELEGATES iS \ "'_ v . :e- ■ - . ■ ■ »f ■, < : V a CONFERENCE AT CHRISTCHUKCH. ' [BY 'X'EtEORAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.! 1. - ' . J j . ' ■'CHJfiSTCHOBCH, Friday. (1 Thk two delegates who were sent to Christ,a church'by.. the Blackball Miners' Union tc .. place the union's suggestions before the [. directors of the company were received d this morning. The suggestions Were stated it by the, delegates to be those on which the union yi'ould advise the men to return to work,/and were as follows:—(1) That the A- seven men dismissed on February 26 s should be reinstated, and that the mine a manager should undertake not to victimise 3 ' them. (2) That the miners will agree to '* come out and truck when required for; two l " hours out of the eight hours - they are e underground, the miners doing this work to be selected by rotation. (31 The union will allow two truckers to work overtime when ,f required on the special work of attending to the crane and terminal' of the endless j. rope; which -requires expert hands; the , crib time to be 30 minutes. k The directors were agreeable to the folrj lowing terms:—The seven men dismissed . to be reinstated, the mine manager undert ■ taking not to victimise them. (2) The crib time to be 50 minutes. (3) All other I conditions, as shown by the award of the t Arbitration Court, to stand the same as those in force previous to February 26, I when the men went on strike. The direcI tors had front time to time been informed j, through the newspapers and the strikers' statement that the half-hour crib was the t , sole reason for the men remaining on strike. They, therefore, had every reason to expect that the terms proposed would be accepted ■ by the union as the only point on which - 'there .was any divergence. > In the terms was the question of over- - time., This matter ,wa« diecussed, and it i -.was pointed out by the delegates that rule. 'M, of the union rules, which had been in . force since 1905, ' provided- a penalty of , 10s 2d for each offence, on any miner ' being a -member of this union, who worked more than eight hours underground. It was contended that this rule applied to truckers ,;is wsll as miners, and it was pointed out that for the last eight years the truckers had worked overtime when required, being paid time and a-quarter for so doing, and the rule had not hitherto ■ been enforced. , The arbitration award pro- ! vided ftiV overtime being worked as well as fixing the ordinary hours of work as eight hours underground. The directors were prepared, together , with the union, to state c friendly test, case on the overtime question for the Arbitration Court to decide. The delegates having stated that they had not power to bind the union, agreed . to report the directors' suggestions. They will leave on their return to the West Coast by to-morrow morning's train.