THE MEN'S CLAIMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14226, 24 November 1909, Page 7

THE MEN'S CLAIMS.

WAGES AND HOURS OF WORK. (Received November 24, 1' a.m.) v

v Sydney, November 23. • - The Strike Conference has furnished the ; •? Government with the claims of the miners - as follows: —Minimum daily wage with uni-\ form sliding scale, eight hours from bank-to-bank, sliding ■ scale for, machine-won coal, shilling per ton for screened and small coal, with penalties imposed for filling dirt, and abolition of the second shift. - - STATE COAL IN VICTORIA. : Melbourne, November 23. ; One result of the strike is. that thi • Victorian Government is advertising for a manager for . a proposed new State coal mine on the Powlett River. < ——'■ \■■ ... [ GLASSWORKS CLOSED DOWF < ' Adelaide, November 23. ' . The local : glassworks have closed owing ; ' to a shortage of - coal; and 220 men. are / thus thrown out of , work. ; . r/ . S AUCKLAND • CARGO . DELAYED. \ i' ' :. , ' . . •' _> "We extremely regret to inform you •; that the arrival of the ironwork for'the > Harbour Board's pontoon will be some- . t what delayed owing to the Newcastle . cdhl strike," was the opening sentence of a . letter received by the Board ' yesterday . from John Burns and Co. The steamer ' . which was bringing the material the letter explained ■, was held up at Sydney. ' j The, writers were trying to arrange to have coal sent over from Westport to enable her to steam'across; and if the negotiations were successful, she should arrive - at Auckland before December 1. The letter was referred to the Board in committee, the engineer to report. . A STRIKERS' COLLIERY. .'

THE SCHEME NOT YET DEAD. The opinion is still held, in Sydney thai • an endeavour will. shortly .be made to . put into operation the scheme suggested by > Mr. Peter Bowling for working a colliery; on behalf of the strikers, : Inquiries made . . from the Sydney representatives of Messrs. Kethel and Co., who are the proprietors of ; the' Ebbw-Main and Young Wallsend collieries, serve to show that the proposal is ; : not yet dead. Arrangements for putting the proposal into effect are said to be prac- ; tically completed, and it is only a question of the Colliery Employees' Federation giv- i ing the word for the miners to start. In- '• \ deed, the company's representatives appear . confident that the* two pits will be at work v' ,* this week. It is stated also that working three shifts per day, the output would bo V from 1800 to 2000 tons every 24 days, and it is believed that the whole of the output can be disposed of at 30s per ton. - A question as to whether there .would be any difficulty in disposing of the coal . elicitea the reply that the company had its v . ; head office in Sydney, and, therefore, would ' be able to distribute the coal profitably. ' ' Then it also owns a steamer, and consequently there would be no difficulty as to , ' water "carriage, apart altogether from the probability of the company being able to _ charter a* number of small coasters. The . agents of the company in Melbourne, it- is _ said, will handle the coal, despite the statements that have been circulated that the Melbourne agents for the two collieries >•" have already announced that they will liava. * nothing to do with the scheme. They contend also that there will be not the slight- : est difficulty in placing the coal, for 'the purpose of keeping a number of. industries f. going, and also for railway requirements.

CLASS HATRED.

A prominent unionist in Melbourne ' stated last week that the Newcastle coal ;'/j miners have for some time been quietly organising in preparation - for the present ' trouble. "The doctrine of class hatred ;V : -j has not been preached in vain," he said. "The labour unions in the various States .* have been forwarding funds to Newcastle, and I believe that we are on the eve of , *, d great industrial strife. I would not care to say what may be the result, , but ,the struggle between capital and labour must be fought out whatever the consequences. V

WOOL FREIGHTS ADVANCED.

The Melbourne oversea shipping companies have decided to increase the freight on wool by id per lb. "*