"TILL JUDGMENT DAY"

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7020, 7 January 1910, Page 8

"TILL JUDGMENT DAY"

A LONG WAIT itfß HUGHES AMONG SOUTHERN MINERS. SOME STORMY MEETINGS. gy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received January 7, 0.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, January G. Mi- W. jl. Hughes, president of the ft'harf Labourers' Federation, is following on the- heels of Mr Peter .'Howling, and addressing the. Southern miners. He lias had a mixed reception, and strong opposition at some af tho meetings. Mr Hughes .strongly reiterated his opposition to a general strike,- and said the Southerners had come out in support of tho Northern men, and if ithey perished in their decision not to go hack till all grievances were redressed —so that all could go hack together—they -would havo to wait, till Judgment Day. The Broken Hill Block 10 Mine closes on Saturday owing to shortago of coal. This will throw 000 men out of work, making, with those idled by the closing of the South mine, 1500 altogether unemployed. ME BOWLING'S DISCLAIMER WILL NOT ACCEPT DECISION OE WAGES BOARD. SYDNEY', January 6. Mr Bowling, president of tho Miners' Federation,. denies the report that he intends to ask the miners to accept the decision of a Wages Board. .ME BOWLING AT BULLI "WILL PROSECUTE MR WADE." »THE SCOUNDREL WHO CAUSED MY ARREST." On Wednesday of last week Mr Peter Bowling and Mr Hutton, representatives of the northern minors on the newlyformed or northern congress, and Messrs. Butler and O'Connor (representatives of the coal lumpers) (tho four men who are now to bo prosecuted) attended an open-air meeting at Bulli. their object being, according to tho "Sydney Morning Herald ' correspondent, to try to induce the southern miners toi break away from the Strike Congress and vote for a continuance of the strike. The proceedings were orderly throughout,- a body of police, •under Inspector Pountney, being present. Mr T. R. Morgan, the Illawarra mmeirs general secretary, presided. He said • that now Mr Bowling was there ho hoped he would say something as to how the campaign should be conducted in future. (Applause.) MR BOWLING'S ADDRESS. Mr Bowling said that all along he had been anxious to come along to the south to seo if the men wore dying of starvation. (Laughter.) He wished particularly to call the attention of his friends the Sydney pressmen to the healthy condition of the men. so that they would be ablo to go back and report the true condition of affairs. Mr Bowling then made sarcastic references to the note-taking abilities of the police, which came out during the hearing oif the cases at Newcastle. He did not come among them to discuss matters that would mean a violation of the law, for he had too much pjepeot for the law. He would not even ppeak against the infamous measure passed by Mr Wade, which he had not the courage to carry out. He then reviewed the position of the strike since tho commencement. When the miners in Newcastle could stand the position no longer a delegate meeting was held, and the men afterwards came out. Subsequently certain proceedings in congress brought about his arrest on the conBpiraoy charge. On that charge he had told the scoundrel who was the cause of bis arrest that bo had not been responsible for the position at all. as the position was forced on the men. He and Mr Wade had been in consultation, and therefore Mr Wade was a s much an accessory before and after bis arrest as nny man could possibly be. WARRANT FOR PREMIER'S ARREST. He (Mr Bowling) intended to get a warrant fox his arrest,' as if he was a cfcraepirator, so was Mr Wade. He might fail in his prosecution, as ho hoped Mr Wade would in his against him. The northern men when' they came out felt that as unionists the south and others would come out also, and make common cause with ' them. He thanked - the southern men for their manly support and the firm unionist spirit displayed throughout the trouble. He explained that early in congress Mr Hughes admitted openly that-he came to "dress him down " and tell them to go to work, but when he heard opposition stronger than ho imagined he moved a motion " that if the proprietors do not give an open , conference and redress the men's grievances before next Tuesday we call upon the waterside workers to come out in common cause." The resolution was passed, and had never been rescinded. He (Mr Bowling) said that since then there h*ad been too much, dilly-dallying in congress, and that ifchere was a necessity for someone to adopt better tactics. DECISIVE EIGHT NEEDED. He believed that a short, sharp decisive battle was wanted. If they had a right to, fight at all, it was better to do so solidly, if not they should go buck to work at once. In congress he had never had on© word of an acrimonious nature with _ Mr Hughes until the last day of meeting, when he made an allusiom to Mr Hughes's actions regarding the waterside workers, the reply to which was not satisfactory. He asked the meeting wlvut was'its attitude towards the northern men and the new congress—were they favourable to fighting the battle with the new body, and get others to make common cause? (Voices: "Yes, and "No: we have smoodgers.") He referred to what he termed his dramatic arrest at Newcastle, the object of which was to create a riot. It w*as expected that he would fail to get bail, and Mr Hughes would have a free hand to get in his fine work to send tho miners back piecemeal.

MB HUGHES A WEECKEE. Mr Hughes had had a six weeks' trial ■to bring about a finish of the fight, 'and all he had accomplished was to create a division of the workers. To-day there wasl trouble looming among the miners of Great Britain, and here in 'Australia <the proprietors would yet be ready to receive them with open arms. At the congress meeting lit the Trades It yesterday they were given power to settle the stake It tins was a violation of the iw rS, he Bowling) was guilty o that. The south had two representatives on the mow congress; one failed to turn up, and the other would not sit owing to a private grievance with another delegate. One of them (Mr «\ Waugh) sent in, his but he

(Mr Bowling) -advised him to withdraw it, and hand it in to the men. If these men were going to act on their own initiative in spite of the wishes of tho men, then it would be better to remove them and get others to take their place.-,. Tho proprietors were well aware thai th 3 north and south were solid, and lnopinion was that the proprietors would ask tho miners to meet them before the year was much older.

MEN AVILL NOT BE HOODWINKED. Mr Butler, president of the Coal lumpers' Union, s'.iid the coaldumpers were not prepared to bo hoodwinked b\ Mr Hughes, -under whose irifluer.ee congress had tried to jam them into the position of blacklegging on unionism. Mr Button, tho northern delegate, also addressed the gathering. Mr O'Connor, secretary of the Coalhnnpors' Union, moved:—"That tir meeting has the utmost confidence ii congress as now constituted." The motion was seconded in half a dozen places.

The chairni'.m refused to put the n:otion, on the ground (that the miners* should hear what the old congress had to say, and also (lie views of the newer lxxly. In addition to this, the matter should not he dealt with until the delegate board had considered it. Various speakers spoke in favour of tin- motion/ and one tried to spi.Uk against it. Tho meeting concluded with 'cheers for Mr Bowling and groans for Mr Hughes and Mr Wade. ON THE OTHER SIDE. Messrs Waugh and Morgan, two of the southern delegates, who are holding- r.. tile original Strike Congresw, were also m tho south, with the object of counteracting Mr Bowling's efforts. Mr Hughes was also to go to the district.this week. APPEAL TO MEN. CARDINAL MORAN'S CHRISTMAS . SERMON. "KESUME WITHOUT DELAY." At tho end of his Christmas sermon in St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, Cardinal Moran made the following appeal to the mon on strike:— "Looking around us at the present time," he said, "it cannot but be a mattea: of regret to Us all that the blessings of Christmas peace are not enjoyed by a considerable section of the community, and that instead in some districts there prevail between tho employers and the employed a feeling of angry strife and a widespread spirit of unrest. I am told that it is useless for me to address the employers. But if my humble voice could reach the men on strike I would pray them not only as a personal favour, but in the interests of the whole community and in their own best interests. and above all I _ would ask them in the name of the Prince of Peace, to return to the mines, and to resume work without a day's delay. "I would say to them : 'You have already achieved a great triumph, in that throughout this prolonged contest there has been an absence of crime, and perfect order has been maintained.' And I _ will add that you have won a moral victory in the cause for which you contend. You have placed before the public the grievances of which you complain. At a vast sacrifice you have brought home those grievances to the conscience of the whole community. In a country.proud of its democratic spirit,, such as Australia is, those grievances cannot but be redressed. They must be redressed. I would even promise that they shall be redressed. "The continuance of the strike can achieve for you nothing more. Tho bal-lot-box and other constitutional means can alone complete the victory. No doubt, at no distant day, the mines will be gradually resumed by the State, as has been done in Germany and elsewhere, and thus the disastrous record of strikes shall be for ever eliosed amongst us. Meanwhile, deady beloved people, I will ask you to unite your prayers .with mine that the Divine Redeemer may bestow the ineffable blessing of abiding peace upon our beloved country." • NO NATIONALISATION. THE PREMIER EMPHATIC. The attention of the Premier having been drawn to that portion of Cardinal Moran's remarks which said that tho State Government would gradually resume the coal mines, Mr Wade was emphatic in saying that any action of this kind would not come from the present Government. Ho had, he said, stated over and over again that this Government was not in favour of the nationalisation of coal mines. As to any other statements contained in the Cardinal's address, Mr AVade did not desire to offer any comments.