SERIOUS POSITION

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10546, 24 March 1920, Page 5

SERIOUS POSITION

POSSIBILITY OF PROLONGED STRIKE. MINERS MAY LEAVE THE TOWN. A Press Association message received from Waihi last night stated: —The Waihi strike, involving the idleness of. 800 or 300 men, commenced to-day, but apart from the men seen taking their fcelbngings from the mines and a few additional men about the strcews, there was nothing to indicate the existence of what may prove to be a prolonged dispute. It is felt that Unless an early settlement is reached largo numbers of strikers will leave the town, as no arrangements appear to have been made for strike pay, though ib is understood that the Coal Miners' Federation will nsv.st monetarily in the removal ot workers' families to other parts of the Cowinion. The Miners' Union, in an official statement issued to-day, points out that the local unions arc an harmony gnJ that no men wall resume work until such time as tho mine-ownora aro prcpnicu to grant tho demand for an increase to 16s 8d dnily of the wages of the men about the batteries and tho mines, and tho overtime rates dorianded by tho engineers. Meanwhile horses, ammunition and other requisites used underground have been trought out of the mines under instructions from the respectivo man. agements, thus suggesting that the mine-owncrg anticipate tho possibility of a prolonged strike.