FIRE FIGHTERS' STRIKE.

NZ Truth, Issue 169, 12 September 1908, Page 5

FIRE FIGHTERS' STRIKE.

TRUE CAUSE OF THE fcIMPUS.

Last week v iiht. auxiliary firemen attached' to the Wellington f Fire Brigade, held a meeting, at the Mewtown Station to consider the question of getting, better terms. The whole of ttie auxiliary men,, witlv pne exception, who was out !of town, attended the meeting, and a resolution was carried unanimously that they should ask for a retaining fee of £10 eer annum and 4s per hour for every call. Ths scheme recently adopted grants a retaining feev of £7 10s per yearj 3s an hour for , the first at a^ftre, and 2s per hoiyr afterwards. • The men complain bitterly that whilst not' a dissentient voice was heard when the motion was put and carried, that, three of their number, Firemen W. Brown, ■ flioss, and Trtteman, have' since ratted and agreed to accept the terms of the Council. The most remarkable thing is -that Boss, one of; the rats, was the first to propose that the men should insist on, a retaining fee of ' £1.5 per year and 2s per hour for every hour of attendance, or resign their membership, The men handed m their resignations on the riigiiij of the toeeting,. giving;, the stipulated raonffe's notice,, and. were!' under the impression that every man m the room was loyal to- his comrades; rt turns out that Boss and. W. Brown "scabbed," the latter. giving, as bis reason that he had, recently tost his job, and as -a married man, he could not 1 affoM to standout.. A. little insight iuto this person's, preteatioas, reVeals that he do.es, live witli, his wife, who keeps herself; by wor.kingf at a iaundry. So much for skunj? Brown. Kireraan Trueman, who belies Tiis name m the most despicable manner,

HANDED IN HJS RESIGNATION, bint was overheard the same night asking the Superintendent .to allow him to withdraw: it, a statement fie denied' when, taxed (by a colleague, wbo went home with him on the tram. Later 1 events, however, show that Trueman iias; ; been false to his name and to his bro.thcii firemen. 01 course, th& "Evening Fostv* xthe organ of Fat, ,must go out of its way to deliberately distort the mea's legitimate action by describing it as a strike* whereas it is nothing oF t-be Kino, the men having handed m 'their- resignations according to agreement. It is the corrupt daily press's usual attitude to tefcr to anything- which, the wockers do In iktfein-e of their rights, m twois o£ adverse criticism , an,l ,■ ., ,. Vhe , c- ' 'fclveuing Post" oevcr hesitates i-'.Uf • dii<jolor and discredit the actions ' of workinpnicn and tibeir organisations.. That the terms offered by iv? City Council tiro totally inadeo.uatß for tif. Trork doae aod ' risk rua m coMwciion^ with fires all intelligent citizens will admit, and it the Council cannot cScr better terms, thea property, which the former risk their lives it> save, should be rat«-di to meet nil neqarremeats. The class from which the auxiliary firemen are drawn h*s usually the, least interest m property—probably not a single one of them pocsenbbs a brick cf his own— but fhix does not deter them from readily risking tfeeir lives to prevent the destruction of other persons' property, aad if the men arc readily prepared to respond to t*c call of the fire-bell, then the proper ty-ovvaeis should be ac readily prepared Iq pay. a little towards reoompeasiitg; ike are, fighters.