Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1890.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XV, Issue 4674, 22 May 1890, Page 2

Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1890.

The main point In the dispute between the Railway Servants' Society and the Hallway Commissioners Is the means by which the grievance under which the employees are smarting Bhall be brought before the Commissioners. Some of the ¥xeoutive of the Society are not employees of the Department, and themeninalst that a deputation composed partly of these and partly of memberß of Parliament shall act in their behalf. The Commissioners, however, Bay that they oannot meet a deputation Buoh as the men propose to send them, and insist that the deputation shall consist of employees. It does not take a very large amonut of perception to tee that the objeot of the Commissioners is to ignore the Sooiety—to degrade It—and deal it a blow that would seriously impair its effiolency, if not threaten Its very existence. It is very peculiar that the Commissioners should attempt to diotite as to the constitution of the men's deputation. In all oases, where It is proposed to settle disputes between employers and employees by means of conferences, it has been reoognised that each side shall enjoy the privilege of choosing its own representatives; The Commissioners, with an arbitrariness that has characterised all their actions, claim the right to constitute both Bides of the tribunal. The men say that they are not going to rnn their headß into such a nooae. They say that the objaot of the Commissioners is to discover their leaders bo that they might punish them, as other employees who have aoted as champions of the men's cause have been punished in the past. This would not lead to a settlement of the difficulty. It would probably only aggravate it; for, if the men were to send representatives from their own ranks, and they were either now or hereafter, to be dißmiesed or degraded, it would be the duty of the whole of the employees, if they had a suspicion that suoh punishment had been administered on account of the part the men punished had played in their behalf, to adopt those stringent measures for which they are now preparing in cise of emergency. It is a shame—it is ridiculous—that three gentlemen so astute and so particularly clever that one of them is worth LI2OO a year and the two other LIOOO each, shou'd expect the poor working man to meet them in a controversy on bo intrloate a question as that involved. Besides, how conld employees possibly maintain an independent attitude and speak in accordance with the sentiments of their fellows whilst in the presence of great masters at whose nod they might be " sent about their business ?" If a conference of the dispute is to be oondnoted efficiently, and If it is not to end in a fiasco, the two parties constituting it must be equally independent of each other. There Is as yet no sign that the Commissioners will receive a deputation constituted inacoordance with the Society's desire; and the question is, When will the men grow impatient of the delay and trimming, and the soft seductive words of the Commissioners 1 Will the Sooiety at last respond to an invitation like that given by the spider to the fly, and will a deputation cf the Commissioners' employees walk Into their parlor ? That Is not possible. Bnt it Is to be hoped that the Sooiety will give fall recognition to the fact that a strike wonld punish their beßt friends as well as be disastrous to the colony's trade and to themselves and families, and resolve not to take extreme measures till Parliament has been afforded an opportunity of discussing and redressing their wrongs, We have too high an opinion of them to believe that

they ever oontemplatei any other course j but a strong sense of injury has before today led to hasty action on the put of men similarly situated that his produced bitter repentance,

The Shag Point correspondent of the Dally Times, writing to that journal, states that the proprietors of the Shag Point coal mine took aotion In the R.M. Court on Wednesday, to have the miners occupying their oottsges expelled, The oases oame before Mr Stratford, R.M., and five of the 21 defendants were ordered to give up possession of the oott«ges within a given time, It seems unreasonable that the miners should have expaoted that the proprietors of the mine would have allowed them to remain in possession cf their oottages, considering the relations existing between them. It was only natural to Buppose that Messrs Hazlett and Olendlnlng, suffering nnder the serious loas occasioned by the men's aotion, would do all tbey could to rmko the latter feel their position as keenly as possible. The position is an unfortunate one for all concerned. Had sound oounee' and advioe been brought to bear on the difficulty at the outset, It might bave been settled to the satisfaction of all Interested. It appeals that the men have so intention of leaving the locality, as they have set about ereoting homes on the beaoh.

A ohuroh parade of the headquarters companies of Volunteers will be held on Sunday morning, and 10 o'olook is fixed as the hour for assembling. At a quarter-p»at ten the Garrison Baud will play " Lo, He oomes," and the battalion will march to Ft, Luke's Churoh, where those who wish to attend other churches will be dismissed for the purpose. &b a mark of loyalty to her Majeßty the Queen, the 71st anniversary of whose birth falls upon the precodtng day, the National Anthem, aooompanied by the Band, will be sung immediately after the Colleot and in the place of the customary anthem, After the servioe the battalion will march to the Atheossum, where the National Anthem will be played and the [parade dismissed. Mr L. Harris, Secretary of the Otago Branoh of the Hallway Servants' Sooioty, in the oonrse of a speech he made at a reoent meeting of the branoh in Dunedln, s»id : " As to the enthusiasm at Oamarn, he might say that was to some extent owing probably to the faot that the ballot waß taken before anything was known of the nature of the reply of the Commissioners to the Executive." This view, we are round to say, is absolutely incorrect. It is generally held here that the Commissioners' reply was of such a nature that it strongly justified the aotion of the Ifxeoutivj of the Society In preparing for an iasistenoe on reform, Yesterday we saw a statement as to the wages paid to railway servants that had been supplied to the New Zealand Time* by the Railway Commipsionera, As we were aware that the statement waß misleading we did not reproduce it. It is a well-known faot that the wages mentioned therein as being paid to the servants in the different departments are only the wages nominally. The time and overtime are sibjeot to mob. arrangement by the heads of departments that whit the men are to reoeive is entirely at their option, and men often work long additional hours without aoy additional remuneration whatever. The objeot in publishing the statement la the Wellington Times was no doubt to attempt to convince the pnblio that the employees have nothing of whioh to oomplain, and that the present unfortunate trouble is all of their own making. A pigeon shooting match will take plaoe at Boundary Creek on Monday next, the 26 th inst,, at noon. We understand that Mr J. S. Parker, President of the Trades and Labor Counoll, and Mr Bedmead, Seoretary to the same body will visit Oamarn on the 7th June for the purpose of delivering addresses. The following passage oacurs In a letter written to the Lyttelton Times by Mr J, M, Tworuey, proprietor and editor of the Temuka Leader:—Now I think I have found it. Let Parliament enaot that large estates shall be divided into reasonably sized farma and leased for a term of twentyone years at a rental of 5 per cent on the Property-tax value of the land, let provisions be made for preventing landlord tyranny, and giving tenants compensation for Improvements Now, muoh as I admire the Land Acquisition Bill, I think that for simplicity and effectiveness this proposal is better than its, 'lhe landowner gets very fair interest on bis oipltal and cin't complain, the tenant gtts the land on reasonable terms, and the State gets all the advantages of Inoreased population and extended settlement without having to lnour the slightest risk, Everyone is treated fairly and honestly, and it appears to me that It is a suggestion whioh ought to be adopted forthwith. To the man who Bays this is not in aooordance with the most advanced ideas on the land question, I any it is the best we oan do at present Mr Hayburst has In Temuka about five thousand acres, on whioh close on forty families live as tenants; and I believe that through all the depression not a sirgle case of Insolvency oocurred on the estate. Not Jf ar off are larger estates on whioh live only a manager and a few shepherds, I ask, whioh 1b the best? On Mr Hayhurat's estate families are brought up accustomed to rural pursuits, on other estates there are no families; for who has not seen the stereotyped advertisement, " Wanted, a married couple, without encumbrance." No bableß need apply on suoh estates ; and la the face of that faot, how can we expeot population to Increase. Mr Christie Murray deolares the Wanganul River to be the most beautiful he has yet seen in the world, The shifts at the railway station, Christchurch, bave been so arranged that from Monday nex; the porters will work from eight to eight and a-half hours a day. Previously they had to work from ten to twelve hours a day. This is one good result of the representations made by the reoent amalgamation of railway servants.— Lyttelton Times.

The Poet stys that a youth named George Cololongh, who some four years ago was in the employ of Messrs Nelson, Moato and Co. In Wellington, has been proved the heir to a fortune cf some half a million sterling. At the Land Board meeting yesterday Ranger Hughan, reporting on an application by Mr J. Orbell for permission to enolose portion of seotlon 77, block 1, Moerakl, said that the same was set apart for hal-oastes. and that an application might be received for the section any day. He suggested chat the application should be refused. The rangers suggestion was adopted. Banger Hughan also reported on the application made by J. A. M'Pheraon to lease section 23, block 2, Maerewhenua, and to fenoe the quarry reserve. He suggested that the price of section 23 be reduced from 40s to 15°, to enable the applioant to parohaae. With regard to the quarry reserve, he BUg« geated that Mr M'fherson should be allowed to maintain the fence, as stray etook are a great nuisanoe to him.—Referred to the Chief Commissioner. An application by Mary Ann Qaalter to transfer the perpetual lease of section 15, blook 10, Kurow, to George Stringer, was approved; At the meeting of the Otago Sohool Com? miasioners, held in Dunedin on Tuesday, a oommunioation from the Crown Lands Office, Dunedin, stated that the Commissioners' application to purohase a olosed roadline on blook 1, Otepopo, had been granted, and asking for payment of the purchase money. The Education Board wrote applying f>r seotlon 16, blook 75, Oamaru town, as an addition to the sohool grounds of the £?outh Oamaru Sohool—lt was deoided to set the seotion apart as a sohool site, provided arrangements oan be made with the present tenant as regards valuation for improvsments.

Malls for the Australian colonies, United Kingdom and Europe, via Melbourne, olose at the Bluff, per Te Anau, on Friday, 23rd inst, at 2.30 p.m. This mall is due in London on July 9;h.