THE SPLIT IN THE SEAMEN'S UNION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12392, 30 June 1902, Page 3

THE SPLIT IN THE SEAMEN'S UNION.

! A MATTER OF POLITICAL INTRIGUE. INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW ZEALAND SKCRHTARY. (Fi'.oir On: Own Coukkjpoxdkxt.) WKLLIXfITOX, .Tunc- 29. T notice, that tho innocent little paragraph I wired you tho other day in regard to the dissatisfaction of the marine firemen with the working of the Seamen's Union has called forth a vehement rebuke from Mr Belcher, the secretary of tho Australasian I'edeiate.l Union. Mr Belcher evidently tluiiks that my Wifonnatirm came from Mr Jones, the secretary of the Federated Seamen s Union of New Zealand here. I have no wish to put Mr Jones in a false petition, and I hasten to state that information uime from quite another fouvce. As a matter of fact, members of Mr Belcher's union here wen freely Mating that thoy are dis- 1 satbfjed with it* working, and the- fact that I there was discontent was plainlv elicited bv 1 , Mr Kirby during tho hearing of tho recent j -'»rbitratioii Court ca;e here. I However, in order to get further information of the point, I forwarded Mr Belchers letter m the Otago Daily Times to Mr •limes, Who writes in reply as follows ion are perfectly correct in having slated that there is dissatisfaction amongst the marine firemen. That such a fact is very much in evidence is plain to anvone connected with seamen and firemen, notwithstanding Mr Belcher's endeavour to hide any such signs, and the dissalisfaelion has not emanated from the members of the Seamens Union here, nor from its officers, but from ami amongst the memhers of .Mr belcher s own union, which is shown by tho fact that member* of Air Belcher's union put forward one of their own number to represent them and ormnisn n

union, which he did, as lie made, a start about eight or nine months ago, and has ' ' lec » very successful, so I have been informed. The reasons given to me hy the Mr If. Kidd, foi forming the ft re in oi fs union, are as follows :-Membors of all t ne Seamen's I'liions throughout New /-ealand have expressed a desire to havo the alleged dispute that you have heard so , much about ended. Mr Belcher has not ' omloayonivd to do anything in the desired dirsetion. The men got tired of the way m which matters wero going on, and in older to show their dissatisfaction with the manner in which the union was liping conducted, and finding appoah to Mr Belcher had no thought, in their own minds, that tho quickest way of bringing Mr ; Belcher to his senses was to cut adrift from hnn and look after themselves, and at tho same time express tlioir disapproval of Mr Bslehor s appointee at Wellington. You are .safe in saying that I have never been connected with this firemen's movement, and havo always deprecated any movement in such a direction. The union that I havo tlio : honour to represent has not suffered, as up to the present we havo only received five j resignations from men who had decided to' join Mr Kidd. On the other hand, members of Mr Belcher's union are, or have been, joining the firemen's union wholesale, so I am informed by Mr Kidd, and members of Mr Belcher's union have informed me myself personally that they have no faith in Mr Belcher as a leader." The dispute Mr Jones refers to in his letter is an old-standing one between the two Seamen's Unions. Mr Jones explains that the whole thing is the result of political t intrigue, which reached an acute stage at tlie time of the Duthie-Kirk election in Wellington. On that .occasion Mr Seddon came to him and asked him to' assist. Mr Kirk in the contest, but ho (Mr Jones) refused, because Mr Kirk was purely jlr Seddon's liominpp. and nnl l.ho cMer.finn nf

j Hie workers of the city. Mr Seddon, howover, on that occasion, attended a meeting of (lie Trades Council uninvited, and told them ho intended to have his man selected by hook or by crook. That was at the timo ho (Mr Jones) had a libel action pending against tho New Zealand Times, and Mr Seddon apparently wont to Mr Millar, M.H.R,, to use his influence with the men. At all events, Mr Millar met him while he (Mr .Tones) was in company with Mr John IJutchcson. M.11.R., and mentioned the matter. He (Mr Jones), however, refused to budge from the position he had taken up, ar.d eventually tho New Zealand Times settled the claim by paying the costs of tho action and inserting a sort of an apology. Mr Belcher, he says, took up the cudgels for two reasons in order lo gain favour with Mr Seddon, and also to oust him (Mr Jones) from office. In, tho latter, however, ho failed, because he (Mr Jones) proved to be strong witli the men. "Mr Belcher camo up to Wellington," continued Mr .Tones, "and remained hero for six weeks, but lie failed in his mission. He went away a disappointed man, and nrobablv a wiser nnn Unum-m- v'linn Itn

got back, and found his bombast was of no avail, he took a ballot of the federation, but. in Wellington only 15 voted for iiiin, while out of the 1000 members throughout the whole of New Zealand ho got only a minority to agree with his ideas. At this stage the political intrigue came in again, and an attempt was made to block onr union from registering, as Mr Seddon said I had to go. I, however, showed the Labour Bills Committee where the mischief would eomo in iu having two unions representing the same interest? in one place, and almost every lawyer I have spoken to in Wellington has told mo that in their opinion the recent decision given by Mr Justice Cooper in allowing the other union to register was in direct contravention to the act. Indeed, one very high legal authority has stated that if he had been on tno bench tho result would have been different, and one member of the Arbitration Court lias told me personally that the whole thing was a matter of expediency. This dispute in the Seamen's Union has existed now for over four years. On one occasion Mr Seddon stopped mo when I was walking with Mr M'Laren, of the Wharf Labourers' Union, and called me into the Club Hotel away from him. He asked me to agree to help his party hy abandoning the action against tho 'New Zealand J lines, but I said, ' Hang the party! I've got to think of my character.' Mr'Seddon saw. 'The party before anything,' and I rfpliod, 'That may be so with you, Mr oeddon, but I don't care a hang, neither for you nor the party. I am secretary to a body of men who are 'beholden to no and I intend to go my own way, lou may run New Zealand, Mr Seddon, but you don't run the Seamen's Union.' At that lie got very angry and threatened me. hven now," added Mr Jones, "I would not be surprised to see legislation introduced to closo our doors in favour of tne other xinion." I asked Mr Jones if he could give me any particulars in regard to the strength of the rival unions in Wellington. Mr Jones said Ins union had a membership of 300. wncreas Mr Young (secretary to the rival union) claimed a membership of 281 It was, however, impossible for tlio other union to have so large a membership. So far as the New Zealand Union was concerned, they were prepared to prove their membership, and were even prepared to submit their books to the scrutiny of the press. As to the present position, Mr Jones contends that lie has secured both a legal ami a moral victory over Mr Belcher. In the first place, he. says Mr Belcher failed to I'lLn 7" rt | • 1 'W™ thc Xcw union, of which Mr .Jones is secretary and, in the second place, he (Mr Belcher)

| has had to abandon the New Zealand title . .tiid C a I Ins nn,on the Federated Union of | Australia, though, a« a m; ,tt<?i- of fact, it jij-s no connection with (he Aiistrjhisiin \ew"y J"V Vl t IMI } t ", 1 Union of M: t '' i ,vh " !Mr J °™» i< «cro. ' , m " nourishing condition, with 'nn r i"' Melton, and XelI, •, .J"', 1 " /Toms intends to proced to Dimedin and Auckland lo establish holds "1 " ,nCa »° rls ' Tho cow?, he 'Ms must agree to (lie registration of : fee branches. If it docs not, then he recent rlcc " ' "'consistent with its eant (lec'siou give,, ~, Welington. In -mnilf " ■ sat 'sfactlon existing ..liiong-t l,:p marine firemen, Mr .Tone? has Z whatever to do i„ fomenting Union m 'r ia i '' l 0 lremp n's Union na» formed some months ago, but i .us not registered. Tho reason for not t S J°l ( reg fV' lllun ; luf limlc rstands, was that it might no., havo been in tho intcie-t s ul '" on * ll,e ""'J' l'«l « awe before the w'; I "n 11 wou,tl > ,e hotter to W.t ll after the award. Thev. however intend to register. Mr Jones 'thinks tint flucnen may be brought to bear to preven '! registration, but whether or not ha W U T^| I ',l doubt . f,,l ■ 1,1 wnclusion. iff cr.ni" '' . J',"' 'he dissatisfaction is so ; onioiigst tho members of Mr Belchor'q union that m all probability there will bo * very great upheaval in the nearfuture