THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1908. THE BLACKBALL SITUATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14186, 11 April 1908, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1908. THE BLACKBALL SITUATION.

It is a strange fatality whereby* correspondence written, by Mr Tregear, Secretary of the Labour Department, that is intended'be kept private obtains a publicity from which he, as its author, discreetly shrinks. When, two years dgo, the letter addressed by -him to at follow Socialist in America, to whom ho expressed the opinion, that there was only one real industrial issue—namely, .that 'between the robber in the form of the landowner and the capitalist and his victim, —found its way into print, the plea was entered on Mr Tregear's behalf that the letter was written by him. merely in his capacity ae a private individual, and it was not to be argued from'it that he was unfitted to hold the scales evenly; in his official position, between employer and employee'. ■ Ifc was, however, an official telegram, signed by him with his offidial designation, which towards the end of last month he humbly forwarded to the Blackball Miners' Union sug gesting the conditions he had formulated in his own mind for the settlement of its dispute with thu Blackball Coal Company and urging it to accept them. The document is an interesting one not only because it discloses the direction in which Mr Tregear's mind was working, but also because it affords uf information respecting the quarters wherein he looks for aid in the solution of an industrial difficulty. In this particular in' stance he conferred with Mr M'Cullough, the workers' 'representative oil the Arbitration' Court, arid with Mr Hickey, one of the strikers,.who is credited with having formed r branch of the Socialistic party, at Blackball, in the attempt to find a

"way out." It does not seem to have occurred to him that it migh* have been advisable also to have taken the Blackball Coal Company into his. cohfidence. . But he had formed the opinion that it might be necessary that the Ministry might exert its influence with the directors of the company. To thab end, he suggested that the Union should apply for the intervention of Ministers. And he hastened t« assure the Union, in case it might consider that this might seem to imply a disposition on its part to resile from the lofty attitude it had assumed, that the wholo arrange-, ment might be effected secretly. " The matter heed hot be mads public in any way," lie wired;, "infact, it would be an entirely private arrangement, and one that would be expected to be confidential so far as the press is concerned.'' It is not quite clear whether it. was to be concealed from the Blackball Company that the Ministers' inter-

vention was the outcome of a request from the miners or that the company was to be led to infer that the Ministers were approaching :it spontaneously; but it is plain that the intention was to "save the. face'' of the Union in every way possible. It' would seem, further, that although Mr Tregear conceived it) would be a desirable and politic thing that this element of secrecy should be associated with the opening of over-, tures for the settlement of an important strike and for the termination, of the most determined attack that has yet been made upon the Indus-

trial Conciliation and Arbitration Actj certain persons who have beep in intimate relationship with the strikers were privy to the arrangement he suggested. His telegram to the Union was accompanied, lie says, by one from Mr Hickey and one from. Mr Hogg, recommending that his proposals be accepted. Mr Hogg, we may mentioii, is : a member of the Socialistic organisation at Wellington, who distinguished himself, after the occurrence of the strike, by declaring, in a •'

letter to the press, that the action, of the Blackball mine management was " one of dastardly and cowardly victimisation." That the conditions of the.'settlement which Mr Tregear formulated were distinctly favourable to the miners heed eXcite no surprise, especially when wa know that they were by Mr Hickey and Mr Hogg] and, frankly we are astonished-that, .the TJniori did not unhesitatingly accept The Union was to obtain— within-' a fortnight—absolutely all that it demanded, aiid' it was to have one-half of the fin© that .was inflicted upon it by the Arbitration: Court paid by the Blackball Company. Apparently, the Union rejected t-lio proposals because they were only tentative. The Secretary for Labour had not gone the length of securing from the Blackball Company its authority for stating' it was prepared to concede so much to thp miners. The adoption of his suggestions was contingent upon thf Government approaching the directors of the Blackball Company and securing their acquiescence in. the proposals. Mr Tregear said, however, that if his suggestions were accepted the Union would " gaitv nearly all the benefits for which the strike was instituted," and in the circumstances we fear he must be greatly disappointed that his efforts to accomplish a settlement that would have meant the success of a strike, which was in flagrant violation of the law it is his duty ..to administer were so coldjj. received,

' Two days after the Secretary for Labour .had failed to win the Union's acceptance of proposals that ■were certainly flattering to it ) the Government announced its intention to collect the fine which had been imposed upon the Union. We do not know whether it was more than ft coincidence that the intimation that stops were to be taken to enforce the payment of the fine was accompanied by the gratuitous and mischievous publication of the strange opinion of the Attorneygeneral respecting the legal interpretation of the word "strike," and regarding the alleged immunity of labour organisations that assist the' Blackball strikers from the li,ability to be prosecuted as accessories after the fact. At a-nyrate, .while the Government 011 the one 'hand threatened tho Union with the consequences of its contemptuous flouting of the law and of the Arbitration Court, on the other hand it furnished it with a weapon whereby it might be encouraged to maintain its attitude of defiance and lawlessness. Moreover, the threat that the Department of Labour would proceed to take steps to collect the fine would seam so far to have been, a mere brutum fulmen. Absolutely nothing has been done by the Government to show that it is really iii earnest in the determination it lias expressed to enforce the payment of tho fine. The Union has, in effect, dared it to collect the money, and the Government seems to have ingloriously cowered before the speetacle of brazen impudence which the Union has presented. Anything more spiritless or more humiliating than the action of the Government in relation to the strike can hardly be imagined. That the Labour Department might bo reluctant to proceed to an extreme that might involve the imprisonment of a number of misguided miners in default of the payment of a fine is conceivable enough; but that is not the position in this case. Although Mr Tregear proposed, in his telegram of the 25th March, that the Government should allow the Union very easy terms for the payment of a moiety of the fine, there is no reason to suppose that, possessing as it does a fairly large membership, the Union is not well supplied with funds. Even if recourse had ultimately to be had against individual i rniners, in default of the payment of the fine by the Union, it is not at all likely that the amount would not be recovered through the execution of distress in the ordinary way. . Whether this bs so or not, however, the duty lies upon the Government to give efFect to l the law and to enforce the decisions of-the Arbitration Court. The duty may occasionally be a disagreeable one, and it is most likely to be found to be disagreeable when the shadow of a general election has fallen across the land, but a, Government which desired to maintain its self-respect and to retain the confidence of the community would straightforwardly, discharge its duty, even if it should be at the cost of arousing the enmity of a few labour unions. ' It may be questioned, indeed, whether it is good electioneering on the part of Ministers to show themselves afraid to make the decision of the Arbitration Court effective against the Miners' Union. Pusillanimity is hot usually regarded as a virtue, and it may bo doubted whether the Government- will win over any waverer3 by persistence in a policy of weak inactivity.