THE STRIKE SETTLEMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14213, 14 May 1908, Page 6

THE STRIKE SETTLEMENT.

It is proverbially au ill-wind that blows nobody any good. The flooding and consequent abandonment of the Tynesido coal mine is not tho sort of event that appeals to the imagination as other than a disaster pure and simple, but it figures none the less somewhat in the guise of an intervention of Providence in bringing the Blackball strike to a termination. Tho news that a settlement. has at last been arrived at- in regard to this strike will doubtless be hailed with satisfaction from one end of the Dominion to the other. The resumption of work at- the Blackball colliery to-day will, if no- unforeseen obstacle arises in the interim, bring to an end a strike which had its inception on February 27, and has therefore lasted about two and a-half months. A strike, wo have heard it. said, does not last, and our statement is perhaps not strictly in accordance with the Attorney-general's interpretation of the law as it views a strike, but; for all practical purposes it will serve very

well. The circumstances under which the strike took placo lmve been pretty well ventilated. It might bo going rather far to say that they were trivial, but it is within tlio mark to Ray that the Blackball Miners' Union, in taking tho action it did, deserved to forfeit the sympathy of all reasonable people and bo made to face the full consequences of its wilful defiance of tho law. As a matter of fact, the Union did not receive that measure of support which for some reason or other the leaders of tho strike seem to have imagined' tlioy could calculate upon.' However, although a number of labour organisations declined to give the strikers active support of any sort, others laid themselves open to the charge of aiding and abetting a strike by extending them a- considerable measure of pecuniary assistance. It is using a mild expression to say that from tho outset the Government lias shown no precipitancy in setting in motion the machinery of the Arbitration Act iu order to bring to book the offenders against its provisions. However, for its insubordination the Union was duly prosecuted and fined £75. Action for tho recovery of the fine next became necessary, and this week an order has been liiade by Mr Justice Sim against IGG individual members of the Blackball Miners' Union for the payment of their due proportion of the fine, the property of the Union being insufficient to meet the emergency. As the position is at present tho collection of the fine is not likely to be facilitated by the circumstance that, owing to the time that has elapsed since the inception of tho strike, many of the minors who have now been adjudged individually responsible for its payment have left the district. As to the direct causfe of dispute between the Blackball Coal Company and tho miners, we need not trace that back to its beginnings, as it is sufficient at this stage to understand. that the last and most difficult stumbling-block in the way of a settlement has had reference to the hours during which truckers should be employed at the mine. Last week the directors of the company met delegates from the Miners' Union in conference at Christchuroh, and there was mutual agreement or concession in regard to all sthe questions at issue with the exception of the matter of the employment of truckers for two hours overtime. The directors of the company have insisted all along upon the necessity for a. continuance of this practice 1 if the mine is to bo properly worked, and they adhered to this position at the recent conference, which proved resujtless as far as a settlement was concerned. Speculation as to how long the member,? of the Union would 1 continue to repudiate the reasonable terms offered by the company and' make a mountain of difficulty out of a provision with respect to truckers which stipulated .for the continuance of a system in vogue hitherto and in accordance with the award of the Arbitration Court has now been set at rest by a rather unlooked-for solution of tho difficulty. The disaster at the Tyneside mine has thrown a large number of miners out of work, and it has been arranged that these shall be given employment at the Blackball mine, the output of which is to be increased by the working of'a double shift. By this means the necessity that trackers should work overtime can, it seems, be removed, consequently. the remaining cause of friction between the miners and the company no longer exists and the strike comes tp an end' with the resumption of work by the former. It remains to be seen, no doubt, what will be.the next cause for dissatisfaction discovered by the men under .the new arrangement, but in the meantime tho termination of a strike of some obstinacy and the speedy employment p-f the Tyneside miners are real causes for satisfaction. As to the terms upon, which the strike has been settled, they reflect the conciliatory attitude adopted by the company throughout the dispute. Whether or not tho strike at Blackball has diminished or increased the likelihood of the occurrence of other strikes is a question the answer to which depends largely 011 the view taken of the extent to which the strikers have gained their ends and of the measures instituted for their punishment. The event seems at least to have convinced the Minister of Labour that the lmv in regard to aiding and abetting strikers needs amendment, but complaint lias been made, with reason, thai, the Government, instead of testing without delay all the resources of the Arbitration Act in this connection, has been too ready to accept tho -verdict that it is, useless without amendment. The outcome of the Blackball strike cannot unfortunately be favourably cbnsidered as an augury for continued industrial peaoa. It is to be hoped that the experience gained through it will help the Government materially in strengthening our industrial legislation, even supposing the Arbitration Act, however reinforced, may never be able to stand too severe a test as a strikepreventer.