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Otago Daily Times, Issue 14472, 15 March 1909, Page 4

THE BARRIER MIXING DISPUTE. liif. award of Mr Justice Higgins, sitting as the Federal Arbitration Court, in regard to the Barrier mining dispute is clearly a, document- of great- importance, flie mining deadlock at Broken Hill lvas, it may be recalled, created at- tlio beginning of t-lio present year at the ■Proprietary and liloek Ten mines by a notification from the mine-owners that tlio increase of wages granted for two years from January, 1907, was to cease on January 1, 190S). The men declined to resume work after the holidays under these conditions, and operations have in consequence !>?en suspended ever since at these important mines. Provoked largely by the activity of Socialist agitators, a- considerable amount of friction between tlio parties manifested itself in the earlier stages of the dispute, but latterly the situation 'has improved in this respect, a- palpable split having occurred between the Socialistic group and the combined unions. Effort was made to bring the dispute as speedily a.s possible before tlio Federal Arbitration Court, the companies not pressing the point of the jurisdiction of the Court or the question of whether the industrial tribunals set up in New South lilies should be ignored, and the award which has now been made after a protracted hearing is olio result. Tlio brief cabled summary of its contents shows that the decision upholds the claim of the minors for increased wages. The directors of the Proprietary mine have been candid in declaring that the position of their enterprise demands that so long as lead remains low in price " boom " wages, as they call them, cannot be paid. They suggested that a lower scale of wages should be combined with a profit-sharing scheme, so that wages should move up and down automatically with the rise and fall in the price of metals. These suggestions were 'rejected, howevor, nor did the miners appreciate t-ho reasonableness of the offer that if work were resumed any increase in wages ordered by the Court- should count- as from January 1. The crux of the position now created, however, is this: that, while the companies are ordered to pay higher wages to their employees, there is nothing to prevent them from closing their mines down. This course would, of course, be proof of their sincerity in contending that tlio interests of their shareholders would not permit operations to be carried on at the cost of the wages asked for by the men. And, while the proprietors of the Block Tee mino lmve, as our information this morning discloses, decided to resume operations upon the terms fixed by the Court, there seems to be some cause for apprehension lest work should not bo resumed at the.Proprietary mine, the most important at the Barrier. As Mr Justice Higgins fully recognises, a catastrophe of a terrible nature in its immediate effects would be caused if the Proprietaiy mine stopped working. Diningthe hewing of %j dispute- his Jftw»r-

made very pointed inquiries respecting the probable future of tho mine, ;iihl, sis was shown by "{.lie letter wo published on Saturday from our Melbourne correspondent, ]iei commented 011 tlio fact that the company's half-yearly reports gave no warning at all to the public that the mine had, as is now hinted, only two years ami a-haif to rnn at full work. Importance attached to the evidence of the general manager of the company, Mr Delprat, who stated that; tc the host, of his belief the mine had not. moro than five years' "nipply of ore at. the present rato of output, that the gross profit, to the company for the year ending .May, 190S, was about £29 OOC (from, which £7000 had to bo written off for depreciation of plant), that tho washes for ISIOB amounted to between 000 and £000,000, a,ml that tho mine could not lio worked this year with the same output as last year without, a loss unless wages returned l to tho 1000 level, the total dill'erenco to tho company, on a. comparison of the years 1!)00 nud 3008, as a result of the depreciation in metals, being £.'150,000. Tho magnitude of the industry carried on by the company wac, further indicated by the incidental .statement. by this witness that, it lias been using nine million feet, of Oregon timber, or ten. to ;t donzn cargoes per annum, and that underground .about seventy tons of candles have been consumed in) tho same period. Questioned on other matters, h„ said that the, Proprietary mino turned out. at Port. Pirio about 10 per cent, of the total lead production of the world, and if the company ceased operations it was natural to siipposfj that tlio market price of lead would go tip- Tho market for silver Mr Delprat, described as so treacherous that he would not like to say what would Ijp. the effect upon it of the stoppage of tho Proprietary mine. In tho face of tlieso statements as to tho life of tho mine it is impossible to get any further in the meantime than did Mr Justice Higgins in his reflection that if tho catastrophe which would bo involved in tho permanent closing down of the minr» did- nob occur now it was bound to happen, very soon. Tho normal output of tile Proprietary mine lias been 12,000 tolls per week. The company has employment at the Barrier alone to 2000 men, and at Port Pirio and its other inter-State establishments fully 2000 additional workers have been cii' r ri' r ect. As may be imagined, such a. body of men, with thousands dependent on them, could not ceaso work even for a few weeks without the creation of considerable distress. According to official figures published recently, between January 4 and February 22 tho "lockout fund" had received £11,940, and had paid out £10,532 to the strikers. Had the Proprietary and Block Ten mines boon kept ip full work tlio wages in Broken Hill and Port- Pirie in this period would have totalled, it is estimated, £SS>OOO, The miners consequently last about £78,000 in seven weeks. It is to be remembered also that other industries in Broken Hill and Port Pirio have suffered severely in consequence of the strike, so that the total loss must, have been in excess of this amount. Tho Proprietary mino being of such import-wee on the Broken Hill field the decision of the company as to whether it will carry on under tho award cr close down permanently will be looked for anxiously. When recently approached with a, lequest that it .should grant, miners out of work at tho Barrier free transport to fresh employment the Federal Government did not show itself veiy sympathetic, but in the light of present developments it seems possible that it may yet linvo to extend a. helping hand in such a. tliiectiqn. Other companies, however, seem to manage under the conditions which the Proprietary Company has resisted, and it. may be that the latter company has made some capital out. of a threatened course of action which it does not veiy seriously contemplate.