INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14926, 31 August 1910, Page 5

INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

FEAR OF A'COAL STRIKE.; ' : '.i'<; ANXIETY IN THE NORTH. ■..'' fi. ■. (Per United Press Associatwh.) •.!•:'".■■ AUCKLAND, August 30.' V , "Is there likely to be a big coal strike soon," is a question that has been.''' agitating many minds lately. Many hold that the federation of labour is' going- to. : cause an upheaval, and colour is lent,to this supposition by a letter read at a meeting of tho Northen/ Wairoa Hospital'. : Trustees yesterday. Messrs J; J..- Craig:.' (Ltd.), the well-known coal merchants, of Auckland, wrote asking the committee ifV it would take 10 tons of coal now for stock, os there was a probability '.. of trouble in the near future. ' Since'a remark some time ago to the effect that: theTO would be a strike in the coal trade; about September there lias been afeeling \ of uncertainty as to. whether there was any reason for such a statement.' At • first it was thought that there was nothing in the .matter,. but since tlbeh the ' fact that a number of miners' unions haTo' withdrawn from the Arbitration Act has been considered somewhat significant.'" At the samg time'inquiries made amongat the men by persons in tho ooal trade have failed ' ,to elicit any information about a.strike being contemplated, c Still, as a precautionary measure, a number of firms have laid' in stocks of coal to be ready in the', event of the men deciding to go out. This/ course has also been adopted by the Auck-' : land Harbouv Board, as about 1000 tons of coal are to be stored at the Calliope' dock merely is a precautionary measure. 1 . In the absence of air J. J. Craig, no explanation is obtainable '■ in regard to the trouble in the coal trade foreshadowed, by a Dargaville telegram. ' Meantime, the.'.'. company's representative will say nothing' on the subject. > ■ The coal dealers and companies cannot state more in connection with the trouble in the coal trade than, that there is a.' "•sneral feeling of uneasiness at the withdrawal by the Coal Miners' Union from registration under the Arbitration Act. '-. CFROH Ol'R Owl: CORRESPONDENT.. GREYMOUTH, August 30/!; It is a fact,, us stated in an Auckland . telegram that all the miners' unions. aro* 1 withdrawing froni the Arbitration Act. There are good grounds for believing that this is a prelude,'to concerted action at" 1 the end of the year, when nearly/all tho existing. wards, and agreements on the : West Coast will expire. It is ah' open secret that employers will have to bargain with tho federation in December next instead of with small disunited unions as . in the past. ...''.