THE HUNTLY MINERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15706, 7 March 1913, Page 2

THE HUNTLY MINERS.

PROTEST AGAINST THE NEW UNION. DEPUTATION~TO~MR MASSEY. A LIVELY DISCUSSION. (Faoit Our Own ConnKsroNDENT.) WELLINGTON, March 6. This afternoon a deputation from the miners at Huntly, introduoed by Mr J. Robertson, M.P. for Otaki, waited on the Prime Minister (the Hon. W. F, Massey), as Minister of Labour, and presented a petition from the residents of Huntly and the surrounding districts asking for an inquiry into the recent formation of the new Huntly Miners' Union, and the alleged victimisation of men who had been concerned in the labour troubles in that district. The petition, Mr Robertson said, was sign6d by considerably over 500 people, about half the population. Mr Fulton, speaking in support of the petition, contended that the new union was brought into existence illegally, and that the registrar of industrial unions (Mr Lomas) had not complied with the Arbitration Act, inasmuch as. he did not take steps to see that it was a bona fide union that was applying for registration. The bone of contention was that the rules gave the union the right to dissolve, and he contended that that was not in accordance with the Arbitration Act, which merely gave the right to cancel registration. He added that they could prove that the names which were affixed to the application to form the union had not been signed by the men themselves. The law. was being prostituted, inasmuch as it was never designed to bring into existence an organisation where there was an overwhelming majority of men against such a proposal.

Mr Massey: You are referring to the provision that allows 15 men. to establish a union? Mr Fulton: I contend that is wrong. Mr Massey: It is the law. Mr Fplton contended that the law had been used for an iniquitous purpose, and he declared that the time would come when such tactics would rebound upon those had been responsible for them. He also entered a protest against the agreement that had been drawn up under which the new union agreed that it should be liable to a penalty of £50 a day in the event of a' strike, and expressed his belief that tlie judge of the Arbitration Court would not affix his seal to suoh an award. Another thing was that when the secretary of thq new union applied for the registration of its rules they were back in the hands of the secretary the day the union was registerel. " Now," said Mr Fulton, - "there has been some speedy work. We hold documentary evidence that you, as Minister of Labour, were pushing the matter through." Mr Massey: Kindly produce it. Mr Fulton: I oan produce it. Mr Massey; Produce it now. Mr Fulton-: You . were pnshing the matter through. Mr Massey: Do you mean that I was pushing it through improperly or unfairly 1Mr Fulton: You were pushing it through.

Mr Massey: Answer my question. Mr Fulton: Yes, I say improperly. 'Mt Massey: The statement is contrary to fact. Mr Fulton: I shall produoe the evidence. Mr Massey: Yon must accept my statement. If you don't, I refuse to hear you further. Mr Fulton read a telegram from one Walsh which said: "Received wire from Massey (Prime Minister), and that he was pushing it through." , i Mr Massey: That ia not my wire. I don't accept that as a copy of anything I ])ut into a wire. Make 110 mistake about that. That seems to indicate that there had been some .delay and he wired to me to expedite matters. I am prepared to place the original upon the table of the House. You make a very improper statement in regard to myself. You said I was pushing the matter through improperly and unfairly. Mr Fulton: I did not use the word " unfairly." I used the word "improperly." Mr Massey: Very well, I contradicted you, and asked you to withdraw the word. Mr Fulton: I acoept your statement. He went on to contend that the rules of the union were illegal and that the members of the old union were being victimised and that the people of Huntly were coming round to that opinion. Mr Leather dedaied that the bulk of the cream of the coal industry was going into the pockets of half a dozen men. Never had there been such an outrage upon society and upon decency as in the case of the formation of this new union. The people up there were coming to the opinion that things had gone a little too far, and they thought it was time the present Government gave the unionists a square deal. Mr Massey: You mean by an amendment of the law?

Mr Leather: Not only that, but in the tactics used by a section of the employers and their hirelings to form this union and coeroe these men into submission. The deputation urged that a commissioner should be . sent to Huntly to inquire into matters. Mr Massey: Do you know that he has been there? Mr Leather: No. Mr Massey: Well, I have his report in front of me. Mr Leather went on to suggest as an amendment, to the Arbitration Act that men who had joined a union should have a free hand in the conduct of the affairs of the union. Mr Massey: There is no one interfering with the present unioh, is 'thcje? Mr' Leather: Fifteen men can form a anion, but was it intended that a union could be formed when a union for the same purpose was already in existence in the same' place?.. Mr Massey: What do you suggest? That the number should be increased? Mr Leather: I maintain thai it should be done by a majority of the men employed. ' In answer to a question the Prime Minister said he could not commit himself as to the direction in which the Act would be amended, but anyone interested would have an opportunity of riving evidence on the subject. Ho read the amended rules, of the new union to show that honorary members had no voice in its management. Mr Lomas (Secretary of Labour) said that when the application for registration of the new union came before him he sent to the local-agent and asked him if the names of the signatories were bona fide. He got a reply in .the affirmative, and then he submitted the rules to the Crown Law Office after consultation with the Prime Minister. The Crown Law Office advised that he was bound to register. The Prime Minister, in replying to the deputation, said it had been suggested that he should send the Conciliation Commissioner (Mr Harle Giles) to Huntly. Mr Giles had visited Huntly at his request in January, and had submitted a report. Later on he (Mr Massey) received a. letter from, the solicitor'to the federation (Mr o'Regan) calling his attention to certain alleged grievances, and as it was 'impossible for him to get Mr Giles to go he instructed Mr Newton (inspector at Auckland) to visit the district. As far as the law was concerned the Government recognised that its first duty was to administer the law as it found it, and he had instructed Mt Lomas, who was a trusted and capable offioer, to carry it out fearlessly and impartially, and ho thought he might say that Mr Lomas was doing that to the best of his ability. If the law was defective it was the duty of Parliament to alter it. Tho Government could find nothing better to take the place of the Arbitration Act, and an amendment to that Act would be brought down next session. His own desiro and tho desire of the Government was to place such an industrial Act upon tho Statute Book as would give a "square deal" to both parties concerned—the employees on the one hand, whether unionists or ncm-imionists, and the employers on the other. He believed that they would be ablo to achieve that object and to place on tho Statnte Boole an Act which would restore for a considerable time at all events that industrial pcaco which he was sorry to say had been disturbed for the paat 12 months.