SEAMEN’S STRIKE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19616, 21 October 1925, Page 11

SEAMEN’S STRIKE.

EFFECT IN SOUTH AFRICA. GOVERNMENT ARRANGE FOR MAILS. (From Odr Own Correspondent.) PIETERMARITZBURG. September The all-engrossing topic is the seamen s strike. It is a fortnight since the strike commenced in the South African ports, and it is still being stubbornly persisted in, and with a larger number of strikers as additional vessels arrive, and more crows to take part in the struggle. The strike started at Durban on the Union-Castle steamer Sandgate Castle, 7634 tons, from Beira. The cause of the strike is, of course, the reduction of the men’s pay from the first of last month. The reduction has the authority of the National Maritime Board, and the agreement with the National Seamen's and Firemen’s Union. But the strikers contend that it was not justified, does not give p, living wage, and, being so, the men will have none of it. So, whatever the union and its famous president (Mr Havelock Wilson) have accepted, the sailor now that he has got here, repudiates it. His prese,nt humour reminds me of Shakespeare’s lines; I must have liberty Withal, as large a charter as the wind. To blow on whom I please.

It is admitted by the men that in eigning their articles on and after August 1 they signed an acceptance of the reduced pay; but they add as a qualification that resistance to the terms agreed to bv the Seamen's and Firemen's Union was really imnossiblc. and that the only choice was that of acceptance or of refusal to work. It is urged, too, on behalf of the strikers, that most of the Southampton crews, including, I suppose, the crews of the Union Castle boats, are not members of the Seamen's and Firemen's Union, hut belong to the Amalgamated Marine Workers' Union, and so had no representation whatever on the Na-tionnl Maritime Board. On the other hand, Mr Fayelock Wilson tells us that the S. and F. Union represent no less than 90 per cent, of the general body of seamen. THE POSITION AT THE POETS. The two South African ports chiefly affected are the terminal ones of Capetown and Durban. And both ports are becoming every day more congested with craft. Never since the days of the. Boer War has Table Bay been so full, of shipping. The Arundel Castle and Kildonan Castle mail steamers are held up there: also the Guildford Castle; and also the Ballarat and two other large Australian boats. The Suevic, however, did not throw in its lot with the strikers, and has passed on. The number of vessels at Port Natal is now M, with a total of over 250,000 tons. The previous best as regards tonnage was on October 9, 1921, when there were 59 ships, of a total of 262,000 tons. The biggest of the steamers held up at Port Natal at the present time are the E.M.S. Balmoral Castle (13,360 tons), tho R.M.S. Armadale Castle (12,973 tons), and the Bendigo (13,039 tons), from Australia. The Ulysses, also from Australia, is in port, too, but the crew have not yet declared themselves. Among the other Union-Castle boats held up at Durban are the Sandgate Castle, with whose crew the trouble first arose, the Bratton Castle, and the Dipley Castle. THE MAILS. The Ur.ion-Castle Company have, and always have had, the contract for tho carrying of our European mails. Owing to the strike, they have, of course, been unable to carry on the service. In the interim the Government has utilised the services of the Natal Direct Line, whose Umvoti, manned by Lascars, left Capetown a week ago with the Eurapean mail that should have gone by the E.M.S. Arundel Castle on August 28. The following week's European mail left Capetown this morning by the s.s. Magician. The next batch of mails may possibly be sent on to Delago Bay, and be carried on to Europe by the Garth Castle, via the EastCoast and Suea Canal. A QUASI STRIKE. Tins dispute is, colloquially, and indeed generally, called a strike. But the shipowners demur at this, and contend that it is really «iot a strike—because none has been 'declared by the governing body, which, as a matter of fact, has not been slow in denouncing the "strike." The shipping companies regard the shipping emeute as a refusal of duty, and one of the most serious nature. There are over 400 summonses being issued against members of the crews of the Arundel Castle, Ballarat, and other vessels in Table Bay. to be Tetumatble, 1 understand, on Monday next. But the strikers affected are not at all perturbed, and in prof of it they have resolved to march together up Adderley street, Capetown's central thoroughfare, to the Caledon Square Court, and so face the law with spirit. The crew of the Aberdeen liner Sophocles, riding at anchor in the. roadstead off Capetown, have sent a bold letter to their comrades urging them to stand out and be solid, no matter what the consequences may be! Very resolute from the strikers' standpoint; but very refractory and recalcitrant from the point of views of the employers. It being alleged that tho crew of the Sophocles have refused duty outside the territorial waters, the question has arisen whether they have not'been guilty of mutiny. The Sophocles has on board 400 emigrants from England to Australia. Poor imigvants! Their troubles have indeed commenced early. SOUTH AFRICA GRAVELY AFFECTED. Thp strike—for it is a strike whether legal or illegal—is ft very grave matter for South \frica at the present time. It is emphatically so at the present time—on this account. South Africa having been blessed, for onco in a way, with a bumper maize harvest—and maize is our staple product—it is of vital and exceptional importance to have the export surplus shipped away. The Railway Department has, to use a favourite expression, risen to the occasion, and is doing its utmost to expedite the land transport. The Union Government has assisted by chartering many ships. And now, when the harvest is ripe and at tho eleventh hour, the gruesome fear is that tho shipping strike may upset everything, and prevent the maize, won by the farmers' toil, reaching the market. Two or three maize-laden steamers have got away; but what they have taken away is quite a negligible quantity. The fruitgrower* have been anxious about a shipment of 100.000 cases of citrus fruit in the Roman Star, Ivinc in great ieopardy in Table Bay owing to the strike. Happilv tho crew, after a second attempt, proved amenable to Colonel Creswell's mediation, substantially backed up by the Fruit Exchange's bonus. LASCARS. Shortly after the commencement of the strike it was widely and confidently re ported that the. shipping companies were rroing to replace the strikers with lascars from Bombay. The number was given—700. An Indian report was to the effect that three hundred lascars were on their way to Natal. Inquiries by the ship-owners were undoubtedly directed to that quarter with this object in view. But the move evoked general hostility in South Africa among Europeans and Indians alike, and the idea was abandoned. FRUITLESS ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE. A round table conference is an excellent, indeed a favourite, and often a successful, means of settling industrial disputes. The Union Government, with so much at stake in a dispute in which it has no part, moved Very carefully' to mediate by this means in the hope of possiblv achieving an earlr settlement. But in the case of round table conferences, ag with all advisory bodies, no power is linked with their imperatives; and this particular effort did not meet with any success. At the same time. I eee no reawin whv the Moi-ning Post should take upon itself to indulge in fulminotions and denounce the Union Govirnmont's action as "m"st disastrous, and likely to protract the strike, causing lieavv loss to South Africa as well ne to Britain." The Chairman of the conference was Lieutenant-colonel Creswell, Minister of Labour, and he did his best. I am sure, to nlnv the part of an apostle of sweetness and light. Having heard both aides—although the principals in the dispute are not here, but at Home—the apostolic MHnister put forward the proposal that the reduction of wages should be postponed for s ix months in order to give time for the whole matter to be fully gone inlo at Home. Tho shipping companies' representatives found this -pronosal quite unacceptable, but, unlike the Morning Post, they thanked the Government for its efforts towards peace. GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION CALLED FOR. The active intervention of the Union Government in the dispute is now called for bv the Natal Mercury in a vigorous leader. The call is based on the very practical ground that not only tho export of produce but the whole general trade of the country is practically at a standstill.