THE KAITANGATA COAL COMPANY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21940, 29 April 1933, Page 10

THE KAITANGATA COAL COMPANY

TO THE EDITOB. Sib, —The report of the annual meeting of the Kaitangata Coal Company makes good reading for those interested. We read about the good year the company had, enabling it to pay a dividend of 2s per share and to place a substantial balance in reserve. _ Different shareholders spoke in praise of the men, saying that they were easy to get on with, and that they' deserved great praise for the way they stuck to their work. Yes, the men although strongly urged from the West Coast and elsewhere to come out on strike, remained loyal and helped the company to have a good year. _ The chairman, Mr M'Skimming, M.P., is reported to have said at 'the annual meeting, that the company appreciated the manner in which the miners had met the directors regarding the new agreement. The offer made to- the men had, he said, been a reasonable one and the men had agreed to it unanimously, the agreement being fixed up for the next three years. If the company was doing well, Mr M'Skimming added, there was no reason why the men should not do well too. About three weeks ago the men’s representor tives were invited to the company’s office to hear the directors’ terms for a new agreement. They were asked to accept a 5 per cent, reduction in wages and the threat was used that if they would not meet the company in this way, the company would take its own way to reduce certain expenses. The men, still good fellows, agreed to the company’s terms. It would be more consistent with the remarks of Mr M'Skimming and the other directors if the company had left the miners’ wages alone. There was no reason put before the men why their wages should be reduced.—l am, etc.,

Kaitangata, April 24. Miner. [Mr M'Skimming, chairman of the Kaitangata Coal Company, to whom we referred the above letter, writes: “It is quite contrary to fact to say that anything in the nature of a threat was used at the meeting betwixt the Miners’ Executive and the company’s representatives. I was present at the meeting and can honestly say that it was a most harmonious one, and it would be good for both employees and employers if all such meetings were of the same harmonious nature. I feel sure that if * Miner ’ had taken the trouble to inquire from the president or secretary of the Miners’ Executive, he would have been informed that a good reason for a reduction had been given and that nothing in the nature of a threat was either spoken or implied.”—Ed. O.D.T.]