THE KAITANGATA STRIKE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1825, 12 November 1886, Page 15

THE KAITANGATA STRIKE.

The directors of the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company mrt some delegates on Friday from the men on strike, and the present position of affairs was discussed. The directors pa«sr>d the following resolutions, which were handed to the delegates to be submitted to the men : —

The direc lorßl orB are pgreeablfl to tho constitution of a Board of Kpferonfe, consisting of four members, two to be elected by the company and two to be elected by tho miners, and an umpire, to whom all questions us to wages, hours of work, mode of work, and the like a v o to be referred, the decision of Mich boavd to be binding on both the company and the miners.

The company rrservoa to itself tho richt ot deciding on thp number of men to bo employ ed and of discharging hands. Miners to be tree to leavo the company s employ when they please, Tha dlreotor9 consider that, in the event, of the eßtablisTimeut of such a board, the connection of the mlnws wftlj the present nnJdn w0n.13 be unnecessary,

and might endanger the satisfactory working of the board, as no evidence has been brought forward to show that the decrees of the union would not bo more binding on the) men than the decisions ot the board, further, that the connection with the uuion ■would entail on the men a heavy and burdensome liability, ior which they could icce'ive no corre-poud-ing benefit. The continued c nntction of miners with picsent aina gamated union thereto c to be submitted to an independent board, constituted as above. The directoi sdo nut object, to the coir humtiou of tho Kaitangata L'nion, provided its action ba clearly mado subordinate to that of tho proposed board. * l

4 As to employment of roon, the company haviug been forced to employ some miners, cannot di-card them, but, to prevent hardship., are willing to take back ail hands on strike and not discharge any for two month* any disc arge alter that dato to be by ballot or by the company, as prt-ferred by tht- men. (Signed) Thomas Ukvdoxe, Chairman. ■

These resolutions we blieve met with the approval of the delegates and were submitted by them to a meeting of the miners on Saturday but so far the company has received no notification of the decision arrived at. It is stated however, that the miners accepted the first reso! lution but objected to the second, third, and part of the fourth. Nothing definite, however, is known, but it is considered that if the men are left to their own judgment they will decide to resume work.

The directors of the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company on Monday received the reply of the men to the resolutions submitted to them to put aa end to the strike. As we stated yesterday, the men approved of the first resolution but wished to amend the others as follows : —

2. The company reserves to itself the right ofj deciding on the number of men to be employed and of discharging hands. Miners to be rea to leavo the company's employ when they please. Further, If employing «-r discharging men be a grievance, stiid grie.auce to be submitted to the Board of Reference. 3 The .niners coi sio> r thnt their connection with tho Amalgamated Miner's Assoc ation of Australasia is necessary, aud will in nuwibe en anger the satis aotory woikin< i.f the ward, inasmuch that the union especially specifies that all questions submirte I (or arbitration their decision shall bebinding, and in nowise mentions vetoing or averting tl.e ilec sioiis ot the board, and we decline to submit our connection with the said Amalga ed Miners' Association to a board of reference.

4. .Seeing the present accommodation of the mine is co limited — insomu-b that prior to our dispute over-abundance of men was au existing grievance se%'eu men being then unemployed lor want of places, the mauager also intimating tn the men that other places in the mine were virtually stopped — whereas to include some ot the preseut now emplojed would be making matters worse, we consider we have a pr or olaim on the work over the men now employed; aUo, each man b- rein-btate-l in his respective plnce iv the employment We therefore think you will at once admit the necessity of those men leaving our work before we resume. In the event of a redu tion of men being iieeesgctry through over-abundaneo of men, such reduction to bs done by ballot or bj the company, aa preferred by the men Kui-ther, to prevent hardship, no reduction to take place before two months.

The directors having considered the amended resolutions, sent the following reply to the men through the Miners' Association : —

. „ , Dunedin, Bth November 1886. Mr Bovd Bennie, fiecr t,nrv Ooalminera 1 Protective Association, Kaitangata, Dear sir,— l beg to a knowledge your letter of this date, and I am instructed to convey to you the resolutions of the directors in iep!y. The company cannot accept the amendments of their terms proposed by the men for the following reasons : —

As to the ame- dment to nnmber 2, tho amendment is totally subversive of the resolution. Besides the delegates assured the directors that th men were agreeable to this, and that they were authorised to accept, such a resolution.

As to the 'amendment to number 3, the director* maintain the opinion they hiive already expressed. Besides, the delegates, though they said they were not expressly authorised to accept it, expressed their approval ot it. As to the amendment number 4, the directors must abide by the c «agementß they have made wli.li the new hands as t ey inteud to do with any of the old who return to their employ, and if thpv did n>>t, how c mid the men rely on itny i.romiso made by the directors when they saw them breakimr faith with others? *

The liirectors would also point out that some time ago when they desired to reduce the nun ber of hands they weie given to understand th>)t the men preferred to go thares in tho work rather than to have a reduction of bunds.

llesolved further— 'lhafc the terms offered be now withdrawn, as the direotjr* must avail themselves of the applications tor places now coming In. I am, &c,

W. P. Watsov, General Manager. It will be thus seen that all attempts at a settlement have failed, and the directors bay* decided to continue working ths mine with the men they have already engaged.

— The now completed Severn Tunnel is not only pronounced one of the greatest engineering works of the age, but remarkable also in one feature of its construction— namely.thatof passing under an arm of the sea. The tunnel ex« tends from New Passage to Portskewet, a distance of about two and a-half miles under tbo water, its entire length, exclusive of approaches, being about four and a-half miles, requiring 13 years to build.