THE UNION COMPANY'S INTENTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2056, 20 July 1893, Page 17

THE UNION COMPANY'S INTENTIONS.

IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY MR MILLS. Mr James Mills, M.H.R., managing director of the Union Steam Ship Company, was seen yesterday by a repreeentative of the Otago Daily Times on the subject of the shipping strike in Australia, and in the course of the interview made an important statement regarding the action which- the Union Company will probably take in the matter of reducing the wages on their New Zealand fleet.

••With regard to the reduction of wages," Mr Mills said, in the first place, in reference to the trouble on the other side, " I think it a pity that the representatives of the seamen in Australia were not better advised. The shipowners there have not been doing well for some time past, and affairs got worse when the seyere depression in Australia set in, so that it became necessary for them to make a reduction in the wages. The owners in Melbourne took the lead in the matter, and invited representatives of their crews to privately meet them in conference and discuss the question. The crews, however, did not accept the invitation, but it was understood that a meeting of the Seamen's Union had taken place, and that it had been decided that the owners' invitation should be declined ; and the' men -would not negotiate except through the representatives of the Seamen's Union. The opportunity for a friendly and oquitable arrangement was thus thrown &w&y, and the owners decided, as there was such a very large amount of surplus labour available, to demand a reduction of £2 a month off the wages of seamen, firemen, and trimmers. The seamen in most cases have left their ships rather than accept the reduced wage, and there has been no difficulty in filling their places. This reduction does not apply to the New -Zealand fleet, as we preferred to hold aloof, but it has applied to our steamers trading between Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales. lam rather sorry that the owners on the other side made snch a sweeping reduction. At the same time it appears to me that under the circumstances the men were ill-advised in throwing up their positions, as they must have recognised, in view of the large amount of surplus labour, that there would be no difficulty in filling their places. The majority at the ballot in favour of the strike was very small, and one cannot but feel for the large minority who were compelled to fall in with the decision against their own judgment,' very many of them probably being married men, who must, under the existing state of affairs, have great d'fficulty in finding employment." "We have not decided on any course of action in New Zealand," Mr Mills continued, ' ' but we shall probably ask our men to submit to some reduction, though we shall not go so far as has been done in Australia. It is recognised that the present rate of wages of seamen and firemen was fixed at a time when business was much more profitable than it has been of late years. An increase of £1 a month waß given to the men some years ago, and it may possibly be deemed sufficient in the meantime to revert to the rate of wages prevailing before the increase was made. We do not intend, however, to take our men by surprise, but to give them fair notice of our intention when we find it necessary to jnake the reduction. We should only take a step of this nature if we felt that the state of business rendered it absolutely pecefisaiyi and we should also expect our

employes in other branchesto accept a reduction also where the rate of pay appeared to afford a margin. lam in hopes that when the time arrives to impose this charge we shall be able to induce our employes generally to fall in with our views without any disturbance, as it will be recognised that the circumstances of our business warrant us in asking it, and we shall endeavour to make it understood that we desire to be fair and not to take advantage of the opening which has been afforded to us by the sweeping reductions made in the sister colonies."