THE POSITION AT BLACKBALL

Otago Witness, Issue 2859, 30 December 1908, Page 26

THE POSITION AT BLACKBALL

GREYMOUTH, December 22. The miners at Blackball are very nrotth' discontented over tihe recent award made by the Arbitration Court on the pillar rate, winch, came into force on the 14th. insfc. The price paid under the old award was. 3a 4d a ton, and the? new award reduces it to 2s 2d.

The matter has been referred Jo the Miners' Federation, a-nd the -Blackball miners trust that it will uphold them in refusing to work under the altered conditons. The general opinion is that the new year will witness another strike.

(FjtOM OOJt OWK COMEMOKDEHT.) "°** GREYMOUTH, December 25. Regarding the report that trouble is likely to be experienced at Blackball early in the new year consequent upon the action of the Arbitration Court in reducing the rate for pillar work from. . 2s 4d to 2s 2d per ton, one of the men who took a particularly prominent part in the strike during the early part : of the year informs me that trouble is regarded as unlikely, and this question is generally shared here. Of course, there is a greater point at Issue at iSeefton, and if the Miners' Federation ordered a cessation of work as the result of thedeadlock which seems imminent there, such action would affect nearly every quartz and coal mine in the Dominion; but such an extreme action as this is regarded as unlikely. Nevertheless, the situation 'is one fraught with grave consequences. The Inangahua County Council has asked the Government to suspend the provisions in the Workmnos Compensation Act, which is one cause of the trouble, and the Prime Minister has replied that the matter is now being considered. The developments of the next few days are awaited witi. tfte keenest interest..