TERMS OF SETTLEMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5622, 18 November 1889, Page 3

TERMS OF SETTLEMENT.

CHASING "BLACKLEGS" The correspondent of the Ciinterbur Pross, under date London Sept. 2( writes :— The London Dock Strike : ended, the settlement, which was near] completed last Friday night, when th mail left, having been satisfactorily ai ranged on Saturday. When the last ma closed it was understood that this all-im portant question had been settled, am that only matters outside the actual gricv ances of the men were still to be arranged The acting members of the Mansioi House Committee then waited on tin Dock Directors, handed in the agreement and arranged with the Directors tin following document to terminate tin Strike : — "1. The fivepence rate pc hour to be raised in case of al labor not piecework, on and sifter the 4tl Nov. next to 6d per hour, and 8d per hou for overtime ;no pay for meal times. 2 The men called in not to be dischargee with less than 2s pay, except with regarc to special short engagements in the afternoon. 3. The present contract work tt be converted not later than the 4th Nov into piecework, under which the men wil be paid not less than (id an hour, with Si per hour for overtime, and the surplus, ii any, to be equally divided between them all, the payments being made to the men under the supervision of the dock officials. 4. The hours of overtime shall be from ( p.m. to ti a.m. 5. The existing strike tc be terminated, and the men connected with dock, wharf, or river work, to return to work. 6. The strikers and their leaders to unreservedly undertake that all the laborers who have been at work during the strike be unmolested, and treated as fellow laborers by those avlio have been out on strike. In employing fresh men after the strike is ended, the directors will make no difference between those who have and those who have not taken part in it, and will not, directly or indirectly, show resentment to any of the men who have participated in the strike. This document was signed by the Lord Mayor of London, Cardinal Manning, and Mr Sydney Buxton, M.P., on behalf of the strikers, by the Directors of the various Dock Companies, and by Messrs Burns, Tillett, aud other members of the Strike Committee. The termination of the strike was announced to the laborers at a mass meeting outside the West India Docks, at which grateful reference was made to the help received from Australia, and at the Committee meeting held later the following resolution was carried with acclamation — " That the dock laborers of London heartily appreciate the generous help from bhe Australian Colonies, without which the victory could not have been won, and in securing which the first step has been taken for a laborers' universal federation." On Sunday there was a triumphal procession in Hyde Park to celebrate tho termination of the strike. Australia was :;iven the place of honor, the Australian Hag being carried at the head of the profession in the Park. A further vote of thanks was accorded to the colonies in the following resolution : — • That this mass meeting, assembled to L-elebrate the success of the great strike of 1889, hereby renders hearty thanks to those friends who assisted in bringing the negotiations to a successful issue ; also to the gallant men of Australia, whose aid :ontributed so materially to success, and :ilso pledges itself to Avork for the organisation and federation of labor." On Monday the dockers, stevedores, lightermen, and others resumed work. The presence of the blacklegs in the docks greatly irritated a number of the exstrikers, and before long serious difficulties arose. Many of the blacklegs were violently assaulted, and the police had to be called in. At the Albert docks the strikers averred that the Dock Companies had given the preference to blacklegs when selecting workmen, and thereby broken the agreement. Tho Dock Directors pointed out that the strike leaders had ngreed that the strikers should not molest the blacklegs when they returned to work ; but the men stated that the loaders had no right to fall in with such a proposal. Ultimately peace was restored at most of :he docks, many of the blacklegs giving up iheir work rather than run the risk of njury. At the Albert Dock the next day, however, a very serious quarrel arose, a thousand strikers chasing 250 blacklegs from shed to shed, the latter fleeing in all directions. Finally the blacklegs gained shelter in the offices of tho Dock Company, but lut before several of them had been injured. Thirty or forty ran along the railway line, and had a narrow escape from a train. Others foil into the ditch skirting the docks. In addition to this there were numerous cases of personal assault by strikers who were disappointed to find less work to do in the docks than they had been led to believe by the leaders. Until Thursday, large numbers of the returned strikers refused to work with the blacklegs at the Albert Docks, though at the other docks work had been resumed, and was proceeding uninterruptedly. Now, however, the strikers at the Albert docks have resumed, the greater number of the blacklegs having given up work, and peace reigns once more throughout the docks. COST OF THE DOCK STRIKE. The great strikes in London the other day cost from first to last a million and a half of money. The following figures are taken from an article contributed by a city correspondent to a well - known London paper : — Loss in wages alone in the East End, the South-east district, and along the banks of the river, during the three weeka which the strike has lasted, may be put at £200,000 The Dock Companies' loss of revenue from dock dues, the expenses they have been put to in getting a few men into the docks and keeping them there, and the permanent charges of salaries with no revenue coming in, cannot be much less than 100,000 Steamships are lying idle at a cost of L 4 or L 5 per hour. There are at present distributed amongthevariousdock no less than4oovessels,ranging from tiny craft of 53 tons to huge steamers like the I Ormuz, of 6J85. Loss caused to the shipping trade alone