South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, JAN. 2, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2115, 2 January 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, JAN. 2, 1880.

Although we believe in trade organizations, we are no . advocates., of strikes. At the best, like military movements, and legal processes they constitute an expensive remedy, for ■ the , evils dealt with. There are /occasions, however, when strikes are unavoidable, as well as justifiable. Between employer and employed it is desirable that there

should always prevail a good understanding, and where the dependence is ’anything.like mutual, this amiable feeling is rarely disturbed. As a rule, it is only where the nominal employer is independent of the servant and has little or no interest in the saving that good management and thorough harmony will 'ani^^' a strike. It is the miserable autocratic manager, not the real employer, that TiMally begets <1 mutinous * spirit in the factory, and by/riding the high horse, Throws the working gear out of joint. An illustration of this is afforded by the state of the Telegraph Department. For a considerable time past the wires have not been Working smoothly. In the principal offices and among the best operators intense dissatisfaction prevails, and .we are told that a strike is imminent. If a strike occurs, -we need hardly say that the public—not the precious managers, who. are responsible, ■for the had feeling iu the department—will he .the sufferers. The operators can hardly ho censured for what they arc doing. : Their hours are long and thenduties 5 laborious. Their work maybe of a mechanical character, hut it involves a far greater strain on the constitution than the physical fatigue that . the unskilled laborer undergoes. While the latter is plying, his pick or shovel and : drinking in mental and physical 'health by the process, the drudge'of the desk, has his wearied overworked faculties on the strain listening to the almost ceaseless voice of the wires. Is it too much to demand for the latter a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work ? This is'all that the oucrator asks, and this has been refused. At the late general elections the Postmaster-General of the Grey administration informed his constituents that he recognised the labours and intended to ameliorate the condition of-the telegraph operators. This he did .shortly afterwards by stripping the experts in the principal offices of their overtime,. .Probably Mr Fisher acted . with the best intentions, hut if so he ' shoidd have redeemed his error on discovering it. .Weeks and .months have passedover, and the operators, who have been stripped of their previous emoluments have appealed and protested in vain. They have suffered an injustice for this reason, that the deprivation of overtime, . deprives them (if their hour for dinner or lunch, and seriously reduces their earnings. If it has been prompted by a regard for economy, we are bound to denounce it, because economy -carried out at the expense'of the tear and wear of men’s lives is unwise and indefensible. We believe it has been prompted by mistaken kindness. There seems to be a Mephistopheles ever behind the political heads of Government departments constantly misleading them and nullifying their good intentions. The Ministry, however, has had ample time to rectify the departmental blunder in this instance. Isit because the operators, who have been cruelly wronged, are few in number that their representations have received no attention? They have petitioned, but their petition has been apparently pigeon-holed and disregarded. They have shewn that as operators they are the worst paid in the Australian colonics, and they have established a fair claim to consideration. Consideration and redress has been denied them, and if they revolt and strike against oppression and mismanagement, the public, who are really their employers, instead of condemning, will applaud their action.