CURRENT TOPICS.

Southland Times, Issue 17004, 30 March 1912, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE BAHAMA CANAL. Mr R. S. Forbes, general manager of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, has Just returned to England after a visit of inspection to the Panama Canal. Ho says .that the Americans might well be proud of their achievements In Panama. The completion of their work would mark an epoch in the history of the New World. It would have an enormous effect upon the prosperity of the whole of the Pacific Coast, and would lead to vast developments in trade and to great changes in trade channels. It might not, of course, be all at once that shipping would readjust itself to the new route, hut he could see no reason why the big ships which the canal would be able to take should not find it a remunerative route. The question of the toli to be Imposed upon shipping was, of course, very important, and lie hoped that the charge would be as small as Jhe undertaking itself was big. The toll of one dollar suggested by the New York Chamber of Commerce would, he thought, be a fair amount to levy on ships using the canal.

The work was being pushed forward so rapidly and in- such splendid sanitary conditions that it was certain that the canal would be formally opened by the passage of a ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific on July 19, 1913. It would not, however, be open to tlio general traffic of the world until perhaps the beginning of 1014. Sir John Glover, presiding at the annual meeting of the Mercantile Steamship Company, remarked that the opening of the Panama Canal was beginning to loom In the near futiire. They heard nothing authoritative yet as to the dues for which It was to be placed at the world's service. But there were two facts to remember by which they would have to be governed. First, it would be in regard to the bulk of its business* competitive traffic, and secondly, it would be certain to make the Suez Canal Company carry out its engagements with its present users. It would be desirable to have this"-matter cleared up before the dues for the now route needed to be considered. It was not known how many foreign Governments paid part of these dues, or how much eacii paid, but they did know that they had not got the reduction of the Suez Canal dues which they were promised when the canal dividend was increased, and tiiat the British Government received from the Suez Canal Company more than £1,000,000 per annum. ,

"When the canal is opened there will be from. New York to all American Pacific ports north of Panama a uniform reduction of 8,413 miles, and to such ports south of Panama a uniform reduction of about 5000 miles. The corresponding reduction will bo 6,200 miles: Sydney will be „about 6,000 and 3,000 respectively. From Hamburg to San Francisco the reduction will be 6,200 miles ; Sydney will be 3,5T»6 miles, and Wellington .2,542 miles nearer Now York. Between New Zealand and Europe there will -be an average saving of 1,600 miles.

British ships which now pass through the Suez Canal on their way to China and Japan and thence to Vancouver, Seattle, and San Francisco, will return to their home ports by way of the Panama Canal, when return cargoes can be obtained in those cities. Ships from Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific ports of South America will sail to New York via the new waterway. THE COAL CRISIS. A correspondent, writing to the London Economist of 10th February, makes a very interesting statement as to the demands of the miners and the attitude of the owners : ..The national joint conference of representatives of colliery owners and miners, held at the /vyestminster Hotel this week, unfortunately failed in its purpose. On the side of the workmen, the demand for a recognition by the coal-owners of the principle of a minimum wage was firmly adhered to. The resolution submitted by them to the representatives' of the employers declared : "We know that there can be no settlement -of the present dispute unless this principle is agreed to.” the principle in question being acceptance by the colliery owners of the. workmen’s claim for the payment to every man and boy employed underground of an Individual' minimum wage/ On the employers’ side hostility to a'minimum wage was not collectively so uncompromising as in the earlier stages of the dispute. In the official report of the proceedings at the Westminster Palace Hotel the general position of the owners was expressed as follows : “ The owners are prepared to assent to the proposition that each person in their employment should receive a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, but we recognise that the principle of payment in proportion to the amount of-the work performed Is the only one which can be successfully applied In the case of coal getters.” This statement expresses faithfully the views of practically every employer in the country on the relative efficiency of the piece-rate and of the day-rate systems of wage payments as applied to labour employed in the actual cutting of the coal at the face of the seam, and if the workmen were demanding the complete abolition of tlic piece-rate system they would probably meet with a united opposition, mixed or dual system, which, while enabling a good workman eo earn wages up to the full value of his skill and Ills opportunities, will guarantee every collier a certain fixed minimum wage per week. On this restricted demand colliery owners are not unanimous. In some coalfields employers are prepared to negotiate a settlement on the basis of an agreement which will provide adequate safeguards against malingering, but at the same time guarantee to the collier a low minimum day wage. It is towards some such settlement that the employers in the English federated districts aimed in their recent negotiations. In other districts, however, and notably in South Wales, the employers will not agree to the principle in any shape or form. They claim that experience of working seams at day rates as is pretty generally done before the price list for such seams has been fixed proves beyond doubt that the workman applies to his work nothing like the effort he does when he is working under his price list : and they point out that a method of wage payment which may be expedient in some districts where the coal is worked through-and-through, and where the market for such coal is exclusively inland, becomes imperative in a coalfield, in which it is of vital importance that the commodity produced be clean largo coal, one, too, which is dependent on foreign demand. Thus while the owners In the English districts are prepared to compromise on the question of principle, those of South Wales are strongly opposed to any system but that by which a collier is remunerated in proportion to the amount of work he performs.