COAL AND LABOUR MATTERS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16454, 5 June 1919, Page 7

COAL AND LABOUR MATTERS.

SPEECHES BY MESSRS. SEMPLE AND PARRY. Somewhere near 200 people, about 30 of whom were women, assembled in the Empire Theatre on Wednesday evening to hear Air. Robert Seauple, M..P., and Air. William Parry, who spoke about the coal question and a number of other matters, including the constitution and aims of the Labour Party. They advocated nationalisation of the coa.l mines of New Zealand, and the betterment of the conditions of living on the mine fields. Air. Semple also urged “Be kind to the minors and treat them like human beings-” ' . i Air. P. B. Fitzherbert, chairman of the New Plymouth branch of the Labour Party, presided, and Mr. Parry, after being introduced by the chairman, spoke for three quarters of an-liour. He first explained that Air. Semple and he were not at present officially connected with the New Zealand Miners Federation. The question of the coal supply was not a greater question or problem than others which affected the existence and well-being of .the people of Now Zealand, and ordinarily the bulk of the people who wore consumers of coal did not concern themselves about it, but when a dislocation occurred the coal supply was immediately a very important matter. Air. Parry said the conditions in which the miners in New Zealand worked and lived were directly responsible for the shortage or coal to-day, side by side with_ the interests of the Union Steamship Company and tho coal monopolists of tins country. From Australia 220.000 tons of coal were imported annually,_ though there were millions of tons in New Zealand not yet mined. The “pull of tho big coal companies and the Union Company was responsible for tho West-port-Reefton railway line not being completed. We had been receiving so much coal from Australia- because the Union Steamship Company was vitally ccncerned about tho interests it had in tho coal mines in Australia. Air. Parry said there was no shortage of miners in Now Zealand, and bo undertook to say that 300 miners could be obtained at short notice in Wellington and Auckland ; if the conditions were made favourable these men would bo found working on the coal and gold fiolds Jho only possible solution of the coal difficulty was that the people should take control and have the industry run by tho State and that they should immediately place in power a Government that would sympathetically administer, and not light. State ownership. Young men were leaving the coal fields for places where there were better living conditions for their wives and children. The speaker proceeded to deal with some parts of the Labour platform and entered ino a maze of figures to prove i the unfairness of the present admims- , tration of the country. Mr. Parry i concluded with an artistic description of i the natures of the two Parliamentary S leaders of New Zealand and their pohi Ural courtship and marriage. The chairman, in introducing Air. Semple, explained how unfair it was to call him ‘The New Zealand Bolshevik. Air. Semple described in lucid terms what the Labour Party was seeking to do for the people. Continuing, ho said that the advertisement suggested talking about “coal,” but it was a 1 col-ci night and talking about “coal might make them “colder.” After this effort, the speaker mentioned that ho had had practical experience o£ coal mining in .Now Xoalimd and Australia, having started work on the Lithgow Valley coal-fields when- nine years of a.ge. It would be seen that ho had not attained his present position by being pushed. Speaking of gaol, Air. Semple said iie had had his shaio or gaol on several occasions, and before ho got a single principle that Labour stood for recognised ho would have some more. Turning to mining, tho speaker described the actual work of a coal miner. He said tho pay of a miner before the war for hewing ranged from Is lid for pillars to 2s 4d per ton for solid, and there was a war bonus of 5d per ton. Some one in the audience asked “How much does a miner earn in a day?” Air- Semple said ho was coming to that, but forgot to mention it again. Ho said the Union Company was paid on an average £BO,OOO pm - year to carry State coal alone, this representing 10s per ton from Greymouth to Wellington, while the miners were paid £7i,isl in wages in the same period. Air. Semple complained that coal was used ns a gambling commodity and tho blamo for anything wrong in connection with it was laid on tho miners instead of on those who pluclied the people who bought the coal. He issued a challenge to anybody to meet him in public upon the coal question. Ho said that a number of mines wore ruined by unscientific methods of coal extraction and that a large percentage of coal was buried and lost because mine managers under tho present system we;:© compelled to show dividends as soon as 'possible. Re; gardfing AH'- Parry’s remarks about married miners leaving the coal-fields, Air. Semple said he was advising and helping them to get out and giva their wives and families a bettor chance in some other part of the country; Ho uiged the nationalisation of tho coal mines and State ownership of ships. The Labour Party was emphatically opposed to force—that belonged to the capitalists. Mr. Semple said he did not like strikes because he had been associated with so many, but ho pointed out their value in adjusting social wrongs. He finished a speech of an hour’s duration by quoting a verse of poetry. The audience applauded. In announcing that the speakers were ready to answer questions, the chairman inadvertently used the words “Both candidates.” Ho added that both of them would be in the House soon after Air. Alassey and Sir Joseph Ward returned, and an election was hold. The questions subsequently asked dealt with meat trusts, liquor and prohibtion, whether the releasing of 8000 conscientious objectors would relievo tho coal position, ownership of and conditions at certain mines, whether concsiontions objectors would not bo better in gaol than living under the conditions at Blackball, how it was the State mines had not paid (Air. Semple explained how they had paid). A vote of thanks to the speakers was passed, on the motion of Air. J. H. Lyons, seconded by Air. \V. Nash. 'The meeting dispersed after giving three hearty cheers for the Labour Party and one feeble “groan for Alassey.”