Colliers' Work.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14141, 26 February 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

Colliers' Work.

NEWCASTLE AND NEW ZEALAND,

The announcement of the claims of the men employed in the Newcastle collieries regarding the rates of pay for hewing and other . mine-work invites some form of comparison with the conditions obtaining here in the, principal colliery centres. The men ask that the selling price of coal shall regulate the wages in all seams in the Newcastle and Maitland districts. When the selling price is 9s, the hewing rate will, be 3s lOd. With every shilling rise'in price there shall'be an advance of fourpehce in the hewing rate. On the West Coast of New Zealand the irate is much lower, ranging from 2s 4d to 2s lOd "for men working in hords, according to thickness of seam and difficulty in getting. On the other hand, miners here are paid for all coal obtained", whereas the . Newcastle rates are only for round coal that is.screened coal over a certain size—such as passes over a threequarter-inch niesh. as sought by the inen. Newcastle coal is much harder, than New Zealand coal,' which is somewhat friable and soft. It is the custom' in mines in the Old Country to pay round coal. Rates in New Zealand, vary according to whether the men are working in solid coal or at pillars. With regard, to the sliding scale, the advances demanded were very con- ; siderable. Under the old scheme, the advance was only Id per Is rise, in- , stead of 4d in the Is, as demanded now. Thus witli coal at lis, the prevailing market .rate of last year for ; Newcastle coal, the hewing rate would be 4s 6d per ton, or over 40 per cent, of the market price. This is a very much greater proportion than obtains in New Zealand.

A claim of the Newcastle miners is'that it shall l>e optional to do shift work. In most mines on the West Coast this is left to the discretion of the manager. The rate of pay for shift work is lis a shift. Another claim is that night shiftmen shall bo paid 6d extra per ton. Here they are paid the same rates as in the day. The Newcastle miners ask that'only one shift shall be worked during the twenty-four hours for the purpose of drawing coal. Here the coal is drawn throughout both shifts. The eight hours bank-to-bank, claimed by the Newcastle men, already obtains here. Extra pay is given in some mines for working in wet places. The opinion of ■ "Tho Post's" informant was that, generally, the claims represented a very considerable advance on previous conditions.