The Thames Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1901. THE GRIMSBY STRIKE.

Thames Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10068, 30 September 1901, Page 2

The Thames Star.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1901. THE GRIMSBY STRIKE.

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Of late references have been made in our cables to the strike .\c Oiimsby between the fishermen and the cwnTs of the trawling vessels. So much temper has been introduced ove/ the nmtters in dispute that riot* have taken place and men have' lost their lives. From English filet it appear the dispute came about by the ovrjpra asserting that if the working expenses were not reduced the fishing industry, upon which Grimsby largely lives, would cease to exist. They therefor*:, proposed to reduce the- engineerjwages, but to give each of them ai: interest in 'the working of the vessels in "ill© shape of a bonus, which would increase with, the profits, so that it would be to the interest of every mau to prevent the waste of stores and fuel that was going on. They stated they had no desire to break up the men's organisation, referring to the engineers of the trawlers, the fish emit a themselves having no organisation The engineers,, however, refused to accede to the proposed scheme, and as the boats came into harbour thi-y at once signed off, the Engineer*' Union giving them strike pay, and using measures to prevent men coming from other parts to take the plnces of the strikers. The result was that within a week or two there were 400 trawlers lying idle in the port, representing a capital of at least two millions sterling, and some 10,000 ni-jTi were out of work. At a very early stage of the dispute tne owners, iv conference with the men, offered to go •to arbitration, but the offer was iefused. The engineers themselves, wha held the keys of the situation, were, as we have said, in receipt of strike pay, and were therefore not so bad*y off, but the unfortunate fishermen, the unwilling victims of a quarrel ir. which they had no active part, were soon reduced to poverty, and had it not been for private charity and the efforts of local benevolent organisations the distress must have been more terrible than has actually been the case—and it has been very severe. Early last month, when the strike had been going on for four or five weeks, a thousand children were getting their one meal in the day in the shape of breakfast at a refuge; sometimes' one haddock was the day's food of a family of ten; and hundreds of homes were stripped of furniture t:> buy bread. . .