LABOUR UPHEAVAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11027, 16 March 1914, Page 1

LABOUR UPHEAVAL.

ECHO OF RECENT STRIKE. J BIG LOSS TO HARBOUR BOARD.j DISCUSSED BY CHAIRMAN. In his aunutil report the chairman of the Lytteitcm Harbour' Board refers in the following terms to the, recent stevedores' strike:— "Wo have just gone through one of the most strenuous times and the greatest labour upheaval in the history of tho dominion. Wo ha-vo. experienced one of the most far-renching strikes., with its failures and successes, and should endeavour* to profit by the experience wc have gained. Tho most determined attempt on the part of a few, who apparently thought they controlled all labour organisation).;, to hold up or stop the whole business of tho community, was only defeated after causing considerable loss to all parties concerned. No one will deny that those who earn their living by manual labour should be well paid, and should work under the best possible conditions, but that a few irresponsible men, who were the Executive of the Federation of Labour, should arrogate to themselves the power to stop the wheels of industry, no sane person would approve. The thanks of the community are due to the. loyal men who, many of them at considerable personal sacrifice and inconvenience, came forward at a most critical time in the history of the struggle to assist in maintaining law and order, and to enable our ports to bo kept open. No hard and fast rule or infallible remedy, can apparently be found for the settlement of trade disputes, only by careful investigation by fair-minded practical men into each case as it arises, does it appear -that real progress or a satisfactory • settlement can be made: therefore every in- ] ducemont should be held out' by em- | ployers and employed to arrive at a j mutual agreement, -which should be made as binding as possible on both sides, failing which probably all disputes should be controlled by a properly constitued authority not open to political or even local'government con-; trol. No one, however indirectly affected by a strike, can fail to realise the enormous loss to the worker, the employer, the business man, and the general public that a stoppage of tho business of the country must entail. This has been brought homo to us in a practical way during the last fewmonths.- 1 trust. that the lesson taught now that the atmosphere is once move clear, will enable us to have industrial peace for many, years. ■ The loss of business' and revenue to the port have been considerable, ' .- , > ' "Two conferences wore convened by the Prime. Minister to-discuss -the ernes-, tion of,the equalising of labour of the waterside workers. It was found prac T tically impossible to arrive' at any satisfactory solution of thq ■ difficulty, which must always obtain in working the different ports, mainly owing to the intermittent nature or the work, also to.some extent to the class of men who occasionally gravitate to the ports. Possibly if some schemo were adopted by which the -workers could 'be provided with homes ■ on small areas of land that they would ultimately make their own, and which they would cultivate when utot employed at the waterside, it might tend to getting a more permanent "and settled labour staff."-

WELLINGTON COMMENT. [Per Passu Association.] WELLINGTON. March 16. Beferring to the strike in his report at the i-nnnal jne;'ii;;;;of the Harbour Beard tn-dav. the 'chairman, Mr 11. Fletcher, said ■the -.rouble in h';s opinion was caused by obstinacy on ono side and stupidit.v on tho other, and the results were disastrous to all concerned, as strikes generally were. Though in a difficult and trying position it was his endeavour to hold the scale of justice evenly, and looking back lie had inward consciousness and satisfaction in- feeling that he had done his. duty as a..public representative... The Board's profit and loss statement showed a credit balance of £13,571 odd,i as against £10,814 odd last year, an increase of £2757 odd. The financial position was eminently satisfactory. An increase of earnings from £210,025 to £237,293 was shown, being an advance of £21,268. The goods inwards totalled -535,040 tons, as against 489,416 tons the previous year, an increase of 9.31 per cent, a record for the port. . . The total shipments of wools, skins, etc., including transhipments, amounted to 301,050' bales, as against 251,861' bales last year, an increase of 19.5 per cent. The coal handled in port was 543,862 tons, as against 502,499 tons in 1912, an increase of 9.22 per cent,