H.—ll

8

were not members of the union; the union unsuccessfully objected to the employment of the cooperative workers and then withdrew its members (numbering eighteen) from the mine ; during the stoppage of work by the latter, which extended over eighty working-days, 500 workers in another mine ceased work for a day to hold.a demonstration, which caused the co-operative party to discontinue their work for a period of six working-days. Police prosecutions for intimidation, &c., were unsuccessful, but an action taken by the Labour Department against the union under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act for instigating and abetting an unlawful strike resulted in a penalty of £15. Negotiations between the parties brought about a resumption upon terms which permitted the co-operative workers to complete their contract with the company. Coal-miners, Rapahoe (Greymouth).—In this case the miners ceased work to compel the management to reinstate four workers who had been dismissed on the ground of their lack of experience ; the company, which had. been dissatisfied with the rate of output, then declared that any resumption must be on a contract basis, and offered, if this was accepted, to re-engage the men dismissed ; the West Coast Miners' Council approved of this arrangement, but the men refused to accept it : when the strike had lasted for eighteen working-days work was resumed on the basis of the company's offer. Proceedings filed against the workers under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act for taking part in an unlawful strike were not proceeded with. Coal-miners, Blackball (West Coast). —The filed agreement under which the men worked gave the management the right to select men for vacancies, subject only to the restriction that competent ex-employees (members of the union) were to be given preference over other men ; the union objected to the engagement of an ex-employee who was a member of the union, but whose name did not appear on a waiting-list that was kept by the union, and demanded that a worker (who was a union official) be employed instead ; upon the management's refusal 207 miners ceased work, but after seven days they accepted the position and returned to work. Proceedings were instituted against the men for a breach of the strike provisions of the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, but were subsequently withdrawn. Coal-miners, ■Denniston (West Coast). —A proposal by the management to find a position as a trucker or on the coal for a worker whose services were no longer required as pumpman was taken exception to by the union, which claimed the right of nominating persons to fill vacancies offering : the agreement gave the management the right of selecting men for vacancies, subject only to the restriction that competent ex-employees (members of the union) were to be given preference over new men ; upon the management's refusal to give priority to the union's nominee 500 men ceased work, but resumed, after a three-days stoppage, upon terms offered by the management. Proceedings were instituted under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, but were later withdrawn. Coal-miners, Hikurangi (Whangarei).—Two miners employed at hewing coal at contract rates worked out the face that had been allotted to them in the periodical cavil, and were transferred to another portion of the same section of the mine—viz., No. 5 section ; on the same day two other contract workers who had completed a face in another section were transferred to No. 5 section to do certain shift-work (paid for at time rates) which was necessary to prepare a coal-seam for hewing ; the union demanded that the two miners first mentioned should be called on to do this shift-work, as it was in their section of the mine ; the management's refusal resulted in 160 miners ceasing work for eight days ; a conference took place between the mine directors and delegates from the union, and a settlement was effected by which the two workers to whom the work of preparing the seam had been given were replaced, not by the contract workers originally involved, but by two other shift-workers. The action of the men was a breach of the provisions of the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, but it was decided that no action should be taken. Coal-miners, Glen Afton (Waikato). —Two truckers demanded extra payment for working in a wet place, on the ground that it was provided for in the agreement, and on its being refused 270 men ceased work to compel the management to accede ; representatives of both parties viewed the place in dispute and failed to arrive at a settlement ; the matter was then referred to an umpire, who decided in favour of the company ; the cessation lasted for three working-days. Stonemasons, Auckland. —Fifteen workers were dismissed from their employment for refusing to use a surfacing-machine which, they contended, was of a type prohibited by the award. An action taken by the Department against the employer in the Magistrate's Court for a breach of the award was unsuccessful, and the Arbitration Court, on appeal, upheld this decision, stating that the use of the machine in dispute was permitted by the award. A new award was subsequently, however, made which included a provision for the proper safeguarding of such machines, and the men agreed to use them. The stoppage lasted 130 working-days. It will be noted that none of these disturbances related to the general question of wages or hours, but merely to other questions arising in the course of employment. Industbial Disturbances, Ist April, 1922, to 31st March, 1929. The following information respecting the industrial disturbances that have occurred in New Zealand during the past seven years will be of interest. In the figures given disturbances are excluded where there were no disputes with the employers (such as quarrels between the workers themselves, stop-work meetings, and the like) ; in other cases a disturbance extending simultaneously over several districts respecting the same matter has been counted as one disturbance only. Some of the disturbances consisted of refusals to work overtime without a cessation of work during ordinary hours —