The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning Saturday, February 22, 1890. WOOLLEN MILLS DISPUTE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 420, 22 February 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning

Saturday, February 22, 1890. WOOLLEN MILLS DISPUTE.

Be just and fear not; Let all tho ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

The trouble between the Pitone Woollen Factory and its employees forms a curious subject for workmen to study, and affords a lesson the effect of which ought not to be lost in the future. Only the most bigoted Tory will attempt in these days to argue that Labor has not got a perfect right to combine to protect itself against Capital and the unlair competition of workers who are not scrupulous about the prosperity of their fellow men. The system of Trades I Unions has conferred many and lasting I benefits on the industrial classes, but I when it is abused and the industrial I classes themselves assume an arbitrary I and domineering tone, good results to I no one and a harmful effect is felt all! round. It is difficult to conceive what| grounds there are for the trouble which! has arisen between the Wellington) (Pitone) Woollen Company and its) employees. The Board of Directors appear to have acted in a very fair spirit. The instructions are that operatives shall be paid full rates of wages ruling in the woollen mills of the colony, and in some cases a higher price is paid to employees. The employees have provided for them an accident, sick, and

death fund, which is an admirable institution, and does not cost the employees a penny from their wages. In the event of sickness the men get £ x 6s Bd, the women £i, and boys or girls xosper'week; while if an adult employee (male orfemale) dies a sutn of /ibo each is paid to the heirs of deceased, and £~z> in the case of boys or girls. In Other respects the Companv has studied the comfort of its employees, such as assisting in the'institution of a free library for them. The Directors go so far as to say they will assist in the formation of a Union if it embraces the whole of the mills in New Zealand, but they very reasonably urge that if only a local Union is formed, at Pitone, and the Company is harassed in anyway, it will not l>c able to compete with the other mills in New Zealand. Of course it may be that in the dispute there are circumstances which do not apper on the surface, but judging the case as it presents itself to us we think the employeeshave made a grave mistake, and shown an ingratitude which has not even the hope of an improved position to justify it. The cause of labor will never be advanced by employees rushing with light hearts—and seemingly light heads—into troubles which they might easily steer clear of. MrT. Kennedy Macdonald, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, has addressed himself to the men, in a very straightforward and conciliatory tone, and after dealing with the details he finishes in this strain: — “In conclusion, let me say this—that the knowledge that such friction as has now arisen was ever possible between a minority of your number and the management is to me a matter of deep regret. I have given much time and care, and made many sacrifices in order to assist in placing the business of the company on a sound and permanent basis. In doing this I have been actuated by one ma. n thought whether it was not possible to build uj “ a model mill” and tc 1 establish a business which, while returning a fait percentage of interest upon the capita employed, would also give to you a

righteous share of the prot ts in the shape of wages, and in adclit on place bonuses at your disposal fc»r expenditure on matters connected wKh your personal advancement and. improvement. I had hoped as a re suit of this spirit, that each of you would, have felt that the bond between the co tnpany and yourselves was not the ordinary connection of labor and capital, but a true co-partner of the best and most enduring character. I refuse to believe that this cannot yet be accomplished, but to bring it about there must be absolute confidence on both sides. Ton must remember that in these days of excessive competition, not only with local traders, but with foreign manufacturers, the task of controlling the fortunes of a large manufacturing business so as to return a reasonable profit t<? all concerned, is no light one. Nope are more concerned than yourseh es in doing everything to assnre the permanency and success of the woollen industry in this district, for to you it means comfort and happiness in many ways. I have therefore the most complete reliance that upon reflection your Olaur common sense will convince you that the true interests of the company and your own must be now and at all times inseperable, and that you will at on ®® take such steps as will show to the world that you are abundantly capable of extricating yourselves from the fa.ise position into which some of you h *ve unhappily drifted.” Everyone v.'ho sympathises with the cause of the iod'iatrial classes will read Mr Macdonald's remarks with a feeling of pleasure, bujJ they appear to have had little weight with some of the more impetuous employees.