Image TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage Tile
Image size: 5120x6656 Scale: 35% - PanoJS3
Page overview thumbnail

Article text

STATE PARLIAMENT.
LEGISLATIVE COUNOIL.
MW"lrES' RELIEF FUITi.
SYDNEY, Tuesday.
Sir FRANCES IUT1TDR, President of the
Loegislative Council, took the chair at
half-past four o'clock this afternoon.
:Mr. FLOWERS,, the ,Vico=Prosident of
the Executive Council, gave notice of his
intention to move for the eusecneion./o
the Standing'Orders to permit of the pass
ago of the University Amendment (No. 2'
Appropriation and Loan Bills through all
their stages at one sitting.
.Tihe Miners e Accident Relief (Amond-,
moet) i11 was 'further colsidcred:in conm
mittcs.
Postponed clause o9 as amended to pro
vide that-the manager of each mino should
keep l]hit of. the persons employed in or.
about the mine from week to week, who'
thor such persons were employed directly
orbhy contractor, such lists to be open for
insoection at all. r'eaOCablo times by,
ollccrs.authorised in 'writing by the board.
Thoe penalty for non-comlianco was fIled
at not cxceeding.£10.
Mr. FLOWERS said thats~ome managers
did 'not care to producothe paysheots, and
the amendment would enable them to pro
dico. the lists when lawfully demanded.
C?lauseo 15 provided for an amendment
ofi the principal Actand. any Act amoend
ing it, authorilsng the,..norcaso of the,
wooldr allowance in respect- of a 'bhild
from. s Id to os per weeI.
Mr. FARLfIGH said' they. should be
careful that the solvency of tho'fund Was:
not affected. At: present the children who
were boeNleloaries under the fund received
a ,total of over £22,000 per year. Tilo'
clause as now drafted would increase the
total by .3500. There was no provision
for' increasng the .contributions, 'aud he
contended that the solvency of the fund
would be affected.
The VICE-PRESIDENT admitted that at
the outside the extra cost would not ox
coed £4000. The Government was pre
pared to take a little risk. If there was
a little ohortago.in the fund as a" result
of,the operations of the clause the Go
vernment would come down wlth;'a pro
posal to ask the contributors to make an
additional contribution. He did not think
there wofil he any objection to that.
The increase should .bo given In view of
the increased cost of living. The pro
sent rate was altogether inadequata. The
Government wotild accept the full reopen
rlhbllity, in regard to the fund. " They
Wero all proud of the measure as a logis
lative,,onactment, and , the Government
wouldnot allow it to become insolvent.
The clause was agreed to.
The bill was taken through committee,
and the third reading flxod for the fol
lowing day.
.EIGHT HOURS IN COAL MINES.
The .VICE-PRESIDENT moved the soo
ond reading of the Coale Mines -Eight
HouraBill. Hoe said that a measure' of
this description had been before the
Council proviously, and he did not know
what the probabilities t -success this
time were likely to be., The bill had been
very urgently asked for by those who
were mostly concerned-the miners them-
solves, Those principally concerned were
paid in accordance with: the work they
actually performed, and they know that
theior, earnings would he less under a bill
of this charactor,
Mr. ASHTON: Does theo hon member
intend' to provide that there be no ins
crease in:the howing rate? '
Mr. KATER : Will you accept 'a.provi
elon to that effect ' .
.:The VICE-PRESIDENT:. They willklook
after; the howing" rato themselves.
(tLaughter.) I do not thlnktheo Houso
need. trouble about that sort 'of 'thing.
oHe said' the eight-hours' day had "beon
fixod, from bank to bank.' Theb 'questloen
ofdeighlit hodrs had gone beybnd the argu-.
mentative stage; The House could .very
well pass. the bill, booause it was not go
ing to. inflict any very greoat hardship
upon the employers, The greatest arg?t-,
ment in favour of the measure was -'that'
it'was asked for by the mraicrs-men who
would lose by it.' . At the present time
about 1800 lads were compelled to' work
nine, or ton hours a day. . That was too
long, and if. the bill did nothinI' else, it
would ensure that theso lads would not
be' kept' underground for more than eoght
hours,
'Mr. PILCI.IER:Thie good 'mners do not
want th' bill more than you do, '
'rhe ,VIO?-PRESIDIN'T: I do not 'know
thlit there are any bad minors.
''Mr... GA.RLAND:: What . about; Peter
Bowling'.' (tLaughter)
The VICE-PRESIDENT: I never 'op
posed him, eOopt as a member of your
party, and because he was a member of
your party he deserved to he opposed.
(Laughter,) The miners aroSnn excellent
body of men, and it they are prepared to
pay the' cost, why should we not' glvo'
them eight houra I
'Mr. G.ARLAND said tho Vice-presldent
had treated the matter in a light and
airy manner, and had given them no do:
tails as to what was likely to 'be toe
affect upon the community of this radita
tion in the working hours of minors, In
one mine tnmt he klnow on' the . South
Coast tie nctual working elourse were
six. If this measuro .were passed, tlo
hours thore would be reduced to five ori
ive,and a half. It wps a very much more
serious thing for the persons engaget in
anal mines that the Vice-president seeoom
od to Uink. The bill would render too
worldng of a number of mines unprolt
able, and the pereons who inveoted their
money' in these mines would suffer the
loss of their capital, and the miners who
had been'thrown out of employment
would .also uffor. When they had 'an
arbitration tribunal to deal with those
matters, why should the Legislature stop
in and make an exception in the caso~af
a'soutlon of nmen simply' on ex parto
statements, regardless of what the con
aequelnceso might be? It would be tntatir
to do so, lie quoted the case of ''a
mine which put out 1200 tons per day
under present conditions, and said that
if this bill was passed the output would
be reduced by 215 ton., The Inevitable
reollt of the panaage of the hill 'voild be
an Inorenso in the cost of productlon, Il
calculated tlmt the inorease wolld amonitt
to 1s 2d per ton. The oarnings of Ie.
minero would lie reduced by abollt Ia 114
ero tontl: Did anyone belleve that the
mninere would tuffer the reduetion? Why,
at thoe prooent time the cry was that the
cost of Iving did not. oentblo the minors
to' live on thei'r liroeanlt wages. It was
perfectly man?fest that. the mlnera oltlld
dlemand an Inorenaoe. It might he' oolp
tended' that the extra cost coulld he psae
ed on to tho publio. Ito thlight the p'b4l
lie were tIst about beginning to be tired
lit Iniu'oead cot babho pasiod' ont to
them. The trade or Nwowncltlo Was with
foreoln mnarllktl, hvteoro they were III
compoltlioll with the rent of the world, iid
in' that eiaeo' it wolul be imponslleo to
pas the cost on, 'Tlo realsll seoulld io
that thny wotll lose their foreolgn tralolte
ltr, ,1AR1' atid t wat Utololoos to (10i d
ntRild ollunito for the. workoer whiht ti.he
indetary eouhl noatL taiid. ' Thal w?ts where
tile bill failed. Nothing wolhld give hin
groote'.plenelre thnl to be aile to coe
liellntlounly vote rot' 'lioe bill,' In tllo
iolilorlec with whlich ie wa conlllielteod,
oleght houra flrom iank i b ianlit la ba)1ol
long concoied, btlt olle mine itllForodl fi'lom
nllot'her, jusilt as o0 0lIlli dlffeiorld Iroi
another, mlid whnlat oolld rliil'ly hie Irnlle
tod i oIIne cnsoo wo really imllolHlible In
lanotll'r, lu polillteod ot thalt lIhoe Reoli
ratl inallge'r oit tile Sollllln Collliry hld
Inforlnd,11 him ihet tile mineors there wevr
lliel aii i half houri ii tOi mlie, llalf
lul i1?'lr wall oeullll?cd i dtillOnlllIII , beltI
Iil hollur oll, loicih, 1lll hl slf t ill 1orl 11' In
iie-.'Olidiilg, 0l'i ni g 1hol l to worhk eltht
holrnl, II ino homl nrn trot lll11k to lbtlllk
wviH colleuoded, Ithey woltld olily worlk Rl
and ia hal t ltourn on thie coa'l. T'hat wouldl
eI'dnelllo tlhe olllptlt by 223 innll ier day,
A. Lhlt wollh I'oitlh'o the Hnle llum llllllor
lof hIllad?l , tile illorulletd oalt, wollil hle
5rieml l111' ?te , 'inh necxt. Lhlid woltld lhe
the I'odllilnO or the lllllllIr' vleagoel, Al
ilrr·c llt l li , nllllor crno d Ith 711 per dlly
for working light hloulfrn oi the 00111, .,t
httt. hill was carried Ihe woutl earn 1:i
rl per dllay, or s 11 e less Illan at pror
eUti Thoese ,ondiltlmu applied to all thni
tons per annum. He was assured, and be
accepted the asusrance of the general
manaesr of the Seqbaml Company, because
he was competent to judge, that the only
result of the passage of this hill would be
tile closing of his colliery, and that would
apply to almost all of the other col
lieries working the Borohole seam. The
cost to the Scahum Colliery would be
£15,000 per annum, and it would bo cosm
peolled to close. The closing of the Bpro
hole collieries would be a result 'not at
all contemplated by the Government.
Would it be able to find employment for
the 6000 miners who would be thrown
out of work? He th(ugfat not. It would
he impossible for the collieries to In
ereean the price to recoup thomeolves.
VWas It reasonable to believe
Ibat the uiners would sub
mit to a reduction of 2s lid per day?
If those collieries were elosod down, the
Government would lose a royalty of
£10,000, and traction amounting to
£500,000 per annum, but more than that,
there would be the great loss the port
of Newcastle would sustain; Newcastle
was the dlxsth or seventh port ito
the world,'and it owed its position .very,
largely to its foreign trade in coal. This
trade was threatened by the hill before
the House. lie pointed out' that a very
large proportion of the 6,000,000 tons pro
duced at the Borehole collieries. was
taken away by vessels to foreign markets.
In conclusion, he said that no reasons
had been given why the bill should be
passed. He thought the facts he had given
,to the House were suficient to cause 1
to rejoct tils measure, -
rDr. BEESTON said he was In fairly clo?e
touch with the mining community, a',.d
the general impression among them was
that they would like the !Eight' HolIts'
Bill, but they were under tho impression
that it was :totally impracticable at: the
Alberdare and Aberdare Extended 'ml nose.
On the Maitland coaltlld,a,tbo mlnery,,. on
their own inltativo. iore working ? nine
hours a day. This showed that all ltfdners
were not in favour of eight hours.; There
was a danger that it mitners' worc 'com
polled to got their coal out ilf 'such
'short hours, they were ofJt. go
ing :to be as careful in regard
to the conditions under which th.ey- work
ed, and to protect themselves' in, the
direoation of reducing the dangerous cle
ment of mining, 'Ho pointed out. that
since the passing of the Act' conceding
eight hours in England, thene h-ad .bon
an increase In the number ee aecidentsa
If the bill happened to pass, deputies
should be excluded from its operations ..
After further discussiona the second
reading was negatived by 2r votes to 4,
the divlison being as 'followe-
For the Bill: Messrs. Plowors, Hall,
Travers, and Sinclair,
SAgainst: Messrs. MacI;aurln, Beeston,
Mackay, Garland, Kator, PIrhor, Robertsi,
Dangar, Fosbery, J. A. Brown, Roberts.
Gulleti, 'Ashton, earp, Burns, Hurley.
Wlneheombo,. Dick, ltarlligh, Kethol,
Hughes, Moses, and HilL .
The University Amendment Bill (No.
2)" was receivod from the Legislative 'As:
somhly, and read a flrse: time..;.,
The Liquor' (Local Option) Amendment
Bill was reoad a second time .and taken
through committee.
•The third reading was fixed for next
day.,
The Wentworth Park Validation `ill
was read a 'second, time, and taken'
through committee.i"
: The third reading was fixed for,-noxt
day., ' '
The House adjourned at.. ten minutes
past. nine,
$