Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/740

 718 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL Next the railway hands employed on the wharf went out, rather than work with free labour, but volunteers were easily found to do the necessary shunting, &c. A word of praise is due here to the labour party for their orderliness. Speaking generally, I do not believe that a strike was ever conducted in such a friendly manner by both sides. Outrages on free labourers there were, and some bad ones; but the unionists as a body never countenanced them; indeed, after the first excitement was over the volunteer workers could and did go amongst and talk with the unionists without the slightest fear of molestation; even the non-unionist labourers had little to fear. The different feelings with which the volunteers and the non- unionists were regarded by the unionists, is well exemplified by the action of the men on board one of the New Zealand Shipping Company's steamers, who notified to their captain that they would handle coal put on board by volunteers but not that put on board by non-unionists. Of course strenuous efforts were made by the unionists to get the free labourers to join them, often successfully, but some of their attempts were productive of amusing results. In one case two burly fellows arrived in port and were immediately taken charge of by the unionist pickets, who spared neither time nor money in making their stay in port agreeable to them. At last the unionists broached the subject of their joining them, and were met with very flattering remarks as to unions in general and the pickets in particular, but they (their guests) did not see any particular advantage in joining a union then as they had just got a big bush falling contract in the North Island. From the first the coal difficulty was the most serious. The New Zealand coal fields are not yet sufficiently developed to supply the wants of the country, and large quantities are imported from Newcastle, New South Wales. This source of supply was of course cut off when the strike took place in Australia, and when our own troubles began, the miners in the New Zealand mines struck rather than supply vessels manned by non-union crews. The railway authorities and the gas companies had large stocks, but manufacturers and private individuals generally suffered severely, the manufacturers in most cases having to discharge their hands, which produced serious distress. For domestic purposes only very limited quantities of coal could be obtained at 5 a ton. The shipping companies made arrangements for shipments from Cardiff and Japan, but before these could come to hand, they