Ben Tillett came to the West Coast. We organised meetings for him, and his eloquence stirred us to redoubled efforts. Webb was dismissed from Denniston for the part he played in organising Tillett’s meeting there. Pat came to Greymouth at the New Year, 1908, and he and I, together with a half-dozen others, secured employment at Blackball.
THE BLACKBALL STRIKE
Blackball was a mining centre that worked under conditions quite dissimilar to any other Coast colliery. One of the standing grievances was the time allowed for “crib” (meal-time) underground. In all other collieries the time was thirty minutes; in Blackball, fifteen. At the first Union meeting we attended the matter came up for discussion, and we carried a resolution to the effect that no member of the Union take less than thirty minutes. Arbitration was quoted to us. We jeered at it. What was our Union for? we wanted to know. We smote the Arbitrationists hip and thigh. We vanquished them. The Secretary was instructed to write the mining company, notifying it that on and after a certain date (what the time was I do not now remember, but it was short) all employees would take thirty minutes for “crib.”
We didn’t appoint any delegates to interview the management on the matter; we just sent our ultimatum along. The upshot was that on the day our regulation was to come into force the mine manager came into my working place whilst I was eating my lunch (my mate happened to be absent that day), and stood over me with his watch in his hand, and at the end of fifteen minutes said, in what, no doubt was intended for a tone of authority: “Hickey, you
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