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15ARRY RAIL WA Y.-TRAFFIC…

CADOXTON-BARRY HIBERNIA BENEFIT…

DETERMINED ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.

ROUND THE TOWNS.

BARRY AND CADOXTON YOUNG WALES…

SEAMEN'S WAGES QUESTION AT…

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SEAMEN'S WAGES QUESTION AT BARRY. On Monday last a guerilla war broke out at Barry and other ports in the Bristol Channel be- tween the seamen and their employers. The seamen, in several instances, refused to sign on at the wages offered by the captains. On Tuesday morning Mr. Will Sprow, thedistrict organiser, paid a visit to Barry Dock, and had an interview with the local secretary and the sailors and firemen, who are engaged in an agitation for a return to the old rates of wages. Mr. Sprow seemed satisfied with the determined movement on the part of the men, and towards noon left Barry for Newport. During Tuesday the captains of the steamers Cymbeline and Southgate shipped crews at advanced rates, varying from £ 4 5s. to £ 4 10s. per month. ihe advance in wages has also been experienced at Penarth, and, in one instance, at least, a crew was shipped at A:4 5s. and £ 4 10s. on Tuesday morning. With the view of avoiding unpleasantness at Barry, a crew of 13 men, supplied by the Cardiff Branch of the Shipping Federation, was early on Tuesd iy morning shipped from the pier-head by the tug Nelson to the steamer Hatiiersage, lying in Barry Roads. The men .were engaged for a Mediterranean passage at £ 4 and kL4 5s, for sea- men and firemen respectively. They were con- veyed direct to the vessel. There were no further developments regarding the seamen and their wages at Barry Dock on Tuesday afternoon and evening other than an expression of satisfaction on the part of officials of the Union, at the action of the owners of s.s. Cymbeline and the s.s. Southgate to grant the seamen andfiremen who signed articles at A:4 5s.and £ 4 10s. per month. Some excitement prevailed among the large number of men who had assembled during the day around the shipping office. The men seemed determined not to sign at the reduced rates. Mr. Will Sprow, the organising secretary, paid an early visit from Newport, and during a conversation which he had with a press representative, he said the whole of the eight vessels which were up for signing on the previous day had allowed their petty officers the Union rate of wages, viz., £5 10s. to £ 6 10s. He was very indignant at the report published in a contemporary that a strike would take place, and emphatically declared it was not the intention of the Union to force on a struggle of any description. He had in his possession, he said, balance sheets of about a hundred vessels belonging to ship- owners all over the United Kindgdom. During the depression in trade some time ago, and out of that number only one shipowner lost money. But its loss was not owing to depression in trade-but to accidents which the boat sustained during her voyages. Mr. Sprow is of opinion that struggles between employers and employed are things of the past, and remarked that it was time that a Conciliation or Wages Board should be established. Then, in the event of the shipowners not meeting fair demands from the men. he was in favour of a national strike, and not one promoted by a few ports. In conclusion, Mr. Sprow said the owners of the Cymbeline could very well afford to pay the proper wages, as she was chartered for twelve months, of which she had fully six months to ran, bofore she could lay claim to the rednced rates.

THE TRADES' COUNCIL AND THE…

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