3-088 (Text)

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The Attorney-General in opening the case pointed out to the jury that this was the first case of the kind which had occurred, and it was their duty to decide with strict impartiality between the employer and the employed. Mr. Parkes, he said, deserved great credit for the promptitude with which he had resisted this attempt at coercion. Nothing could be more injurious than that the practice of striking for wages should be suffered to grow into strength in this colony. It must be nipped in the bud. Combinations either of employers or of the employed to oppress the other class were equally illegal. ... Either class could meet and discuss the rate of remuneration with a view to future operations, but they could not interrupt or affect existing engagements. The defendants might have terminated their agreements by giving the term of notice (a fortnight) required by the custom of the trade, and they might have lawfully arranged not to reengage unless their demands for increased wages were complied with. But it could never be tolerated that any set of men, believing their employer to be in their power, should determine upon leaving their employment at once unless he at once succumbed to them. ... It was for the benefit of workmen themselves as well as of the masters that this system of striking should be nipped in the bud. It was quite impossible that the colony could continue to progress in industrial prosperity unless there was harmony and confidence between employers and employed.
Henry Parkes, proprietor and publisher of the Empire newspaper ... said he received on the 7th. January the following document from Cunningham (the father of the chapel) "Resolved that it is the unanimous opinion of this chapel that according to the recognised principles of the business, and according to the unanimous opinion of the members of the profession in this colony, we are justified in the demand (for more money for specialised work) now made, and that the refusal of payment is tantamount to instant dismissal. We therefore agree to accept it as such, and to discontinue working in this office until such time as our just demand is complied with." Witness caused the hands to be summoned by his overseer to meet him (witness) in his room. He there explained to them his willingness to withdraw the objectionable matter - the tabular form of setting up the land sales. He also pointed out that the amount involved was one of small importance, not more than 35s in upwards of one hundred pounds, and that he trusted wholly to the decision of his overseer. But he offered according to the principle laid down in Savage on printing