on immigration grew more effective the competition of coloured labour lost its edge.

The A.M.A. was the first big ambitious union in Australia. For a time it succeeded in merging all sorts of miners into one body, and in 1883 had a membership of 23,500. When Broken Hill was opened up in 1883-1885 the association succeeded in organizing the employees. there in face of black lists and boycotts of union leaders. At an early stage it realized the adhesive properties of friendly society benefits, and therefore took over an accident benefit scheme formerly worked by the employers, thus securing a strong lever to compel men to come into the union. The friendly society work grew in size, and undoubtedly tended to keep up the membership and lessen the opposition of the employers. On the other hand, it hampered the distinctly union work of the organization, since many members came to look on their union as a friendly society only, and opposed any strike lest it should deplete the provident fund. Like the "old unionism" of England, the association kept aloof from political action, and relied upon conciliation and collective bargaining. During the eighties conferences between the mine-owners and union representatives were frequent, and many disputes, especially concerning wages, were settled peacefully, both sides abiding loyally by the agreement.

Up to 1885 the miners were almost the only organized workers outside the capital towns. The steady growth of the capitals and the general atmosphere of prosperity from 1870 to 1885 were responsible for the rise of many metropolitan unions during the period. The Seamen's Union came into being in 1874; painters and decorators, plumbers, meat-workers, bootmakers, printers, railway workers, boilermakers, tanners, shipwrights, bakers, wharf labourers, etc., all were organized by 1885. In 1882 the tailoresses of Melbourne formed the first women's union in Australia, and by a strike in the same year revealed to the world that they had been working for fourteen to sixteen hours a day under the worst conditions of out-work for an average wage of 11/- a week. By 1885 there were about 100 unions in the continent, with an estimated membership of 50,000.

Inter-colonial Action. The isolation of the various colonies was still so great that there was little inter-colonial organization. The A.M.A. ideal of one union for miners in all the states had not been fully realized. The seamen worked with a large degree of unity, but in most other occupations there was a separate union for each craft in each state. Still, in spite of all craft prejudices and geographical obstacles, the seventies and eighties witnessed the growth of a sense of community of interests, at first local and later inter-state. The first Trades Council was formed in Melbourne as early as 1856, but did little until 1879. The Sydney Trades Council came into being in 1871, and the example was followed by the other states some years later. These councils focussed interest on certain central issues, and helped to create a sense of solidarity. From this to intercolonial action was a natural step; the first Australian conference of trade unions was held in Sydney in 1879, and was followed by similar meetings in 1884, 1885, 1886, 1888, 1889, and 1891. At these gatherings there was much discussion on labour legislation, such as factory acts, workmen's compensation, and uniform shipping laws. The immigration of Chinese was condemned, as was also the expenditure of public money on assisted immigration. The eight-hour day, the legalization of trade unions, cooperation, technical education, protection, 'one man one vote," payment

66

of members, all appeared on the agenda papers. But the most important feature of these meetings was the growing stress laid on the federation or amalgamation of kindred unions. At Brisbane in 1888 this matter was dealt with at great length. Some delegates favoured the formation of one big union, similar to the Knights of Labour. But this idea was too revolutionary for the bulk of the delegates, who favoured inter-colonial federations instead.

Through the successive conferences one notes the growth of a belief in the need for direct Labour representation in parliament. Most of the unions had followed the British precedent of leaving politics alone, but had expressed opinions on such proposals as affected the political or economic condition of the wage-earner. It was not until the Brisbane conference of 1888 that socialist doctrines were definitely put forth. At that meeting it became evident that socialist literature, the works of Henry George, and the writings of the Queensland journalist, William Lane, had gained many converts among the younger unionists, and the shadow of coming political activity was thrown ahead.

One vexed question of the period was the legal position of the unions. In the days before the coming of self-government unions were subject to British laws, and thus came under the provisions of the acts of 1824 and 1825, which had declared unionism to be not illegal. After self-government, however, nothing was done by the new parliaments to define more clearly the status of the unions, who were therefore still under these old acts. The position was intolerable, and the unions therefore demanded that the law should be revised so as to bring it abreast of later British legislation. South Australia was first to move, and in 1876 its Trade Union Act, based on the British Act of 1871, placed the unions of that state in the same position as the English societies. In the other colonies the same rights were granted sooner or later: the unionists of Victoria had to wait till 1884, those of Queensland till 1886, those of Tasmania till 1889, and those of West Australia till 1902. These acts were not passed without strong opposition, and in Victoria the Legislative Council strove hard to retain the "master and servant' attitude and the restraints on freedom of organization. Finally, however, legislation recognized the unions as legal bodies, capable, provided they had properly registered themselves, of holding property and suing defaulters in the law courts. In Australia, as in England, the legal position was doomed to be fogged on subsequent occasions.

Shearers' Unions. The unions already referred to covered industries in which the wage-earner might hope to find employment in one place all the year round. Under such conditions organization is fairly easy, since the workman has a settled home and a regular income. When we turn to the bush we encounter in shearing an occupation which is only seasonal, and which involves a great amount of travel from station to station. As the sheep industry grew larger it relied more and more upon securing a plentiful supply of workers for the shearing months. Many men, therefore, would work on the mines, in some metropolitan occupation, or on the land, for six months in the year, and then spend another six months in the shearing sheds of the backblocks. One might suppose that it would be impossible to organize such birds of passage into any permanent union; yet one of the strongest unions in Australia to-day-the Australian Workers' Union-was built or a foundation of shearers.

Organization amongst shearers began with an attempt to prevent conditions in that occupation from getting worse. The conditions of employment in shearing sheds were laid down in the agreement which each shearer had to sign before obtaining a "pen" on any station. There was every variety between extreme harshness and generosity in these conditions, for whilst some squatters were reasonable in their terms, others gave full play to miserliness and exploitation, and pushed the terms of the contract to a point which made the shearer little more than a temporary slave. Arbitrary and heavy fines were imposed for alleged bad workmanship or even bad language. Food often had to be bought at the station store, where prices were sometimes exorbitant. Sleeping and eating accommodation were usually primitive. The shearer's work was skilled and strenuous: it was performed in a hot atmosphere laden with foul smells; it entailed long journeys on foot or horse from shed to shed, and yet at the end of it all the shearer might find himself beaten by the penalizing terms of the agreement, with his earnings swallowed up in fines, deductions, and dear food.

Custom, however, makes men tolerate all manner of unpleasantness, and many early efforts to organize with a view to securing better conditions failed. But in 1886 nineteen pastoralists, in whose runs shearing began early in the season, announced that the piece-rate would be fixed at 17/6 a hundred sheep, with a 2/6 fine for faulty work. This was a reduction of half-a-crown on the rate previously paid by these men, and had the unexpected result of driving the shearers to organize. A number of Victorian miners who used to go shearing sought the assistance of Mr. W. G. Spence, the secretary of the A.M.A., and he at once threw himself into the new work of organizing the shearers. The Amalgamated Shearers' Union (A.S.U.) was formed, organizers were sent out, and within a year 9,000 members were enrolled. In the same year the Queensland shearers formed a union of their own, and the labourers and permanent station workers of the same state were organized a little later. In the southern states the A.S.U. organized the labourers in a separate body (1890), but this union was merged into the A.S.U. in 1894, when the name was changed to Australian Workers' Union (A.W.U.). Ten years later the Queensland union came into the southern body, thus forming one union for the whole continent. The policy of the shearers' organization was at first conciliatory. A standard union agreement was framed, and the officials endeavoured to persuade pastoralists, either individually or in conference, to accept this agreement. Some conferences took place; organizers interviewed squatters, and, failing to get their consent, tried to induce individual shearers to insist on the use of the union form of contract and join the union. There were some rebuffs, and many strikes; but on the whole the first three years were highly successful from the union's point of view. In 1887 500 sheds 66 "shore union," and the A.S.U. had 16,000 members. In 1889 2,400 sheds in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia worked under the union agreement. The shearing rates stood at about £1 per hundred, and the piece-rate generally was fixed by conference rather than by a strike.

The Growth of Conciliation. A study of Australian unionism during the eighties leaves one with the impression that the strike and lock-out were steadily becoming obsolete weapons, and that industrial disputes would soon be settled entirely by peaceful discussion. There were, of course, many strikes, some of which lasted for months. New unions might find it necessary to cease work in order to secure recognition, and old unions had

battles to fight. But conciliation was in the air, and the area of industry controlled by joint agreements between employers and employees was steadily extended.

Employers, employees, and onlookers began to study the working of conciliation boards in England, France, and elsewhere, and then urged that Australia might with advantage take to heart the lessons taught by experience in other lands. As early as 1882 Mr. Dibbs proposed to the Sydney Trades and Labour Council the establishment of a "Council of Wise Men'' to deal with disputes. This council was to consist of six representatives of each side, with an independent chairman. It was to meet once a month, and whenever a dispute arose. There was to be no stoppage of work pending discussion of the trouble, and the council's decision was to be accepted as final. The proposal, however, remained a proposal. In the following year a Victorian royal commission, which enquired into the conditions of employment in shops, decided in favour of the establishment of courts of conciliation. It placed its proposals before the trade unions and manufacturers, with satisfactory results, and finally urged the passage of an act to establish a permanent central conciliation body in Melbourne, with local bodies in the various industrial and commercial districts.

In 1884 the Steamship Owners' Association of Australasia, which represented the New South Wales and Queensland companies, met the Federated Seamen's Union in conference. An agreement was signed, fixing rates of wages, and establishing a board of conciliation to deal with all suggested alterations in wages, hours, duties, discipline, etc. The decision of the board was to be final, and accepted by both parties. The arrangement was repudiated by the owners in 1886 because the seamen refused to allow a dispute concerning work on Eight Hours Day to go before the board; but the two parties, nevertheless, met in conference again in 1886, 1888, and on the eve of the '90 strike.

The mine-owners and miners of Newcastle in 1888 agreed that all small disputes should be discussed by a representative of each side in the colliery affected, and that larger issues should be submitted to a referee appointed annually by the Chief Justice. The arrangement was fair and comprehensive, and like many other agreements of its kind worked well until the issue of the maritime trouble crashed in upon it. The Employers' Union and the Melbourne Trades Hall Council in 1887 agreed to form a Board of Conciliation to deal with all the industries represented by the two bodies, and the formation of a similar board in Sydney was discussed.

Meanwhile such unions as the A.M.A. and the A.S.U. were constantly in correspondence or conference with the employers. During the eighteen years prior to 1890 the A.M.A. had only 37 stoppages of work, of which 13 were to resist reductions in wages, and 13 due to some employer's refusal to recognize the union. Conciliation was the rule, strife very infrequent, and in 1886 a permanent conciliation board was established. Similarly the shearers made surprising strides in securing peaceful settlements. During the first three years of its existence the A.S.U. had 3,180 strikes, ranging in length from half-an-hour to eight weeks, at the various sheds of south-east Australia. But the union policy was to endeavour to get the squatters to discuss conditions, rules, etc., at least a year before putting the rules into force. This discussion might be between the union organizer and the individual pastoralist, or between the representatives of the union and those of

L

the squatters as a body. Between 1887 and the '90 strike nine proper conferences were held, at six of which definite decisions were reached.

The above facts indicate the trend of union methods right up to the eve of the strike. Agreements were made, and kept. Politicians strove to foster the conciliation spirit, and in Victoria and New South Wales bills were introduced to provide for the establishment of central and local boards of conciliation and arbitration under the wing of the government. The Sydney bill (1887) provided means by which a decision could, with the consent of the parties concerned, be made a ruling of the Supreme Court, and any violation punished by heavy fines. The Victorian measure intended to make any wilful refusal to obey awards a misdemeanour, punishable by fine or imprisonment.

Causes of Strife.

Then came the change, and in order to understand it we must first analyse the influences which predisposed capital and labour alike to risk conflict. In the first place, there arose a new belief in the value of strikes for getting what one wants. An eight days' strike at Broken Hill in 1889 was so successful that the mine managers not only consented to employ none but unionists, but also agreed to collect the dues for the union by deducting them from the men's earnings. This victory came just after the London dock strike; the stand made by the London dockers aroused intense enthusiasm amongst Australian workers generally; over £30,000 was cabled off to the London strike funds; and the victory of the ragged army of low-paid unskilled men made a deep impression on the minds of those who might be dissatisfied with the gains secured by conciliation.

Men

The strike seemed to be an effective weapon. But for what should this weapon be used? One answer to that question was to be found in the atmosphere of social reform or revolution pervading the country. everywhere were absorbing George, Morris, Bellamy, and snatches of Marx. They were seeing visions of a new heaven brought down to earth via the single tax or the social revolution. In the trade unions these new doctrines were widely held, and when men have become enamoured with the idea of the reconstruction of society they are well disposed towards a quarrel with the employer.

It was not, however, any high-falutin' talk of Utopia which provided the bone of contention between capital and labour. The trouble arose from disputes, not concerning wages, but centring on the acceptance by the employers of certain trade union principles. The A.S.U. declared that no unionist should shear alongside a non-member, and presented squatters with the alternatives of non-union or all-union labour. This demand for a union monopoly over the shearing sheds was a matter of principle, next in importance after " "recognition, ," and in this respect was on a very different plane from any demand for higher wages or better conditions. It was defended on the usual grounds that since the union had secured better terms for the shearer no man should enjoy those benefits unless he paid his share to maintain the union which had fought for them. Further, if non-unionists were employed in any large numbers, they might, by accepting lower rates, destroy the standard rate and conditions for which the union had striven.

To the squatter the demand for a boycott of non-union labour was a preposterous attempt to interfere with his right to employ whomsoever he chose. He, and 90 per cent. of his fellow-squatters in New South Wales, had swallowed the union and its rules, and in 1890 were going to "shear union.''