Longreach Letter June 22, 1895.

*THE WORKER*

BRISBANE, JUNE 22, 1895.

Our Longreach Letter.

ED. WORKER – Since I last wrote you Goodberry Hills and Evesham have started shearing . There is one matter in connection with Evesham which I wish to bring under the notice of the public as showing what high-handed proceedings managers of stations in this part try to enforce, viz, ; No man is allowed to go to the shearers' hut or woolshed unless he has a pass from the manager, and to get this men have to go four miles to the station. If the manager is not at home then the men have to wait his arrival. Even the men working at the shed must have a pass signed by the manager, each shearer having the number of his pen on the pass.

I am also informed that each carrier has to attend the station each morning and answer to his name.

Now I would like to know if managers of stations on Crown lands can stop men from going to see their friends or mates? If they can, it is about time that Queensland was proclaimed a penal colony as well as a kanaka colony.

From Albilbah I hear that men are being discharged daily, not by the manager but by the man over the board (who under the new agreement, is boss). I have been informed that the boss over the board has a few fights with the men-fair stand-up fights – in every case the shearer coming out best.

At Goodberry Hills, shearing is going on with verbal agreement, the men giving the owner a really good cut.

Retreat is also shearing under verbal agreement, and I am told the manager has a good lot of men.

The shearers at Retreat Station, hearing such a good account of the trade union shears, wired here for seven packages, which were sent along at once. I am sorry to say the Queensland agents for these shears will not have any more on hand for three or four weeks.

To give the public an idea of freedom of contract I may state that at Green Hills Station shearers were charged 2s per doz. for matches and 6s. 6d. per pound for tobacco, while the poorly-paid labourer was charged 3s. per dozen for matches and 7s. per lb. for tobacco.

I am pleased to inform you that the storekeepers in Longreach have agreed to close their stores on every Thursday evening, thus giving their employe's a half holiday. All the storekeepers have signed a guarantee to do this under a penalty of £10. In the case of any storekeeper breaking the agreement he forfeits £10 to the Longreach Hospital.

W. KEWLET, Sec. A.W.U. Longreach, June 7, 1895.

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As Others See Us.

The latest number of the Labour Leader, printed in Glasgow (Scot) describing the progress of the Labour Movement in Australia, says: “It was only in Queensland that the leaders recognised clearly the nature of the class struggle. They established a party independent of any other, and to-day that party comprises 25 per cent of the House of Representatives. It has annihilated the old Liberal opposition. It has caused every politician to be either for or against Labour. It is a solid party, a growing party, confronting boldly and hopefully the Ministerial majority of wobblers and trimmers, who feel that the future is not for them. The bushman of Queensland are the backbone of the Labour movement. The bush has been inundated with Socialist literature, and the men, who have no other means of passing their spare time, have swallowed it, digested it grown to lie it and long for more.”