May 2018 Project Martha – Historical & Archaeological Background 38 increasing dissatisfaction with the 1894 Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, the Waihi Miners’ and Workers’ Union appealed to its members to allow deregistration. The union argued that arbitration procedures were too slow and that although the price of gold had risen wages had not been increased since 1901.137 Deregistration would allow the workers to conduct legal strikes and a majority vote for the scheme was secured in May 1911.138 However, in March 1912 a small group of Waihi engine-drivers formed a breakaway union which was registered under the Arbitration Act.139 The move prompted 1,000 members of the Waihi Miners’ and Workers’ Union to cease work in protest and Waihi was the scene of violent clashes throughout mid-1912 (Figure 28 to Figure 30).140 A halt was called in November and strikers were permitted to return to work. The event altered production levels at the Waihi Mines and the annual Inspector’s report for 1913 read: ‘Owing to the Federation of Labour refusing to allow its members to work with the Waihi Engine-drivers' Union, who had seceded from the Federation and formed a new union (subsequently registered under the Arbitration Act), for nearly six months following the 13th May mining operations were suspended at Waihi. The result, therefore, of operations during 1912 is no criterion of the capacity of the mines.’141 By 1913 the Waihi mines were fully operational and around this time a refinery building and strongroom (NZAA T13/314) were constructed at the Grand Junction Mine.142 Production at Grand Junction peaked in 1914 with 103,321 tons of quartz treated at a value of £227,637, and it was noted that the mine had ‘experienced a record year in every respect, the output, yield, average value, and dividends all being higher than during any previous year.’143 In early 1914 the Waihi Gold Mining Company’s new hydro-electric powerinstallation at Hora Hora, on the Waikato River, was brought into commission.144 Negotiations over the scheme had been ongoing since around 1910 and details of the plant appeared in the Wairarapa Daily Times in December 1913: ‘The new plant harnesses up the Hora Hora rapids to specially constructed dynamos, and the power thus obtained is transmitted about 50 miles by means of copper cables to the [Waihi] company's battery at Waikino, and thence to the mine at Waihi. The new power will be utilised at Waikino for driving all the machinery now driven by steam and gas power, embracing the whole of the crushing and treatment plants and tubemills. At the mine the hydro-electric power will be used 137 McAra 1988, p.258. 138 H.E. Holland. The Tragic Story of the Waihi Strike, Wellington, 1913, p.20. 139 McAra 1988, p.258; Mark Derby, 'Strikes and labour disputes - The 1912 and 1913 strikes', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/strikes-and-labour-disputes/page-5 (accessed 24 August 2017) 140 Ibid.; McAra 1988, p.259. 141 AJHR 1913 C-02, p.4. 142 R.H. Hooker. June 2010. Report on Earthworks monitoring of the Refinery Building Relocation, Waihi Grand Junction Mine, Waihi. Unpublished report prepared for Newmont Waihi Gold Ltd, p.3. Note: Both secondary and primary sources provide scant detail regarding the Grand Junction Refinery building and strongroom, although a number were consulted for this project. 143 AJHR 1915 C-02, p.21. 144 Ibid.; McAra 1988, pp.28 & 154.
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