["That Whim Creek 'Famine'", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 29 October 1911, page 8]

That Whim Creek "Famine"--A Wholly imaginary Business

ACCORDING TO THE LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE COPPER COMPANY

From time to time during the past few months reports have appeared in the lending Perth papers referring to the condition of affairs at Whim Creek, the main support of which township is obtained through the Whim Well Copper Mines, Ltd., which employs the great bulk of the

residents. The latest report appeared in yesterday's "West Australian" in the shape of a telegram from Roebourne, in which it was stated that a famine was threatened at Whim Creek through the neglect of the head office to ship stores, and urging that the attention of the Colonial Secretary should be called to the matter so that steps could be taken to compel steamers to take cargo to Balla Balla. That statement caused a lot of irritation at the offices of Dalgety and Co. and John J. Horrocks and Co., Ltd., the Perth agents for the Whim Well Copper Mines, Ltd., where it is stated to be a pure fabrication.

Mr. W. P. Hall, the manager for John J. Horrocks and Co., Ltd., has taken up the pen on behalf of his company, and has asked us to publish the following reply to recent reports from Whim Creek, of which he considers yesterday's telegram from Roebourne was absolutely the limit:--

"A report has been published in Saturday's issue of the 'West Australian,' headed 'A Famine Threatened--No Supplies for Whim Creek,' in which it is stated that Messrs. Dalgety and Co. have notified us that the steamer Gorgon would not be carrying any cargo to Balla Balla for Whim Creek until after the wool season, and that other steamers of the same line would probably follow suit. We have to give this report the most emphatic contradiction, as no such notification has been received by us, and the 'West Australian's' correspondent has apparently drawn upon his imagination.

"In point of fact the Gorgon sailed for the North yesterday, carrying from 60 to 70 tons of cargo for Baila, and the only shortage we know of in the past has been chaff. The previous boats to the Gorgon were only able to take limited quantities of chaff, owing to the space not being available, but Messrs. Dalgety and Co. went out of their way. to oblige us in the matter of the Gorgon and took on board three tons of chaff and a quantity of oats, bran and compressed fodder, although we believe to do so they had to shut out more paying cargo. No general cargo for Balla Balla was shut out of the Gorgon, with the exception of a small quantity forwarded to the ship by suppliers too late to be got on board.

"We have previously had to complain with regard to erroneous information being sent to the papers from correspondents at Whim Creek and Roebourne in relation to district matters, and it appears to us that the object of this erroneous information is to discourage men from accepting employment in Whim Creek or district, so that a small section of the men already there may hold their positions in safety.

"Reports have been sent down from time to time that work on the Whim Well Copper Mines was only intermittent. This we must emphatically deny, and the mine advises us that any time lost by any of the men is the fault of the parties concerned, as a small minority seem to think that half a week's work is sufficient to keep them in affluence.

"It has also been reported that union officials are being dismissed. This is not correct, as we do not care whether a man is a unionist or not as long as he does the work for which he be paid; and if any man is dismissed from his employment it is because of drunkenness during the hours of his employment or inefficiency as a workman. The labor for the mine is engaged by the writer at this end, or by the secretary of the Chamber of Mines at Kalgoorlie, and when we are engaging labor we do not trouble to ask a man if he is a unionist or otherwise, our main concern being his efficiency as a workman and his character."

In conversation with a representative of "The Sunday Times," Mr. Hall drew altogether a different picture of the lot of the employee of the Whim Well Copper Mine to what has recently gained publicity. He maintained that the company had tried to reduce the cost of living of the employes; to provide them medical attendance, and and even to furnish them with fresh fish, but a misconstruction had been put on all these actions by the agitators among the men.

The company had stopped credit at the store because the men who paid were paying increased prices for those who did not, and someone in revenge had poisoned the water supply of the storekeeper and his wife by dropping a dead dog in his well.

They had encouraged a Chinaman to start a market garden, "so that the men could get a supply of fresh vegetables, with the result that the market garden had been pegged out as a mining area! He thought it only right, in view of the charges which had been made, that the public should hear a little of the company's side of the question.

As it is a plank in the policy of "The Sunday Times" that there are always two sides to a question, and we have published a lot of matter with regard to one of them, we have no hesitation in devoting a little space to allow the company to make public its version of affairs.