Those whiskies had been put there by dockers who were desperate to win the favour of the man who gave them their daily bread.
One of the bases of the scheme was that all dockers in all ports should be treated alike.
I was one of those who were responsible for the great conflict in 1889, when the fight was for the dockers' tanner.
There has been a spate of newspaper articles criticising the payment to dockers of subsidies in the form of supplementary benefits.
The loans are for severance pay and for helping, by compensation payments, dockers who have to leave the industry.
The dockers are workers who have these fears that they will be oppressed.
What makes the dockers suspicious is that they are tired of being given assurances.
Whatever else one may think of the episode last summer when five dockers' shop stewards went to gaol, no one can claim—or can they?
