RANDOM SHOTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 129, 30 May 1908, Page 14

RANDOM

SHOTS.

BY ZAMIEL"

So tie strike is over. It -was about the best behaved and certainly the tamest function of the kind that I ever heard of, and I duly congratulate everybody concerned on that account. One Australian friend of mine, who had seen several little industrial disputes run their natural course in Sydney, told mc privately that lie was disgusted with the whole affiair. There was no blue metal, no barricades, no overturned tram cars, no running the gauntlet for blacklegs, and no "scrapping" for all and sundry to enjoy; and he expressed the strongest contempt for the pusillanimous eonductof everybody, from Messrs. Walkla-te and Eosser downward. Well, I can't say that I agree with. him. There may be a certain amount of fun to be got out of a free fight, but this was a long way beyond a joke, and I was nasxy glad that everybody treated it seriously. Possibly the gloom on the faces of the general public who were deprived of their ordinary means of locomotion helped to depress those inclined to levity, and to keep the unruly spirits in order. But, -whatever was the cause, there could be no doubt about the extremely genteel conduct of the despotic representative of tyrant Capitalism on the one hand and the sanguinary anarchists who stood for revolutionary Socialism on the other. ********** Now this shows you how very decent axid peaceful a " labour -war - " can be if only you treat it simply and as a matter of course. The only really menacing and ferocious act perpetrated by the strikers was the hanging out of a singularly disconsolate-looking red) flag. That was the one symbol that stood for the Beign of Terror that some people are always threatening us with in this couniry. By the way, I had almost iorgotten Mr. Eosssx's red tie; but then Mr. Kosser fe a J-P., and I never associate Mm in my mind with a barricade or a guillotine. AtiH it naturally occurs to one to ask 2 a lot of people can conduct a quarrel in so very placable and ladylike a fashion, why should they ever take the trouble to quarrel at all 2 The funniest thing I know about. this strike is the calmness with which Mr. WaJkiate and the Union, after asserting themselves irreconcilable, suddenly made up their - -minds that there was no reason why they ehould not refer the whole thing to a, Conciliation Board. Of course, there .was not, but then, there never had been any reason why they should not have Bone that from the start. -f *• y. .T. T w. -». t t -r. tTPTj'TTTTT I can't help saying a few words on behalf of the general public. Fortunately for us all, the strike started in bright, dry weather, so that at first everybody iwas inclined to take a tolerant view of (the situation. But when the rain came, I rather expected that there would be a. revulsion of popular feeling. There was ao question about it that the men had - —pafelic sympathy with them at first. Everybody thought .they /were f oolisii to go out on strike; but most people , agreed itha-t they had stated their case reasonably, and that they were only asking for what they thought was fair treatment. Wbis was in fine weather—would the rain make any difference, when thousands of people found that they were getting very wei two or three times a day, or all day, just to illustrate the tram conductors' views about the way in ■which they ought to be dismissed? Well, I <knrt think that it did make much difference. Of course the rain made everyIbody all the better pleased when the strike actually did stop. But the best thing I know about the whole trouble iwas the calm way in which, the people ipf Auckland treated it all. ********** Of- course, I am, not an electrical expert, cr I would not be writing Random Shots. iAnd perhaps that is why I can't help being rather perturbed in spirit about some remarks I have seen in the papers recently concerning the extraordinary effects that electricity sometimes produces on things with which it comes in contact Of course, as Miss Rosa Dartle used to cay, I only ask for information, but is it leally true that the electricity may get Qooss from our tramway rails or wires and eat ho|es in our gas-pipes and waterjpipes? And is it also true that if we use ■electricity for cranes, or any other purpose, on our new f erro-concrete wharves, i£ may find its way through cracks in the concrete and corrode the steel rods and break up the piles, and generally reduce our magnificent million and a-half pounds worth of harbour works to scrap iron and raud? It is rather a gloomy thought for a patriotic Aucklander to contemplate. T presume that in pur 'KeH-equipped municipal service, or among our well-paid Harbour Board staff, there is someone jable and -willing to inquire into the3e matters, and assure a trembling and apprehensive taxpayer that he is not casting his bread upon the waters in more senses than one. H so I trust that he will endeavour to restore my confidence AS quickly as he cam. ***MA-A"1-1-1-A correspondent who has omitted to sign his name has been good enough to take note of a "par" in which I drew atitention to the snobbery prevailing in gome circles at Home, as regards the "way in which the humbly-born and low-ly-circumstanced are expected to comport themselves toward their social superiors. Sly unknown informant apparently takes exception to my criticism of the good old English aititude toward "the people," and hastens to assure mc that "colonials" are every bit as bad. To illustrate this, he tells me —with certain vigorous embellishments that I omit—how he iheard an Auckland crowd cheer Sir Joseph Ward one day in Queen-street. iWell. why not? Does the man think that people would cheer Ward if he expected it or demanded it of th&m? To pay reepect to a. man for whom you feel reEpeei is not servile, nor is it snobbish to accept deference of that kind when it i 3 offered to you. I am sure of this, that if our worthy Premier went about assuming an air of arrogant superiority to ordinary folk, we would resent it at once, and lie -would pass through our Etreeia -without any sign of public respect or recognition. But Ward has too much cense to conduct tiinvu-if ]it e a snob, and as3»iajpens 40-be * man -who baa done ' g*** l «g"*? *<y %s cobntry, we dont ' ■'■'; ■■:.-■ ■ ■,:■■■• •-•■■■ v ", -~ ■■-■,