TRANSPORT STRIKE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 192, 14 August 1911, Page 5

TRANSPORT STRIKE.

MAIN TROUBLE ENDED. COSTS £1,500000 IN A WEEK MANY SMALL STRIKES. UNREST IN PROVINCES. MILITARY RULE AT LIVERPOOL (By Cable.—Press (Received 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, August 13. General resumption of work is expected on Monday, although there are a number of misunderstandings regarding the precise terms of the agreement. The factories are re-opening Railway carters declare that the awards do not affect them. The carters of the five principal railway companies have struck. Great unrest prevails in other avoc»tions, and many small strikes are ill progress. Liverpool is virtually under military rule. Large quantities of provisions blocked at Edgehill station were released by the military. Hundreds of lorries, many driven by merchants themselves, escorted by Scots Greys and Warwickshires, obtained possession of produce. The strikers were quiet. The week's strike is roughly estimated to have cost London a million and a-half. A thousand window-cleaners have struck, and the situation at Manchester is grave. Eight thousand goods railwaymen ceased work, and 500 porters and cleaners struck to-day. The men have no particular grievance, but are acting in sympathy with Liverpool. The butchers are closing owing to the meat famine, while the cotton industry is seriously affected. At Glasgow the strikers detached trolley wires and smashed a number of cars. Twenty were arrested. A partial service is maintained by inspectors and other officials under police guard.

THE SETTLEMENT. GRAVE ANXIETIES ENDED. BIG X.OSSES TO FRANCE. LONDON. August 12. The strike in connection with the transport workers, which had begun to assume a very threatening aspeet, has ended. After a conference lasting 13 hours between the lightermen, the employers, and the Board of Trade, it was agreed to raise the wages, the increase averaging 12.5 per cent. This is the fifth strike that Mr. Askwith has settled within a week. The Strike Committee, in a manifesto, congratulates the men on their victory, and declares that the strike is at an end. The close of the strike has brought grave anxieties in connection with many industries to au end. The Port of London authority states that 193 ships are at the river docks, awaiting discharge. Many vessels had taken perishable cargoes back to the Continent before the announcement of the end of the dispute. The shortage of supplies at the Woolwich garrison had become acute, and the men were existing largely on bully beef. The horses had been placed on half rations.

It is stated by "Le Temps" that the French fruit and'vegetable exporters have lost £40,000 owing to the strike.

SITUATION AT UVIBPOOI. " SQUEEZING " THE EMPLOYERS { . LONDON, August IX The situation at Liverpool is described as "dangerous." The men appear to have lost all sense of discipline. The increased pay recently given to them has, it is stated, imbued them with the impression that the employers can be further squeezed. The stevedores, contrary to their leaders' advice, demand that eight men must work each hold of a vessel, regardless of the fact that to do so is often a physical impossibility. Fifty Liverpool shipowners have signed a letter stating that the officials of the DockeTs' Union have failed to persuade the men to observe the agreement recently made, and adding that it is impossible to work the port under the present chaotic conditions. They state that unless all sections of the men return to work before noon on Monday all the work at Liverpool and Birkenhead will cease. GLASGOW TEAM STRIKE. SERVICE SUSPENDED. (Received 12.55 p.m.) LONDON, August 13. The Glasgow tram service, which was being partially maintained by inspectors and other officials after the men had voted in favour of a strike, is now entirely suspended. HIGH COMMISSIONER'S CABLE. (By Telegraph.—Press Aasoc.ta.tlon.) WELLINGTON, this day. The High Commissioner, in the course of his weekly market cable, states: 'This week everything is at a standstill on account of the strike of the transport carrying trades. No ships were unloaded, and it was practically impossible to deliver from stores. Conditions improved yesterday. The strike has terminated, and work will be resumed on Monda/. Prices are irregular."