GENERAL STRIKE CONTINUES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 276, 19 November 1913, Page 5

GENERAL STRIKE CONTINUES.

iORE AUCKLAND MEN RETURNING. BUT UNIONS REMAIN FIRM. TIMBER MILLS RESUME ON FRIDAY. DISTURBANCE AT WELLINGTON. MOB CHARGED BY MOUJTED POLICE.

There is little change to record in regard to tJie general strike in Auckland. Each morning , witnesses 1 the return of a few more repentant strikers to their ordinary avocations, 'but the numbers are not sufficiently large to warrant any hope of the strike coming to an end for some time yet. There are those who declare, amongst the employers, that the men "will come with a run," but that belief ie not shared by the strike leaders. And so the position is much the came as it lias been for the past w-eek, and the strike resolves itself mto a struggle to see who will last the longest. The men reassert their belief that they can quite easily hold out till Christmas, and believe that rather than spoil the Exhibition, and ruin the retail Christmas trade of the small shopkeepers, the employers will offer to meet them and discuss the terms of a settlement. There wae a somewhat serious disturbance in Wellington this morning, when a. crowd of two or , 'three thousand strikers and sympathisers declined to disperse, and were charged by police and ■vpecul constables with batons drawn. Work on the waterfront proceeds most briskly, and to-day there are no less than twelve large steamers,, in addition to the coastal fleet and smaller vessels, being worked at the various, wharves, including Chelsea. The whole of the available berthage space is now occupied, and the port authorities announce that it will not be possible to consider the berthing of any further vessel, until those at

present being worked are cleared. The Hobson Street wharf is still reserved for the ferry trafficThe position so far as the attitude of the General Strike Committee is concerned is quite unaltered- The committee keeps in itou'eh with fifteen unions and three unattached b'odtee of workers, and claims to have information which justifies them in stating that the' "unionists' , are as determined ac ever to see the strike through. Employers in various branches of trade report that employees are steadily returning. The associated carters hay« fully ISO wagons and lorries in use to-day, one firm alone haying 46. This me.an>> tJia t about 90 regular carters have gone back. Work in connection with the Exhibition is proceeding apace, 300 men being employed by the executive and stallholders, besides a staff of 30 or 40 in "Wonderland Paric." The master builders have not restarted operations, though it is probable that they will do co if the 6awmills get under way, as expected on Friday, a,nd prodding also that facilities for the carting of materials are sufficient to guarantee adequate supplies. The plasterers engaged on city work have returned with permission to'resume wiork, and numerous other tradesmen are engaged on suburban work.