THE WATERSIDE TROUBLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 206, 28 August 1920, Page 12

THE WATERSIDE TROUBLE.

A BITTER EXPERIENCE. LABOUR UNREST. (By Telegraph.- Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, Friday. Tim suspension of transit, lighting, and heating services lias proved a very bitter experience to many of the residents in tli« city and suburbs. Minor forms of sickness are prevalent almost everywhere, the winter lias been a parti- ; cularly wet and cold one, not one home in a hundred lias any reserve stock of ] fuel, and every other trouble is aggra- i vated by the increased coat of the real necessaries of life. Blame is being heaped upon the waterside workers and upon the shipping companies, quite indiscriminately and frequently without much regurd to the merits of the position, but whatever may lie the other outcomes of the trouble, it is certain it will give additional point to the arguments of those people who would have the State take over the control of the waterfront. This matter was mentioned at the meeting of the Harbour Board on Wednesday, and the "idea of State control evidently had some supporters. It was obvious during the trouble on tlie waterfront that there were disturbing spirits at work among the men seeking to induce, them to renounce agreements and rely entirely upon the direct action advocated by the extreme sections of American and Australian Labour. That these fire-brands were not without some influence may be judged from the fact that the call for men for the Meikai Maru on Wednesday morninj failed. The executive of the Waterside Workers' Union, there is every reason to believe, was perfectly sincere iv its efforts to induce the men to keep faith with the employers, but it had neglected to take the rank and file into its full confidence, and in this way left them easy preys to the insinuating misrepresentations of the mischief makers. The employers may not have been blameless in their methods, but with right on their side they had the advantage which j commands success. J