The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1926. CLOSE OF THE STRIKE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 112, 13 May 1926, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1926. CLOSE OF THE STRIKE.

For the cause that lack* assistance, For the u>rong that need* resistance, For the future in the distance. And the good that we can do.

The end of the general strike has come more speedily than most people anticipated. But in spite of the suddenness of this anti-climax, it' was hardly to be expected that such a far-reaching and ambitious attempt to paralyse the nation's industrial and economic energies could be maintained for long. Even a sectional strike may make the life of the nation for the time being intolerable. But the general strike, depriving the masses at once of employment, wages and the means of subsistence simply means suicide in the long run- and it 3 failure was therefore from the outset predestined and inevitable.

It is well to remember, however, that the general strike cannot be regarded like the sectional strike as a casual incident of industrial warfare. Any attempt on the part of a minority to dictate to the nation the conditions on which it 6hall be permitted to exist is of necessity an infringement of constitutional rights and an encroachment on the liberties of the people. It is not necessary to , assume that any of the Labour leaders responsible for the strike ever contemplated anything in the nature of a violent revolution. It i 3 sufficient to say that the general strike from its very nature is of necessity an attack upon constitutional government; and as such the people have judged and condemned it.

The terms of the settlement appear to have been drafted so as to avoid any reference to the conditions hitherto put forward by the Government or -the Trades Union Council as a necessary preliminary to "a renewal of negotiations. .Without worrying over the lock-out notifies or the "overt acts" which broke up.--the - last conference, Sir Herbert Samuel has . put . forward a series of suggestions which, while they do not make any .exaggerated..concessions, at least provide fof men and employers alike a reasonable basis for further discussion. A temporary renewal of the subsidy, the creation of a Mining Wages; Board,' the assurance that there shalUbe no revision of wages unless the Coal Commission's plans for the reorganisation of the 'industry' arc adopted: These arc terms which evidently commended themselves to the common-sense of both iides and their sense of justice as well.

Accordingly, negotiations are to be renewed on this basis; and so the first important step has been taken on the road toward industrial peace. It is not to be assumed that no further difficulties will be met, or that all grounds for divergence-of opinions will automatically smooth themselves away. But the tone which Mr. Baldwin has adopted throughout .the controversy, and especially the spirit of bi_ address to the House of Commons when announcing the close of- the. strike, -justify tha belief that the Government Is prepaYed to deal sympathetically and generously with the workers, to let the memories of this unfortunate episode sink quickly into oblivion, and to do its utmost to provide some adequate redress for the undoubted of the miners.