INDICATIONS OF STRIKE WEAKENING.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14822, 13 November 1913, Page 9

INDICATIONS OF STRIKE WEAKENING.

CONDITIONS AT PORTS RETURNING TO NORMAL SIX STRIKE LEADERS BEFORE THE COURT. SYMPATHISERS PROTEST AGAINST ARREST. SEVERAL SHIPS WORKED IN WELLINGTON AND AUCKLAND. PROBABLE OPENING OF LYTTELTON ON MONDAY. FERRY SERVICE MAINTAINED. QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENT: MR TREGEAR CENSURED.

POOR RESPONSE TO GENERAL STRIKE CALL.

Yesterday was ono of the least eventful and quietest days since the strike began. Another strike orator, charged with using seditious language, was arrested in Auckland. The five strike leaders arrested in Wellington wero brought before tho Magistrate's Court and romanded for a week, bail being refused. Various protests against their arrest have been issued by strike sympathisers. Work was continued on the Auckland and Wellington wharves, a number of steamers being successfully handled by members of tho new watersido unions. A new watersido union has been registered in Dunedin, and on tho whole tho conditions at the ports aro gradually returning to normal. The membership of the now Wellington union is reported to have reached 350. At Nelson the farmers took charge of the wharves and loaded their produce,- and a number of them intend to go to Wellington to attend to the business of unloading. At Lyttelton tho only matters to record were the arrival and departure of the Mapourika, which, with the.Pateeua, is maintaining the full ferry service. Liko the_ Patecna, tho Mapourika is manned by officers and men from other steamers. It is expected that a beginning will be mado on Monday to resume tho working of cargo in Lyttelton. The seamen's striko is now clearly- not general, the call from Wellington being disregarded by the crews of several vessels. Some of the Wellington onions have declined to assist the Federation of Labour. In Parliament various questions were asked concerning the striko, and Mr E. Tregear was sharply criticised for his insulting denunciations.of the farmers of Wellington province who came to the city to act as special constables. The indications generally point to a weakening of the strike.