The Tramway Trouble.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16403, 24 December 1918, Page 6

The Tramway Trouble.

There seems to-day to be a smaller ( chance than the public had hoped j there might be that a poaceful way i out of the tramways trouble might be i found through the Tramway Board's proposal to submit the question of wages and hours to the Arbitration Court and to refer the case of the dismissed motormen to the Appeal Board. The tramwaymen considered the Board's proposal yesterday, and de-! cided to demand that the dismissed mon bo reinstated forthwith; the ques- I tion of hours and wages was appar- j ently not considered. "We have never altered our View that, in the absence of special circumstances—and no special circumstances have been disclosed to the public—tho reinstatement of the dismissed men could be taken for granted. The Board did not give any definite undertaking on this point, but its offer of November 2nd certainly led tho Union and the public, as it led us, to suppose that the "favourable consideration" which was promised amounted to a guarantee of reinstatement. The Board is nevertheless quite within its rights in proposing that the Union should apply to the Appeal Board for a decision, and the proposal is in itself a reasonable one. If the cases of these men could be given "favourable consideration" by the Tramway Board, they would hardly be decided by the Appeal Board in a manner unsatisfactory to the Union. The' Union, however, has decided against this method of settlement, and apparently the decision is to be conveyed to the Board in the shape of an ultimatum. Since a tramway Btrike, an undesirable thing at any time, would be specially regrettable at this season, the question for sober citizens is whether a strike can bo averted without the sacrifice of any important principle. If the reason for the dismissal of the motormen was nothing more than that, in endeavouring to carry out the "go slow" policy, they infringed the running rules—if there were no special features in their conduct making it necessary to discriminate between them and their follows—the Board will sacrifice no more by reinstating them than it has,done by referring the question of hours and wages to the Arbitration Court. If such special features do oxißt, tho public will support the Board in whatever action it may •be necessary to take. ,