The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1908. THE STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 149, 18 March 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1908. THE STRIKE.

■: — o . . ■■■. The present situation i in respect of the Blackball strike, lias its ■ eldmeny of pathos and ignominy. "Comrade" Eitzgerald, furiously... shouting,out the old .incantations that are /losing .tlieir power to charm and to excite, and the delegates' .who, beginning ■. their mission of/setting, the heather alight, are finding the heather damp and incombustible—these '■ misguided ' men are pathetic figures. Tlieir hopes of; a glorious \ • martyrdom must .now be changing into a fear of being, treated as ;common;■ nuisances. • There .are signs already thai the workers, even' within the area of infection, are disgusted at ,'the, tactics of their Black-! ball friends, and have no intention of' behaving, foolishly . because; other people -have been led'into doing so. The voting ; upon the proposition to continue the strike shows that, many of the Blackball miners—most of them, in all probability—would be glad. to be earning money again for their wives arid children; and to them, as the . victims of , Trades-Union tyranny'; and-' Socialist misehiefrmakingy we have no .hesitation: in extending our. sincfere 'sympathy. There appears ,to be no means of punishing the Union for continuing the strike, nor of bringing to account the agitators who have been urging the men •to obduracy in error subsequent to the judgment of the Arbitration Court. .. Ministers maintain a quite remarkable silence, and they have evidently made up their minds that they can escape from their undignified position' by sheer force of doing nothing. They hope' that' the • strike will end, and that time will demonstrate that the best friend of the opportunist politician is the shortness of the public memory. They look forward,' no doubt, to the time _'when they will once again recover their speech, and refer to the ■ Arbitration' Act and their administration of it as having been triumphantly successful at all times' and on all, occasions. ' As long ago as March 3 we pointed out that persons and bodies all over the Dominion had flagrantly broken Section 15 of the Amendment Act of ,1905 by aiding and abetting a strike. The Dunedin "Star" re-discovered this plain fact several days later. " Yet the Government has so far declined to prosecute the offenders, and seems determined to condone these serious offences. No other, conclusion can be drawn from its grave breach of the. trust reposed in it than that it is fearful of offending Labour, and that it regards the political'support of the Trades Unionists ' in the general elections as. of higher importance • than its own credit or than the principles of justice.

: The Blackball trouble has been so fruitful in lessons upon the weaknesses of the. Act that it is clear that if the Act is to. be repaired, and not abandoned altogether, it will require such amendment' as will entirely alter" its appearance. Of these lessonß the most important bears upon tte necessity, for preventing tie en-

couragement of strikers in tlieir obduracy, after, as well as before, such decision respecting the main issue as the Court may' be allowed to deliver. The people who are encouraging the unfortunate miners in their obstinate folly are plainly committing an offence against public opinion in the present cqse, and an oifencc Against the social utilities wljich should, be taken account of in industrial legislation. We cannot profess much confidence that the Government will introduce any amending legislation next session, whatever may be done in the j'ear 1909. Labour's memory is -not short, however, and the Government knows it. It is rather disquieting, therefore, to, reflect-that the Government's future policy will be bent towards the placating of the Trades Unions. In default of any sign from Ministers that the law : is to be upheld, we are forced to conclude that the Government, even in face;of the breakdown of the Arbitration Act,; to maintain its attitude of dishonourable acquiescence in the affront to law and order.