The Dominion. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1908. ANOTHER STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 204, 22 May 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1908. ANOTHER STRIKE.

The public .will'not bo surprised today to learn that the trouble between the Auckland ; Tramway Company and its employees has culminated in. a general stfike of the men. A few years ago, when to question the Claim of'the Arbitration Act to all the virtues attributed to it was to invite a volley of abuse from its supporters, no one expected that the newspapers would ever be devoting more space to the chronicling of strikes than to any other class' of events. Wft are all able to take strikes calmly,now: they have become,. under the favourable maladministration of. ; the Arbitration Act, a settled condition of our industrial life. There are no unusual features in the strike of the "Auckland tramway men, and the issues before the public are perfectly simple. The duty of the Minister for Labour is quite as plain as it has-been in al! the recent eases in which the Gov-ernment-has shirked its responsibilities. Certain comments upon the strike have already appeared, which may lead the public into believing that its critical attention is required by the merits and demerits of the case of the Company .and the case of tho men. So far as the" Government is concerned, the grievances and quarrellings antecedent to the strike are of no consequence, as th6y arc quite irrelevant to; the Arbitration Act, which, after an award has been made, is concerned only in discovering whether or not its commands or the commands of its Court have ..been disobeyed. So far as the public is concerned, the unfortunate affair is nothing moro than a wilful and deliberate breaoh of award, an illegal act, and tc> it as requiring consideration from any other point of view is to damage by bo much the important ppnciplo involved. The men, of course, make no attempt to disguise their action, although, with how much justieo we cannot say, they warmly defend their resentment of tho treatment accorded to them by thp Company. ■ The occurrence well illustrates the vital difference between tho Canadian and New Zealand methods * of dealing with industrial disturbances. In this country the Arbitration Act declaros that it will lay down rules, through its Court, for tho equitable settlement of the mutual obligations of parties to a disputo, and, having done so, it proceeds on tho assumption that any rebellion against its injunctions is per se an attempt to overreach justice as embodied in the Court's awards, and its Otfn provisions. It matters nothing to the Aot whether or not, in the quarrel antecedent to the strike, the men hare a case that appeals to tha unofficial Sympathy of the public. The Act undertakes, to prevent or to settle by its own might the strikes that' in the 'days boforis the Act were often settled by the public's views upon tho merits of the

dispute. The Act, that is to say, has taken upon its shoulders the work that used to be left in a largo measure to public opinion. Having .elected to come under the Act, and obtain the benefits Promised by it, the Auckland TramUnion automatically surrendered its right to ask for public sympathy in its rebellion. In Canada, on the other hand, the only measure of compulsion is a statutory obligation upon the disputants to refrain from warfare until the public has been presented with a complete and impartial judgment upon the merits of the case. Having delivered its judgment, the Court is fundus officio, and no further restraint is left upon the right to strike or to lock out. Public opinion is left to settle the trouble. In a former discussion of the Canadian law, we remarked upon tho wisdom that did not attempt the impossible, and we have since then been given abundant reason to renew our ' compliment. In Canada, at any rate, the public, is spared the humiliating spectacle, now become so common in New Zealand, of a Government convicted of ignominious failure to achieve, or even to attempt to achieve, tho wonderful results which it has for years boastfully promised as the certain fruit of its arrogant attempt to interfere with the laws of, economics and of human nature.

The public will watch with unusual interest the attitude which will be taken* up by the Government. Kejoicing in the charter of license granted to them by the, Attorney-General's opinion and the Government's virtual repeal of Section 15 of the Act, -unions all over .the Dominion may rush forth to assist the strikers in their defiance of tho law. They wore cheered yesterday ; they openly announced their confidence in their immunity frbm punishment; a member of Parliament is supporting them. Arc wo to have a repetition of .the disgraceful Blackball affair 1 • Tho Government must be realising at last that-we read the 1 signs aright when we prophesied that tho parliamentary over-riding of the Arbitration Court by the Coal Mines Act Amendment Bill of last year would be regarded by organised .Labour as evidence that it had the Government Under its thumb. One by one our prophecies mado prior to the Blackball affair have been fulfilled. In the .meantime, the public must not be led astray by any, attempt to represent the' merits of the Auckland men's grievance as the truo point in dispute. The of that quarrel, whatever they may bo, are irrelevant to the real issue, and they should not be allowed to cloud the position.