BRISBANE ARMED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1356, 6 February 1912, Page 5

BRISBANE ARMED.

THE STRIKERS QUIET. TRAMS RESUME RUNNING. CONDUCTORS WITH GUNS. flx Telorraph—Preci AssociatUn-Oooyrtehl (Rec. February 5, 5.5 p.m.) Brisbane, February 5. Tho trams started running from three different points rtt noon. A hundred experienced tramway men and a hundred and fifty novices are employed, and nil are armed. Large forces of armed men lino tho route. The crowds cheered tho cars. Numbers of bushmen have reached the city, and aro volunteering their services as special constables. Altogether tho Police Commissioner has a force of three thousand men to guard tho city. The strikers are evidontly cowed; Hopes of Strike Spreading. . It is stated that the Strike Committee is discussing the question of a general strike throughout Australia. This is borne out by a statement made in Melbourne by tho president of the Australian Tramway Employees' Association that if the strike is not settled by the end of next week not a single,wheel will go round on any of tho tramway services in tho various States. The strike would also extend to the New South Wales railway service and tho waterside workers' and federated workers' associations. Making Troublo in Adelaide. Tho president of the Australian Tramway Employees' Association is reported to have said that a meeting of Adelaide tramway men will bo held to-day to consider the question of wearing badges, which they have not yet done. It is believed that tho result of adopting tho badges, and thus securing the extension of tho strike to another State, will necessitate the intervention of Hie Federal Arbitration Court. Picketing Breaks Down. Although there is difficulty in obtaining tho delivery of food, so far there is nothing in tho shape of famine The police aro still being augmented, and with tho increased force the system of picketing the shops is being broken up. The Strike Committee is issuing food coupons to unionists, and asking those who havo money to refrain from obtaining them, as the funds are required for the less fortunate. Numbers of the strikers are leaving the city till the troublo ia over, Military Aid. Tho Premier (Mr. Denham) is dissatisfied with the refusal of military aid, and declares that Mr. Fisher has placed the Strike Executive on an equality with tho Stato Government. Sir. Fisher, tho Premier declared, refused aid because the Strike Committee objected. •