SOME PRESS OPINIONS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1358, 8 February 1912, Page 5

SOME PRESS OPINIONS.

"LITERALLY NO EXCUSE, ,, The "New- Zealand Herald": "There is no logical defence possible for an avoidable hd'iko, evon though (ho oulv tnrtice immediately afl'octed are tha employers and of the industry concerned. When the public at largo is immediately affected as happens when I lie strike involves any (fioat public service—there is literally no excuse for miy cessation of work unless it be literally forced by ono party upon the other. The Wellington tram strike cannot be regarded as having: been, beyond question, forced by iiie Council upon the union, for the men had by no menus exhausted their legitimate means of obtaining- redress for any grievance. The public are (ho masters' of any local authority, and the. public in (he average desires to fee justice done and lo have tho dignity of labour reasonably conserved. The tram strike was certainly an appeal to the public, but it wae ait appeal to their fears, not. to their fieuse of right and justice." DEATH BLOW OF THE ACT. The Christchnreh "Press": '.'it (tho Arbitration Act) secured some measure of the' longed-for 'industrial peace. . As soon, however, as it became clear that when the workers had got all they could by means of tho Act, they adopted bygono methods of enforcing their claims, it was recognise?! tliat the Act was doomed. It has died hard, but wo shall l» .surprised if the recent; strike, which has held the menace of that diabolical weapon, the general strike, will not; bo found to have given it its death blow. Peace has been proclaimed, but at what cost only (lie fiiliire will show. And the future is dark with the threat uf troublous times." "POSITION IS INTOLERABLE." The "Evening News" (Christchurch):— "Tho position in connection with the Wellington tramway trouble bears out the view we have taken from (he beginning, viz., that the issue is ono between the Federation of Labour and the rest of the community. The federation represents an attempt to set up an industrial tyranny of the most arrogant "ami despotic kind. It is controlled by certain noisy agitators who are able to lend a few'thousands of workers by the nose. But for them, there would probably have been no tramway strike, and no difficulty in settling any trouble which might liave arisen between the Wellington City Council and its employees in the tramway service. ... If it wins in the present instance, it will be strengthened and consolidated to such an extent, that it will bo able to establish at will a reign, of terror in. industrial circles. Industrial iK'ace and fair dealing between the employers' associations and the unions will disappear. Whenever tho federation chooses to deliver nn ultimatum, the community will have to face a general strike or surrender. The position is intolerable, and it is no wonder that many people in Wellington are recognising the inevitable, and are. saying: that it is better to fight the whole question out now, and be done with it." WHO MADE PEACE? The "Wairarapa Age":—"The leader of tho Labour party claimed that 'it was organised labour that controlled matters right throughout, and that should be credited with the victory just secured. , Jlr. P. Ka.lly, the Concilinlio-.i Commissioner, seems to have suggested that it was he who settled the dispute by recommending the council to give Inspector Fuller another position. Councillor Atkinson, who moml the new clause in the agreement, will also probably claim some credit for the settlement. But whoever was responsible, the fact remains that Sir Joseph' Ward had littlo more to do willi it than had the man in the moon. The choers he received when he announced from the slops of the Town ITall that a settlement had been arrived at must liave liecn i\ pleasant change from the reception accorded him on the night of (l>o second ballot. And as he drove away, he must have laughed up Id's sleeve us he realised how beautifully he had fooled the crowd."