THE SUNDAY ORATOR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1938, 22 December 1913, Page 6

THE SUNDAY ORATOR.

JIK. W. T. YOUNG IN BAD ODOUR 1 FLIMS\ FAI'LVN \IIONS OP .>Uiil'lEA'i'.i '■ O --y.: -After'weeks of perpetual declaration of.victory, tlio moi) orators spent-yes-' .tenlay afternoon and evening idling the familiar '■ roio of tlie football partisan 'who,.explains how tho match was lost. They... had lost, but would win next- time, up of tho strikers' .'j)osj.tit>silicy. had. lost, but tho other 'side:ih;id*iiotwon, was another version; the|batt)e\was. lost, but not tho war. the name of Mr, tvas received with expression.-: of (ii.-jjloiisiire. ' J. '.

■v About/.(JOi) people'collected'round the .platform" iii Newtown I'ark iu'.the afternoon to hear tlio. explanations or the recent' defeat, and tho' prophesies 'it future, victory > ; -y.Therc wore six speak-: j'ers, including tho chairman (Mr,- Fred. Curtice). Mr,' Curt-ice announced thai This ..morning'. the old watersidors.'.will assemble at> ' . .the Skating . Hint, in 4 Virian.. Street, at-a quarter to 8, and march :, to the 'wharves for '' work, 'Messrs;'."W.'T. Mills and. Gavin Stove spoko. some, prefatory generalities, aiid tiien the more prominent leaders were introduced. .

■Mr. J'.' Dowgrny's introduction by tho chairman was in these terms: "The man 1 am going to call ou noiv has been mis-stated as tlio president of the Federation of Labour.. .Mr. Young is the president.. (Mikl hooting.) Mr. Dowgray is only the- vice-president. (A little applause.)

, |<. Mr. Howgray said that tho strikers | i would remember tho battle with pride, rather than with regret. The loss.must . nut worry them; all organisations were built up on defeats. Through complications setting in last Friday night, tlio.y found it accessary to call the strike off, as far as the watersidors were concerned. The containers, of whom lie was one, Were going to bear the brunt of tho fight- again, They were in a position to continue tho struggle for sonltt time yet. The Federation of Labour was not destroyed, aiid it would grow and grow, till it achieved its end. Never beforo had strikers to contend against such forces, and never had ii strike been conducted with less misery, notwithstanding the scanty «up'port from the workers of New Zealand; <... "The Persecuted Trlj," "The no.rc speaker is one of tho persecuted'." trio, Mr. liickey." iso said tlio chairman, and Mr. iiickey said that ho really had not attained tlio distino-. tion attributed to him. . Mr. liickey explained that tho strikers had contended -against forces and methods which were new in Australasia. 'Ho alluded to tlio spectacle "of people coming hero to baton people's heads in," anil said that on tlio West Coast people were being enrolled against their will to club people's brains out, "and somo of tlicm, be it said to their credit, aro refusing, and taking the consequences." On Friday night, when moat of them discerned, after their eight weeks of conflict, that tiioy would have to call the strike olf, he went to a dance, aiid found everyone cheerful. No ono said they were downhearted, hut soino did say that they would organise their forces, and conio again. 'lho spirit that actuated and underlay the Federation of Labour was stronger than before. Ho felt that if it was not for their pleading with the moil at. tho meeting ill tho Skating Kink oil Saturday morning the men would havo remained out, Tho strike weapon would be employed again in the near future if necessary, It had been said that there would not bo another strike for twenty years. Well, if there was going to bo no industrial revolt, conditions were going to alter a of a lot. Some philosopher had said that Truth had lost many battles, hut had never lost a war. 'That applied to Labour, too. This strike was only a skirmisll in the war. Tile fight had "made" tho Labour movement. If it had not been for a little organised scabherv on the part of snmo bodies they would havo won in spite of the Government. Thb men who had dono move than others to defeat them wero tho railway men, who must bo told from ono end of the country to tho other that it was, not tho thing to scab even if they did work for the Government, and were entitled to 1 superannuation. The railway men had scabbed by carrying scab goods, 6cab policemen, and scab batons, Tom Young?—" He's 1,05t." Mr. G. Farland said that, notwitli< standing tho attitude of tho executive of the seamen, tlio seamen wore not downhearted. The strikers had no regrets regarding the struggle. Out of IGO'O men, only 100 had scabbed on their follows. The. chairman rose as if to announce another speaker. "Turn Young?" queried an expectantvoice. Hoots from a section of tho crowd. ' The chairman: He's lost. The chairman, it then transpired, had risen to say that tho men who wero going back to work would not have any wages for a week, anil to appeal, therefore, for a. continuation of relief contributions. There was cheering for tho Federation of Labour, and there tho meeting ended.