Evening Post. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1912. THE THREATENED STRIKE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1912, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1912. THE THREATENED STRIKE.

For the present the threatened strike of the city tramway employees has quite superseded the political crisis as the subject of paramount interest in the mind of the average Wellington citizen. Whether or not he will have in about a fortnight's time to resume the abandoned habit of walking to nis work or his pleasure, is naturally a question which makes a more intimate appeal to the ordinary man than larger but remoter issues. This is only in accordance with the usual rule that things 'influence the human, mind in proportion to their nearness rather than their distance. In the present case, however, wo are glad to see that it is not the mere physical inconvenience of walking that is exercising the itaongett influence upon public opinion. That consideration takes second place to one that is more remote but of a higher quality. The citizens are really more concerned with, the problem of the ultimate control of their tramways than with the immediate inconvenience of a temporary stoppage. Any strike or threatened strike usually creates a sharp division of opinion, but we can recall few cases of equal gravity with, tho present one in which there has been a. nearer approach to unanimity. As the case was first presented to the public in the week before Christmas, the decision at which the council had arrived by the Mayor's casting vote appeared to he clearly not justified by the evidence. But the statement that the strength of the evidence for the uniqn had not been fully disclosed doubtless induced "a section of that thoughtless and ofttimes brutal body called the public" to suspend judgment. The period for suspending judgment had, however, completely passed when the union, after its request for a public enquiry had been granted by the council, withdrew from the case on the flimsiest possibU pretext. We cannot see how any unbiased observer can now fail to realise that the high-handed procedure of the union has put it entirely out of court. It is urging a demand which its own action concedes to be unreasonable in a thoroughly tyrannical way. A backdown on the part of the City Council now would not merely bo fatal to the discipline and efficiency of ,the service, as the Electrical Engineer urged in his report; it would' be tantamount to an admission that the union and fnot the City Council was the proper body to manage the tramways of the city. The crass absurdity oi repre- j senting the issue as one between Capital and Labour is too glaring to require dis- ! cuesion. The issue is really between management of the city's property by its lawfully appointed trustees and its | subordination to an irresponsible body, : which issues a demand, supports it by a threat, and declines to produce any cvi- j dence. The best friends of unionism must surely see thart the cause can only be injured by so extravagant and unjust a procedure. 'In lurid and melodramatic language the workers are urged by a still more irresponsible authority than their own union 'to "stand solid." They are gravely told that " the demand that your members be freed from the baseless charges and suspicions brought forward by ignorant or misguided officials is most eucouraging indeed." The one merit of this bombastic document is that it puts the claim of the tramway 1 employees' on its true ground. They desire to have an Inspector removed for doing hie duty, and, though other causes I are ■ alleged on their behalf, they offer neither argument nor evidence to support the allegations. If they elect to " stand solid " on a case so plainly devoid of merit and so repugnant to 1 the public sense of fair play, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. We trust that wiser counsels will prevail, and that a conclusion arrived at by the union in anticipation will not be persisted in now that its case has been hopelessly pre< judiced by bad management.