"STRIKE SUNDAY."

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1912, Page 7

"STRIKE SUNDAY."

AND SUNDAY ELOQUENCE. " SOME SAMPLES *OF WRATH. Reinforced by Mr. Semplo, organiser of the "Revolutionary Socialist" New 2ealand Federation of Labour, the "Strike Committee' 1 harangued a meeting in the Basin Reserve yesterday afternoon. "This is Strike Sunday," said the chairman, Mr. Young, by way of announcing a collection in aid of the tramway unionist* The following extracts from the orators' speeches are supplementary to a general report on another page of The Poet. ( • Mr. Younj<. discussing certain members of the City Council: — "If you, have any desire for the intercuts of our com mon welfare, you will get to- work to get rid of men who ought nevei^ to have ; been permitted to hold seats on the City Council of Wellington. . . They are not fit to adjudicate upon a dead dog!" Mr. Carey : —"Tub employers Of Wellington are out to kill trade unions and municipatisation. . They are the people out ' to run industries for the benefit of the few and to exploit the public. '. . In the present instance it is a- case of fighting trade unionism with the public's funds." Mr. Hickey : "You are on the brink of exactly the same proposition as they are up against in Brisbane. Don't forget that, I'm not here to make idle statements. During the sitting with the council I strained every nerve to effect a, settlement, because I knew that behind the whole thing was the question possibly of the Dominion being involved in a universal upheaval. 1 did everything I could as a man of honour and reason to bring about a settlement, but have failed m that very reasonable proposition. * . With a proposition such as this there was a possibility of the strike spreading to the electric lighting, garbage, sewerage, and destructor men. Would it then be possible to drive & little brain matter into the City Council? They had played with this thing, and were nob serious in their desire to bring about a settlement. Well, then, they were going to fight the council with all the weapons at their disposal, from Auckland to the Bluff, to see justice done. There was only going to be one verdict — it wae going to be an, unqualified victory for the men. No other verdict would be accepted." Following up an interjection about "go to the dcvil 1 ' (not addressed to Mr. Hlck«y), the speaker said that some of the councillors should have been there lonfj ago. "Poor old fossilised individuals," he resumed, "their dignity is at stake. I can imagine the amount of dignity some of you think they possess when 'you are kicking your toes. .on. the sleepers in the Hataitai tunnel. I walk through there every morning and every evening, and every time l kick against a sleeper I say, 'D— — ■ the dignity of the City Council.' If you said 'D the dignity of the City Council,' you will settle this business very soon." Discussing the .public/ Mr. Hiokey remarked s— "Someone has said 'What about the public convenience? What about the feelings of the public?' But until the public asserts itself as a public i and supports s the Tramways Union in this fight, the public cannot expect to be considered. The union aru not in a position to consider- your convenience if you are not prepared to help them to get justice." Mr. Reardon . "It is not now a question of whether the men are right or wrong. . . Right or wrong, in the interests of the workers, the meu have to win." After Mr. Reardon had mentioned Inspector Fuller's name, somebody exclaimed : "Tar and feather him." Mr. Reatdon'fl rojoineder was: "I heard of a better one than that. 'Send him to the destructor to feed the dogs with.' "' . Mr. Semple.: "Th» majority of the workers are disgusted with the men on the council. Who put them there? The worker did! Remember that next time you vote, and let your pencil spell instantaneous death to such old fakes and frauds as they are! You will put men in who will manage the city in the interests of the people, who do all tho active work. ... Is it nofc reasonable that the men who do all the things should manage the things themselves, instead of letting a lot of other creatures do it for them? . . . We will see to it that these creatures are brought to their knees. . . . We will bring them to their senses, or else we will take each drastic measures a/t will show to New Zealand and to the world a,t •large that it is the workers who make lor the comfort of all and sundry."

The Railway Department invites tenders for cartage of stores and material at .Wellington.