INDUSTRIAL STRIFE AND POLITICAL RAPPROCHEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 19444, 30 December 1926, Page 2

INDUSTRIAL STRIFE AND POLITICAL RAPPROCHEMENT

The general strike and the costly coal strike in Great Britain, and comparative depression, caused by overimportation and reduced prices for exports in New Zealand, make the past year a grey ono to look hack upon. The general strike, called by the council of the British Trade Unions’ Congress on May 8 in sympathy with the miners, lasted less than a fortnight. The Government’s plans for emergency services had been made with thoroughness, the nation was against the strike, and it was called off by the body which had ordered it when it was soon to be in essence revolutionary, and to bavo no chance of success. The opinion was formed generally with relief that a general strike in Great Britain is not ■likely to bo tried again. The miners’ strike was the fulfilment of trouble only averted in the previous year by the Government’s providing of a nine months’ subsidy to keep up wages in the distressed industry pending the report of a Commission upon its conditions. ' The subsidy cost £22,000,000. The Commission reported against any extension of it. and made other recommendations which were not acceptable to the men. The strike began on May 1, and while contracts were lost abroad Britain was reduced to the position of importing coal instead of exporting it. Much sympathy was felt with the miners in their demand that their conditions should not be even temporarily worsened, but their struggle was against economic facts depressing the industry. The Bolshevist proclivities of their leader, Mr Cook, made him their worst adviser; the motto they adopted, “ Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day,” left no room for compromise; the owners were as stubborn on their part, and all efforts of the Government and others to bring about a settlement of the disastrous dispute were fruitless till it collapsed in mid-Novem-ber through exhaustion of the miners, after causing a national Joss that was estimated at £400,000,000. Owing to the new sources of power which, to a large extent, have taken the place of coal, it was regarded as certain that the mines will never again employ the number of men they did before the strike. There were good signs, however, of an early general revival of industry. In international affairs the year has been one of striving for new concord and for reconciliation. The expected admission of Germany to the League of Nations failed to take place at the special March meeting of its Assembly, owing to complications which arose concerning the constitution of the Council, and Spain and Brazil announced their resignations from the League, which it is hoped may yet be recalled before, under its rules, they become effective. At the September meeting Germany was unanimously welcomed as a member of the League, with a permanent seat on its Council. During the March discussions M. Briaud and Dr Stresemann, the Foreign Ministers of France and Germany, had a meeting at Thoiry, at which proposals were discussed for a new agreement between their two countries, France to hasten the expiry of certain requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, including the provisions for armed occupation, in return for financial assistance from Germany which would aid her in the reestablishment of the franc. But the difficulties of these proposals, from which much was hoped when they were first announced, have been most m evidence as the year has proceeded. Industrial agreements have been made, however, between the ancient enemies. Another feature of the year has been the zeal displayed for a new sort of treaty—pacts ot mutual neutrality—by which pairs of States (including Germany and Russia) agree together that neither will assist any outside party in an unprovoked attack upon the other. It is matter for speculation how far these agreements may be designed to restrict the coercive powers of the League of Nations. The need for letting down the Customs barriers that are an obstacle to trade between most European countries has formed a now cry for financiers. The results of the Imperial Conference which met on October 19 are still too recent to need recalling. Principles of the equal status of Great Britain and the Empire were reaffirmed in a way with which the South African Nationalist Government, which had been most critical of the former vagueness, declared itself wholly satisfied, the treaty-making procedure laid ddVn three years before was to some extent elaborated, and some slight machinery changes, to accord with the now principles, were agreed to. But it would not seem that much else was done by the conference, apart from the education of its members.

The year has been one of unprecedented prosperity in America. The war conducted by France and Spain in Morocc'o was completed in May with the complete subjugation of 'the Riffs, and Abdel Krim was banished to the French island of Reunion. There has been civil war in China during most of the year, making grave troubles for traders and for missionaries. The Kuominchun (Nationalist) Party in the north, whose army is controlled by General Feng, was frustrated in its effort to make itself master of Peking, which it is now once more threatening to besiege. The Kuomintang Party (Nationalist) of the south overran several central provinces, and threatens to transfer its government from Canton to Hankow or one of the other central cities now under its control. The Kuominchun and Kuomintang work in close alliance with each other; both have been much encouraged by Russia; and strong hostility to foreigners (except Russians) forms a passion of both. In September British forces were embroiled through the action of General Yang-sen, one of tho allies of Wu, who was resisting the Kuomintang, in illegally commandeering merchantmen containing British officers on the Yangtse-kiang. British gunboats proceeded up the river to cut out the merchantmen where they were moored at Wanhsein, 1,200 miles from the sea, and after a fierce fight rescued British officers detained on board of them. Wanhsien, which w’as General Yang-sen’s headquarters, was bombarded, but the British Government refused later to use methods of force to secure respectful treatment of its nationals in liankow and elsewhere. On June 6 it was reported that Turkey had agreed to the League of Stations’- delimitation of the fyoatifijs

of Iraq, giving Mosul to the native State, Thus a feud was settled which had lasted since the close of the Great War. The agreement was ratified by the Angora Assembly on June 8.; •

' The year has seen one .political development in New Zealand. The result of the Mount Eden by-election, on April 15, when the Reform vote was split by rival candidates, in adding another member to the Labor Party made that party the second in strength in the House, with thirteen members as against the Liberals’ twelve. So Labor, under Mr Holland’s leadership, became the official Opposition. The session was of shorter duration than usual to allow the Prime Minister to go away to the Imperial Conference. Its course was uneventful, but some important Bills were passed, including the Bank of New Zealand and Rural Advances Bill, both designed to afford easy finance to farmers; a Customs Bill, giving a slight increase of protection to a very few industries suffering especially from foreign competition; the Bill which seeks to establish a new central agricultural college for tho dominion; the Motor Omnibus Bill,, practically eliminating private motor omnibuses as-competitors with public tramway services; • the Dairy Produce Export Control Bill, under which the board’s powers of absolute control were preserved; the New Zealand University Bill, remodelling the University' in accordance with tho terms of the Tate-Reichel Commission’s report; the Town Planning Bill; the Local Government Loans Bill, placing a new check on local bodies’ borrowing; and the Family Allowances Bill, forming an extension of “ humanitarian ” legislation large enough to bo felt by State funds, but not large enough to secure the gratitude of anyone. The beginning of “ absolute control,” as applied by the Dairy Produce Board on September 1, coincided with a marked slump in the prices of New Zealand produce, causing criticisms of that policy to be revived with a new vigor. The position has since improved, and the trade outlook generally bears now a better aspect than seemed possible a few weeks ago. The dominion’s trade returns for the year ending March 31, 1926, as compared with the preceding twelve months, showed an increase of £3,204,000 in imports and a shrinkage of £6,073,000 in exports, making an adverse trade balance of £4,328,000, due to over-importation coinciding with lower prices for staple products. The necessity for economy thus enforced caused unemployment to he more prevalent during the winter in all the cities of New Zealand than it had been since 1921. Tho trade figures for tho twelve months ending September 30 showed a balance of £3.208,000 on the wrong side. Aviation has had two trlumx>hs during the year. On May 9 Commander Byrd, an American, flow over the North Pole m a Fokker aeroplane, just forestalling Captain Amundsen, who on May 12 flew over it from the same base in an airship, continuing his journey to Alaska. In August Mr Alan Cobham arrived in Melbourne after a thirty-seven days’ aeroplane flight from London, which was protracted for a week by the shooting of his mechanic over the Iraq desert. He returned to London in twenty-six days, arriving on October 1, and was knighted for his performance, which was made in the worst part of the monsoon season. Mr Mackenzie King’s Liberal Government in Canada, which had held office since the elections of tho previous October with the assistance of the Progressives, was defeated following a revelation of scandals in the Customs Department. Mr Moighen (Conservative) succeeded him as Premier, but w-ben the elections were held on September 14 the Liberals were returned wdth a slight majority over other parties combined. Tho Queensland byelections, at the beginning of May, were a decisive victory for the Labor Government.

A revolt of Mr Loughliu, Minister of Lands, and two other members of the New South Wales Labor Party, threatened to put Mr Lang’s Government out of office. The disaffected members agreed not to vote on a motion of no confidence''on condition that Supply was obtained for a period of four months, and that the Government, whose record had been unusually stormy since it assumed office in Juno, 1925, should go to the country at the end of that time. Mr Lang and the Labor Party have since been working, by persuasions brought to bear on Mr Loughlin’s associates, to avoid the fulfilment of their part in this bargain. If all three members voted against it the Government would be in a minority of one.

The year has had its full share of catastrophes. In September a tornado, followed by floods, in Florida left tho town of Miami in ruins. Damage was estimated at £20,000,000, and a thousand deaths were reported. 1 typhoon at Macao, China, in the same month was credited with the destruction of 5,000 lives. In October over 600 deaths were caused by a hurricane in Cuba. On September 6 a barn used as a cinema theatre was destroyed by fire at Drumcolloghor, Limerick, with loss of fifty lives.