A BETTER OUTLOOK

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 May 1926, Page 5

A BETTER OUTLOOK

BY CABLE—PBESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT LONDON, May 5. The British Gazette, in ns second issue, claims that tlhe nation hs. calm and confident. ft advises Londoners not to walk to work, as there will be a full service on .the Oeintral London Bail way on Thursday, and a plentiful supply of London general and independent omnibuses. An official notice to the printing trade says that when the strike is ended the Government will take effectual measures to prevent victimisation by the trade union® of the men who remain at work. No settlenyent will be agreed to which does riot provide for this for a lasting period and its enforcement by penalties. No man who does his duty by the country will be left unprotected from reprisals. The Gazette devotes half a column to the Australians-Leicester match, hut

other items is meagre. The trouble is extending to several power stations. The electrical trade union.ii.sts in the London power .stations struck to-day. At present, however, there its no danger of light, or power being cut off in the London- district, because the engineers, who are members of other unions, ,a.re still working. Should they ® trike it is understood the Government have an adequate supply of volunteer labour with which to carry on. The 'VValthiamiston power-house employee® have also struck, while on the contrary the Sbu.tih Wales employees have decided to maintain the current. It is reported from Liverpool that the sailor® and firemen have called a strike. LEADERS CONFERRING. DRAMATIC DBVEILOPM F.'LXTS EXPECTED. LONDON. May 6. - I.t is undersitood that the Prime Minister, the R)t.. Hon. Stanley Baldwin, and Mr. J. H. Thomas are conferring with a view to reaching a. basis of negotiations for the settlement of the strike. • There is also great activity among the Labour leaders and dramatic developments are expected. NEWSPAPER, OWNER’S OFFER, TO LABOUR,. ' ■ ‘ LONDON, May 6. ( Sir E. M. liliiffe, on behalf of .the ' directors of a. group of newspapers with a, circulation exceeding ten millions, offered to print in each,edition two columns of matter supplied by the labour Party unaltered.

HOUSE OF LORDS DISCUSSION

MUST BE ONLY ONE GOVERNMENT.

LONDON, May 5. In the House of Lords, Lord Salisbury moved the approval of the strike regulations. The Archbishop of Canterbury said that every support must be given to prevent men acting as a sort of oligarchy usurping the functions of Government. Simultaneously they must work for a solution, giving assurance that nobody was trying to lower the workers’ standard of life. Lord Duckmaster said he did not think the Government could have avoided the disaster, which had been planned from the beginning. Lord Birkenhead stated that the Government was not, _ and would not be, prepared to- negotiate so long as the threat was held out against constitutional government. The quarrel could only end bv recognition that there was only one government. He asked: “Do Lord Haldane and his colleagues approve of the general strike ?” Lord Haldane: “I urged a continuance of negotiations.”

Lord Birkenhead : “I leave it there. No single ex-Labour Minister here dares sav he approves a general strike.”

CONTINENTAL WORKERS’ / ATTITUDE. BERLIN, May 5. The General Federation of Trade Unions of Miners, Transporters, and Railwaymen passed a resolution to support to the utmost the British unions. There will be no bunkering of British vessels, and all measures will be taken to prevent coal reaching Britain. COPENHAGEN, May 5,. The Danish General Workers’ Union stated that if a request for support was received from the British unions it would be difficult to refuse, in view of the help that British labour afforded the Danish strikers in the spring.

“DOOR STILL OPEN.”

LABOUR’S LAST WORD

REPORT ON STRIKE CONDITIONS

LONDON, May 5. The Trades Union Council summed up to-night as follows: “Our last worn to the Government was that the door is still open.” An official review issued at headquarters declares that solidarity and unanimity is maintained. The council is satisfied that its machinery is working smoothly and well. It has received resolutions of support from confederations of labour in France, Holland, America, and Canada, offering to do anything possible to help, also messages of congratulation from Germany, and offers of practical help from the mining districts. The review concludes: 1 ‘Strict orders have been issued to the men to be f exemplary in their conduct and not give grounds for police interference.”

BRITAIN’S BIG STRIKE

LEADERS AGAIN CONFERRING

LOCAL DISTURBANCES REPORTED

LOCAL RIOTS REPORTED. DISTURBANCES IN PROVINCIAL CENTRES. LONDON, May 5. The early quiet appears to be giving way to local riots. The latest of these occurred at Hammersmith, where six independent buses were disabled. The conductors were forcibly pulled off, but were rescued by the police. There was an extension of the riot when a crowd gathered outside the headquarters of the local Fascisti and hurled missiles at the police. Several arrests were made. The omnibuses are now passing through It.'he suburb with policemen alongside the drivers, while the mounted men have been heavily reinforced. Eight arrests were made in the East End in connection with riots in which two policemen were seriously injured. At Stoke-on-Trent an attempt was made to run a motor-’bus, but thousands of people prevented it. Stones were thrown, breaking the windows. There was a serious disturbance at Leeds, where thousands broke the windows of the trams with lumps of coal and attacked a small force of police who were compelled to retire. Later they were reinforced and charged the crowd with their batons.

’Buses manned by inspectors appeared at Cardiff after the corporation had notified the tramwaymen to return to work or to return tlieir uniforms. There was no opposition in Cardiff, but on the contrary, the appearance of ’buses in Birmingham was the signal for general disturbances. Crowds held up the ’buses and demanded that the passengers alight. The drivers were illtreated and the tyres of the vehicles slashed. The ’buses were thereupon withdrawn. Omnibuses in the Renfrewshire district had to be withdrawn after a number were forced to speed up to escape pursuing assailants. At Dundee the manager of the trainwavs tried to run a car, but strikers blocked the line and the car was abandoned. . At Nottingham the strikers seizcfi the carburettors and poured out the petrol from omnibuses which were being worked by volunteers. About 100 tramcars and omnibuses are operating in Edinburgh, worked mostly by students.

Fifty per cent, of the tramway employees at Portsmouth resumed duty when threatened with dismissal.

POSITION IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY COAL SUPPLIES NORMAL. Received 10 a.m. to-day. LONDON, May 6. In the west riding of Yorkshire the position of the textile industry so far is normal. There are sufficient coal stocks to work the mills on a restricted basis for several weeks, while many Bradford firms can run for full time for a fortnight before restricting.— Reuter. TASMANIAN APPLE GROWERS. AFFECTED BY STRIKE. » Received 10.10 a.m. to-day. HOBART, May 7. The British strike threatens to .seriously affect the apple market. Growers have received advices from London ,stating that 300,000 cases had landed or were being landed, which cannot be moved owing to the strike. Further quantities were near arrival and were sure to create a serious glut. The underwriters have withdrawn the insurance on apples to England. FINANCIAL AID. FROM RUSSIAN LABOUR ORGANISATIONS. RIGA, May 6. Soviet Labour organisations are organising financial support for the British strikers. NEW ZEALAND LABOUR VIEW. “CAPITALISTS UNFIT TO RULE.” (Bv Telegraph.—Special to Star.) WELLINGTON, May 6. Describing the British strike as calamitous and 1 an example of private ownership of a great industry being disastrous and cruel, the New Zealand Worker, the official organ of the Labour Party, stresses the necessity for public ownership. It’s editorial, which Mr P. Fraser, M.P., describes as representing the New Zealand Labour Party’s opinion, concludes: ‘‘lt is becoming increasingly clear that the capitalist classes and the Governments that represent them are unfit to control the destinies of any people, and no more convincing evidence of this could lie offered than the ruinous development now threatening Great Britain. Short-sighted and avaricious, they subordinate every interest to their own personal ambitions, and when in desperation their tormented victims revolt, tliev turn out the military and indulge in stupid provocation. Such men are a danger to the community, and must be characterised as its enemies; and what do their base policies of brow-beating and starvation amount to? Triumphant, simply to this —the slavery of their own countrymen. Do they think for one moment that the singing of the National Anthem will make this nalatable to Englishmen and that stability will lie reached whem the masses have been snbjeteed to poverty and injustice? They are doomed to a rude awakening if they do. We have faith in the brave miners of Great Britain and in its powerful and enlightened movement of organised labour. Their unity and sacrifice encourage hope for the future. By what means we can. let us help them in their struggki to rid their native land of the evils of poverty and disorder, to build up a society in which Labour shall rule for the alvantage of all.” HELP FROM NEW ZEALAND. WELLINGTON. May 6. Mr. Roberts, secretary to the Alliance of Labour, stated to-day that the question of financial assistance to the workers at Home had not yet been considered, hut probably would be before long. It is reported that the New Zealand Labour Party will shortly discuss it. The Wellington Watersiders’ Union is reported to have sent £IOO to federation for transmission to Britain.