“WHY WORK IS SCARCE.”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 82, 19 March 1928, Page 8

“WHY WORK IS SCARCE.”

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Your leader under the above heading in your issue of Tuesday last is most opportune at the present i tincture and cannot fail to interest those of your readers who happen to be concerning themselves with this important and at the same time disturbing problem especially the last two paragraphs, referring to the accumulative effect of strikes and hold-ups. which are of such frequent occurrence as factors in producing unemployment. Onlv last week we had one of these extraordinary happenings. The crew of a vessel did not hesitate to hold up the ship—having taken upon themselves to qbiect to the owners dispensing with one stoker, whose services the employers were not satisfied with. That a ship employing from 58 to 80 or more hands, loaded with cargo, for immediate delivery, most of it. no doubt urgently required by those to whom it is consigned and two to three hundred passengers delayed in reaching theii respective destinations, anti put to the consequent heavy material loss and inconvenience constitutes a form of labour union tyranny to. which no civilised community can continue submit. What the electors have to remember is that the very men who are so often guilty of such deliberate and costly action against our communities as ■» whole aro on the fringe of the class upon which Mr. Holland and his colleagues nlwnvs have to depend to put them into Parliament, not one of the latter ever have the courage to frankly advise th P rank a- n d .filo. their party, against the blighting tactics of the kind of which they are so often guilty. A s you indicate in your leader, all strikes have more or less depressing reactionary effects long after the par. ticular dispute has been settled. People contemplating a voyagv long oi short find themselves wondering it they will be able to get through without interruption or will they find themselves heM up by some frivolous labour dispute—for undoubtedly they are frivolous in comparison with the serious results they produce, whicn includes great economic loss which in turn means reduced capita) out of which to pay future wages. So long as the trncre and commerce of the country is liable to be disjointed for such paltry reasons iust so long will unemployment continue and almost certainly increase. If Mr. Holland, instead of busying himself in his extraordinary efforts to inculcate disloyalty in Samoa, would exert himself to the same extent in an effort to knock a little commonsense into some of his own supporters in this Dominion we should have somethin;* to thank him for.—Yours etc REFORMER.