SOUTH AFRICAN LABOUR.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 633, 10 January 1914, Page 5

SOUTH AFRICAN LABOUR.

RAILWAYMEN LOYAL. STRIKE A FIASCO. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright Pretoria, Thursday. In response to the call for a general strike the men of the railway workshops at Pretoria and Johannesburg have ceased work, but none of the other men have come out. The trains are running aa usual. Of four hundred men on Btrike at the Braamfontein workshops, one hundred and sixty-eight fitters have resumed. The Labour leaders admit that the strike was a fiasco. Railwayman in every part of Cape Colony have sent the managers an assurance that they had no intention of striking. Johannesburg, Thursday. It iB stated that the Government had arranged to call out the burghers to guard the mines and protect property. The gunsmith's stocks of revolvers had been sold out during the last few weeks. Residents were laying in food supplies in anticipation of a strike. The troops at Potchefstrom and Pretoria were held in readiness. It is reported that half a million iounds of ammunition arrived here. STRIKE BALLOT PROCEEDING. FIGHTING THE AGITATORS. DETERMINATION OF GOVERNMENT. Received Friday, 11.5 p.m. Johannesburg, Friday. Several sections of the railways are balloting as to whether to strike. The sparsity of funds is acting as a deterrent. The leaders predict the strike will be in full swing within four days. Mr Smutts, addressing the special constable corps, said he hoped to prevent bloodshed, but if the strikers fought there would be greater calamities than in July. The Government was only determined to fight agitators to a finish.