THE VICTORIAN RAILWAY CRISIS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13121, 8 May 1903, Page 5

THE VICTORIAN RAILWAY CRISIS.

NEWSPAPER OPINION. THE MEN'S VIEWS. : United Press Association—By Electrio Telegraph—Copyright. MELBOURNE, May 7. Tlie "Age" says that the Ministry has wisely determined that Parliament shall dissolve the railway crisis. . The "Argus" says that the public will approve of the action of the Government beyond doubt; that Parliament will also do so is beyond question. The Opposition must unito wi(i the Ministry to maintain the authority of Parliament.

General meetings of every branch of the Railway Societies will be held to-night, and on their decisions the executives "will determine their course of action. The president of the Amalgamated Society states that if Parliament passed a law (prohibiting the affiliation of the men, they would observe it, though under protest. They relied on Parliament to recognise the justness of their contentions." There is no doubt that the ringleaders of what the Premier terms the revolt are the executive officers of the Engine-drivers' Association. What they decide to-night the others will follow.

It is understood that a. measure will be submitted to Parliament forbidding the affiliation of Railway Unions with the Trades Hall. PARLIAMENT SUMMONED. THE UNITY AND DISCIPLINE OF THE MEN. MELBOURNE, May 7. A " Gazette has been issued, summoning Parliament. Each of the forty members of the Executives of the four Unions has received the notice referred to yesterday. The utmost secrecy is preserved amongst the men. The order issued by the Executives that, they were nab to talk about thecrisis has been-pbeyed in a manner which is a revelation'-of their unity and disd'< pline.

[Per Press Association.] DUNEDIN, May .7. At a meeting of the Trades and Labou' - Council it. was resolved—" That, in the opinion of this Council, tho action of the Victorian Government in their attempt to deprive the Victorian railway servants of their civil liberty -is unwarranted and reprehensible, and o.gainsfa the teachings and experience of an educated democracy, and the Council urges the railway-servants to resist such steps to the utmost, in the interest of liberty and true citizenship."