THE RECENT STRIKE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 173, 23 June 1926, Page 9

THE RECENT STRIKE.

EPISODES IN ENGLAND. LETTER TO A LOCAL RESIDENT. A letter received by a local resident from a friend at Westciiff-on-Sea, Essex, England, contains some interesting details of the inconvenience caused by the recent general strike in Britain. The correspondent outlines the circumstances leading up to the trouble, mentioning that, to avoid it, the Government had paid £23,000,000 in subsidy to keep the coal industry going at a time when it was not paying, and then proceeds to mention the confusion caused on the morning after the declaration of tho general strike, when city men found none of their trains running. Next day every motor car, char-a-banc, motor cycle and push cycle was commissioned, the writer himself proceeding to work for several days in the car of a friend—a four-seater vehicle which, during this period, carried six on each trip.

At times the strikers were in a nasty mood and ready to do damage. The traffic on the road to London was a wonderful spectacle. Every road leading into the city for five or six miles in all directions was very congested,, motor cars travelling four and fivo abreast. Whitechapel and Commercial roads and Aldgate were most difficult to negotiate, and often it was necessary to go a yard at a time, with not a few bumps against other vehicles. The streets were lined for miles .with strikers and police. At places, the former stopped vehicles, forced passengers to get out and then upset the vehicles and punctured the tyres. One day the police came along in a car to Tilbury and, nearing the docks, saw a group of .strikers across the road. The driver was ordered to go through them but the strikers stepped aside and revealed a telegraph polo across the road, the motor crashing into the obstruction. Every day the city was a wonderful sight with motor cars parked along both sides of the streets, and at every turning. There appeared to be millions of them about London.

When the train services recommenced on the correspondent’s section there were only two of them for many thousands of ticket holders. The inconvenience was awful and sometimes 23 had to pack into a compartment meant for ten. Such circumstances as standing all the way or sitting on the floor were common. The writer expresses the general relief felt when the trouble was ended. A letter received by another wellknown resident of Palmerston North from a relation in Cheshire, in connection with the recent strike, is of interest. He says: "Things have been ; 'peaceful round here, and many amusing episodes have occurred. There is a large mental institution near Manchester, and a bus load of inmates were out for an airing, got stopped by the strikers and pulled out, when they announced that King Edward and Queen Victoria were amongst their number, and they certainly would not get in again if they were taken out. Some youths in the village hero tried to upset a bus, and got overcome and taken to the local police cell, which was promptly stormed by some friends, hut a message to Leek brought a "Black Maria” and they were taken off to prison. A’, has just gone off to a colliery meeting in Oldham. Everything is going smoothly there, local coal being supplied by volunteers, and no attempt at any violence. Colliers here all anxious to go in again.”