STRIKE IN BRITAIN

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 175, 25 June 1926, Page 6

STRIKE IN BRITAIN

INTERESTING SOUVENIRS.' '* ' . • ‘ * . • / • \ PAPERS AND OFFICIAL i j PUBLICATIONS. The latest mail irom England .conveys the first batch of emergency P u °" lications issued during the period or the general strike in Britain, and a very interesting perusal they afford. A number of these souvenirs .of this industrial crisis have been forwarded to the “Standard” by-Mr G. ‘ Potts, formerly in'business at Dannevirke and now holding a positions.in one of the' largest-stores in London. It will be remembered that the Daily Mail first overcame the trouble with its striking employees by. publishing as full details as possible of English news, in its Continental edition, the copies being conveyed from Paris by air across the Channel for distribution in England. All the news reports are in the English language. The Daily Mail of May 5, 1926, forwarded to the “Standard” by Mr Potts consists of four pages, the first of which contains news concerning the first day of the strike, featuring the fact that there was plenty of food jrad transput, volunteer trains and buses, and some rowdyism in the East End of London. “Although yesterday was the first day of the general strike in London the -stoppage, was in no sense complete,” it states. It is nientioned that at Silvertown, London, strikers turned on the taps of large petrol tanks and allowed thousands of gallons of spirit to run to waste. The Daily Mail gives the emergency railway and general transport services time-tables, mentioning that the air\service is “as usual” on the cross-Channel section (fares 1400 francs—£lo to £l4—and 15 francs per kilo for freight). Passages were well booked up and at the time freight couid not be accepted. There is a mass of interesting information concerning details- of the strike and its effect on the country, the emergency issue of the Daily Mail featuring the flight. by aeroplane of the Princeof Wales from Paris to London, the Prince breaking all orders against flving without the special authority of the King and Government, in order to be on'the scene of the trouble.

This journal, even under tile stress of strike’’publishing conditions, is able to give half a column to the Australian cricketers’ opening match, Macartney’s bowling being featured by headline references.

The letterpress of the illustrations is in both English and French, which circumstance is. indicative of the large number of French people who must have read the great British daily at this time. The Daily Mail claimed in respect to its Continental edition that it was read by more Americans than any American newspaper on the Continent and had by far the largest sale of any English' language newspaper on the Continent. . , •

The Daily Express, another of the great London dailies, appears in its issue of May 13, the day after the calling off of the general''strike, as a four-page publication, each sheet being only 14 inches by 10 inches. It heads the news “Victory for Commonsense” and proceeds.to outline the settlement plan, and an address to the nation by the King, who makes an appeal that all bitterness bo forgotten. On the four main railway!.systems- of England the previous day more than 6000 trains were run.

The lobbyist of the Express states that the general opinion inyParliameht was that the strike failed because of the weight of public opinion hgainst it. Ringing cheers on the Stock Exchange greeted the news that the general strike was over and prices advanced immediately.'

THE BRITISH GAZETTE. The British Gazette, tlie newspaper printed by the Government at the Government Stationery Office, was a four-page sheet of large dimensions, and sold for one penny. On May 10 it proclaimed that its circulation had reached -836,000. .A steady improvement in anti-strike organisation was reported at this date when prominence' was given to Mr Baldwin’s assurance that every man who did his duty to his country and remained at work, or returned to . work during the crisis, would be protected by the State from loss of trade union benefits, superannuation allowances, or pension. The Government would take whatever steps were necessary for this purpose. The Gazette asks in big’headlines: “Are you on. strike? Have you been consulted by your union? Did you have any voice in the decision to strike?”

Lord Balfour, in defining the issue, is reported to have said that 238 years had passed since .there was a revolution in England,’:that v revolution being to secure the supremacy of parliamentary government and the traditional liberties of the people. Through eight generations it' had proved successful, but there now threatened a revolution of a very different kind, its methods being to deprive the people,of food, transport, employment, and a free press. Willing workers were to be kept in idleness, anxious purchasers to be kept in want, perishable food to rot in part, and all the wheels of social life to be clogged. Were the revolution to succeed the country would suffer, but the miner would not gain. No revolution in Britain would diminish foreign competition -in neutral markets. This was an attempted revolution tlie success of which would mean, that the country would be ruled by a small minority of extremists. “From such a fate may the courage and resolution of our countrymen save the civilisation of which they are the trustees,” concluded Lord Balfour. V ,'*■

Under the caption, “How London is Fed, ’’ the Gazette describes the passage of 20 armoured cars and : 100 motor lorries comprising a food convoy from the docks.

A later issue of the Gazette on May ■l3 describes an _ unexampled achievement in juornalism, telling how this publication reached a circulation of 2,209,000 in a few days. There are a number of striking leaflets distributed by the Government, setting out its views and appealing for a conciliatory attitude.

OTHER. PAPERS.

Mr H. G. Grover, of Ferguson street, Palmerston North, has also forwarded to the “Standard” a number of strike issue newspapers which he has just received from Home. They include cyclostyle issues of the Daily Mirror in the form of one small sheet tbd size of a writing pad page, a single sheet issue of the Evening News (printed) and of the Sunday Express, Star, Daily Mail and other papers including the British Workers’s official strike news bulletin. The last-named reports five railway crashes' allegedly due to “blackleg” labour on the. railways, and’alleges that, the initial cause of the deadlock was _ the mine owners’ arbitrary attitude in refusing to conduct national negotiations as recommended in the Goal Commission’s report, - and their action in giving notices to enforce a general reduction in wages. The

strikers -Would remain “out” until ordered by their leaders to return. The British Worker, after the strike, expresses the views of trades union leaders , as indicating that the basis of settlement was satisfactory.