DISLOYAL STRIKERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 121, 20 April 1940, Page 6

DISLOYAL STRIKERS.

MR MENZIES BOYCOTTED. A STRIKING COMPARISON. Received April 20, 9.50 a.m. SYDNEY, April 20. The coalminers’ officials organised and carried out a boycott of the Prime Minister’s meeting at Kurri to-day. The miners followed their leaders to the local sportsground where they listened to addresses on the need for solarity. Mr Menzies, however, took the platform at the local School of Arts where upwards of 2000 private citizens and businessmen gave him a rousing re' ception.

Mr Menzies mentioned that pressure had been brought on the chairman preventing him from presiding at his meeting Ho expressed regret that the miners had seen fit to boycott his address in a district which hitherto had been traditionally loyal He emphasised that he liad not come to make threats, but merely to appeal to the miners to appreciate their responsibilities in the most crucial time in the Empire’s history and determine to put the things that really matter first. Mr Menzies compared the lot of the men in action in Norway, France and elsewhere with conditions which the coalminers sought to bring about hero and declared that a coal strike in the present circumstances was a betrayal of the true interests of Australia. He told the meeting he was prepared to accept the miners’ challenge which was tantamount to a defiance of the Commonwealth Government. He said he would go to the Sportsground and seek to deliver the address which he intended to deliver at Kurri and li€ left the hall amid prolonged cheering. - PREMIER HECKLED. Mr Menzies, upon arrival at the sportsground, where three thousand strikers were gathered, was forced to wait until the miners’ leaders finished their speeches before he could obtain a hearing. He was considerably heckled, but was able to explain that he came with no threats. He then continued along the linos of his earlier meeting, when he urged the men to have recourse to the Arbitration Court. > When asked what the Government intended to do in the event of the strike being, prolonged for a couple of months, Mr Menzies told an inquirer: We have done a lot of thinking and have got a clear mind upon it. The miners passed a resolution repudiating the threats by the Federal and State Governments, and pledging loyalty to their leaders and their determination to carry the fight to a success ful conclusion. Mr Menzies left the scene saying lie had had quite an interesting afternoon.