THE COAL STRIKE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 264, 7 October 1942, Page 5

THE COAL STRIKE

MR SEMPLE’S CHANGED WORDS. (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Oct. 6. “If the method of putting the miners in gaol had been adopted the country would have been paralysed and that would have suited the Japs,” said the Minister of Railways (Mr It. Semple), commenting on the Government’s decision on the Waikato mining trouble. “There would not have been a train running in less than a month in the North Island if the men had gone to gaol and not a dairy of any consequence in the North Island would have been operating,” added the Minister. “If one man had been sent to gaol the whole 1350 would have had to go. “If we had done what Mr Holland wanted it would have been something without parallel in this country to round up 1350 men and put them in prison. It might have had a disastrous psychological effect on the minds of other workmen throughout the country. Instead of doing that we took the other course and the men have been bound over by proclamation. We had to choose between binding the men over and the other course of sending them to gaol and running the risk of paralysing the country and making it an easy victim for the enemy. A first-class upheaval at this time would be treason to the nation.

“The idea of calling for a general election and asking for Ministers’ resignations because a group of men struck is something new in the political history of New Zealand or in the history of any other country. Another thing to note is that three of the Ministers who resigned voted to do the tiling tho Government has done. They then resigned because tho Government did the thing they voted to do, and now they blame the Government for doing it. That is unparalleled in the history of constitutional government and I will defy Mr Holland to find one similar case in the history of the British Commonwealth.”

“SELLING COUNTRY TO ENEMY”

In announcing drastic reductions in the railway services in the North Island on September 14, Mr Semple said that in a statement issued to the miners on the previous day it was revealed that there was one week’s supply of New Zealand coal and five weeks’ supply of Newcastle coal in the North Island. It was pointed out that a continued strike would risk immobilising the Defence Forces to a great degree. Continuation of the coal stoppage in the North Island meant selling the country to tho enemy, and New Zealanders would go down in history as traitors to their allies, particularly to the great American nation, which had sent us such magnificent help and support in the time of our country’s direst need. This was happening at a time when the Japanese menace in the South Pacific was more threatening than ever and when one of tho greatest naval and military struggles was about to eventuate which would involve our very existence ns a free nation in the future. Mr Semple said that this statement had had no effect on the miners. The men had ignored the facts and violated every principle of unionism. By doing this they placed themselves outside the pale of unionism and played into the hands of the Japanese. They had treated the Government’s appeal to reason with contempt and ' declared civil war on the civilian community.