BELGIAN STRIKES.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2649, 18 May 1923, Page 5

BELGIAN STRIKES.

BECOMING MORE SERIOUS. TRAIN SERVICES SUDDENLY DISCONTINUED. WORK AT A STANDSTILL. [By Electric Cable —Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received Thursday, 7.40 p.m. BRUSSELS, May 17. Th e strike of railwayman and postal ■workers is becoming rapidly more serious. Trains running between Brussels and Antwerp were unexpectedly stopped at ten o’clock last night, leaving the passengers in the lurch. They were told to alight and walk. The news caused excitement in Brussels, where thousands of people wanting to return to Antwerp rushed to the station, only to find no trains departing. Witnin an hour every taxi-pab was requisitioned. Similar scenes were enacted in Antwerp, where thousands of people wanting to get to Brussels were stranded. It is feared that trains between Belgium, France, ■ and Holland will stop to-day. Women interviewed the Minister of Railways, urging the initiation of negotiations, but he refused to take any action until the men resumed work. Soldiers, wearing steel helmets and with bayonets fixed, lined the public gallery of the Chamber, when the Socialist deputy M. Vandervelde challenged the legality of the Government’s decision to mobilise soldiers to work the railways. The President of .the Chamber, hammering his desk, amid stormy scenes, threatened to suspend the session.

The Minister of National Dgfence declared Government was within its legal rights in protecting the economic life of the community. The House could put somgone else in his place if it opposed his policy.

The Antwerp dockers refuse to handle goods from the militarist railwaymen. No goods arc arriving at Ostend, and work at Liege is coming to a standstill. Large ordgrs have already been lost. Two hundred and fifty volunteer postmen are handling letters in Antwerp, and it is hoped to have a ngarly normal service in three or four days.