Manawatu Notes

Maoriland Worker, Volume 4, Issue 147, 26 November 1913, Page 7

Manawatu Notes

By RHUBARB

A crowded house on very short notice greeted Comrades W. Parry and J. "Rol>ert9on, M.P., at the Municipal Hall, Pfllmersto'i North, on Saturday, November 15, Comrade P. T.- Robinson occupying the chair. In introducing tho speakers the chairman briefly referred to the gxosa misrepresentation of the daily press throughout the country, and said the speakers on the platform with him had been requested to come here and put the workers' true side before the public. He- then called upou Mr. Barry. , . On rising, immense applause greeted Parry. After first dealing with the pre 93, he referred to the '90 strike, the result of which, was the enactment of the 1.0. and A. Act, , Ihs watersiders and others had given it a good trial, and after long experience had by overwhelming majorities legally cancelled their -registration and amalgamated throughout the country for their own common good, with the result that a* Dominion agreement was secured outside the CoiCrt, He then detailed how the present crisis arise, and how the W.W.U. decided to call a mass meeting of its members at the most opportune

time to consider the shipwrights' dispute, with the subsequent locking out of the members of the Waterside Union until they obeyed the bosses' demands to disband their present org&msition and form a new on© registered under the Court. The whole matter was then referred to the U.F. of L., who, up to that" time, despite press reports to the contrary, had no voice in the matter. He then detailed the abortive conferences, especially the one that Massey, as chairman, was responsible for breaking up almost immediately after resuming its second day's sitting. Parry here read out the workers' proposals which were submitted to that conference—(applause)— and v asked if anything could be farcer or more reasonable. (Loud and. prolonged applause.) Parry then gave an account of the deputation of the TJ.F.L. that waited on the Premier with proposed legislation, to which the Premier replied that the proposals were only fair and reasonable, and he would , legislate in the direction desired, provided the employers were agreeable. Of course, the bo3ses rejected the proposals; and Massey thereupon refused to go on with the game. The speaker briefly referred to the scab nnion and its officials, of whom the president is one Riddiford, well known in this locality. (The writer would here like to know if he is wharf lumping just now, or ever was, or will be.) The farm laborers, five years ago, had.attemtped to gain an award, he , continued, but the farmers spent £7000 to defeat the object and succeeded l ; but to show their consistency the same farmers who fought against an award of the Court now flocked the ports to drive or bludgeon the wharfies to do exactly what they themselves fought against so bitterly five years ago. Continuing, Mr. Parry said that a day or two ago Massey stated in the House "that if there was not a foreign organisation to deal, with, the present troubles would* be easily settled"; but he (Massey) forgot to refer to the foreigners in the- employers' ranks. The trouble with the TJ.F.L. executive was that those not born in New Zealand were born and bred in, New South Wales. (Laughter and applause.) He further declared that the strikers were still as solid as ever, and, if possible, even more determined since the arrest of the leaders a "few days ago; and, if necessary, every one of the leaders yet at liberty would be prepared to face jail or anything else for their actions to place victory with the toilers. (Loud applause.) He then detailed the reasons for and result of the Carters' Union secret ballot, and when he mentioned the- result, 287 for and 38 against, the audience applauded. Next the seamen wejre referred to, and declared as being solid to a man, and when the name of Reardon was mentioned hoots acd groans came.from all, parts of the hall. Mr. Parry concluded a vey thrilling and instructive address j by declaring that even if the watersiders were beaten the Federation still held the key to t-he position, because the ooal miners of this country would refuoe to handle, or hew any coal till ix] satisfactory settlement was (reached, j He continued, some had said coal would be imported. Well, let them try, that's J all; and with a vigorous appeal to all workers and others to throw themselves bodily into the fight he sat downamid great applause. The chairman announced that after the next speaker had concluded, questions would be called for, and' he then eajlwl upon ' , Mr. Robertson, M.P., who was; greeted with applause. He declared at the outset that this whole campaign had been deliberately planned by thfc employers long before the stopwork meeting was ever thought of, and when it did take place, the opportunity was grasped by the employers, who, realising that they had a sympa-' thetic Government in power who could be thoroughly relied upon, tore up the agreement, thereby forcing a fight with the watersiders; for they, the bosses, realised, as one of them remarked, j "the employers are in a much better position to fight now than hi January next, or two or three years hence, when the workers have their organisations in good order" ; but in thinking as they did they pufc the cart before the horse, and didn't reckon on the splendid example of solidarity shown by the workers. (Applause.) The fight, he continued, wa.9 now to-day resolved into just one question, viz., whether the employers are to be permitted to say to the workers what sort of an organisation they are to have, and what rules shall be in their rule books, or whether the workers are to conserve their just right to consider and arrange those things themselves. ' The farmers and others of this , country who have gone to the various ports of this country have been to a great extent deluded with fake and malicious statements, he contended, and are now beginning to realise the true facts, and are returning home in large numbers. When the'6trike commenced and had run a few days, he continued, several Parliamentarians and others depreacted the fact that so much of the farmers' produoe would rot before shipment, and reckoned that fhe fanners would be justified in. coming to Wellington to load their own goods, and after consxiltation, accompanied by Paddy Webb, he" waited on the Strike Committee, and together the two put the position before the committee, with the result that he and Webb were authorised on behalf of the Strike Com : mittee to offer through the Government to put all the farmers' perishable produce into cold storage either on land or aboard,ship, but to this day, he declared, the Government has not condescended to even reply. Tester* day (Friday 14th), he continued, legislation was introduced into Parliament by Comrade Webb that would settle the dispute in 24 hours, but it was turned down, clearly demonstrating on which side every member of the House is now, and how much, Farliament is prepared to do to bring about a settlement. Next the speaker dealt with Massey's statement regarding the foreign organisation very effectively. History, he said, repeats itself. A Tory Government was in power when the last industrial upheaval of magnitude swept the country, and when the nest election came round the party was swept into oblivion for 21 years, and now another Tory Government is in another upheaval is on, and even if the workers are defeated a strike is -never lost. A strike is never lost, for the workers emerge from the battle seeing their weak points and rectify them; and the lesson of 11 is light, he declared, amid applause, was, "Workera, stand idtid tad win both oa th*

industrial and the political fields." Inis concluded an evening's splendid meeting, our comrade sitting down amidst much applause, ' The chairman then called on four volunteers to take up a collection on behalf of the Strfke Relief Fund, after which questions would bo called for. The collection was splendid realising £6 2s. Bd. *