MAY BE CALLED OFF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15002, 25 May 1912, Page 8

MAY BE CALLED OFF.

FEDERATION GOING SLOW. THE MINEES' MISTAKE. A TACTICAL BLUNDER. ADMITTED BY LEADERS. NO NEED TO STRIKE. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OffS correspondent.] Wbllijjgtox, Friday. On what has every appearance of being good authority it is stilted that the strike of miners atWaiki will bo called off by the Federation of Labour very shortly, probably on Monday next. Information to this effect was obtained to-day from sources independent of one another. The persons who supplied information agreed in stating that the Federation Executive was not responsible for the strike, and that it was to bo attributed solely to a fanatical outburst on the part of the leaders of the local union. The Federation Executive is said to be of opinion that no strike was necessary to prevent registration. The. Federation Executive, it is said, holds the opinion that the registration of the Waihi Enginedrivers* Union under the provisions of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Ac* is a legal impossibility, and that the strike was, therefore, absolutely unnecessary. Reports have been current of late that abortive attempts had been made to get the Waterside Workers* Unions and the J West Coast miners to strike in sympathy with the miners at Waihi. The informants above quoted discredited the*reports mentioned, and declared that so far from attempting- to spread the strike the executive of federation had concentrated its efforts on devising means to end it without openly confessing that a grave tactical blunder had been, made by the Waihi union. Prominent members of the Federation Executive have so often appeared before the public as firebrands and advocates of revolutionary socialism that it is a little difficult to conceive them playing the part of peacemakers: Yet it is stated by persons who should know that the federation leaders are engrossed at the moment not in stirring up tho forces under their control, but in playing the part of a brake, and acting as a check upon tho too impetuous units of their organisation. Tho accepted explanation of this state of affairs is that crude doctrines of militant democracy ceaselessly dinned into the ears of the workers in ..the federation has.bred in them a fever of unrest which makes the. more impatient spirits amongst them almost ungovernable. They have been told innumerable times that " working-class solidarity " will make them invincible, and now they want to put the matter to the test utterly regardless of surrounding circumstances. The federation leaders are wise enough to realise that, ceaseless strikes -will- fritter away the powers of their organisation "without inflicting any serious damage on those with whom it may come into conflict, and their whole desire at present is to go slow. This at least is said by those who have more than a passing acquaintance with the federation and its working to be the present state of its affairs.',/. .-.. ■'.■• ~ ~ ■ ■. ■ . ~. - ...