ALL TRAINS STOP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17277, 29 September 1919, Page 7

ALL TRAINS STOP.

GOVERNMENT STATEMENT.

FEW DISTURBANCES OCCUR.

ORGANISING ROAD SERVICE.

DISCHARGED SOLDIERS' AID.

Australia and N.Z. Cable Association.

(Reed. 12.5 a.m.)

LONDON, Sept. 27

Field - Marshal Earl Haig, Sir Robert Home, Minister for Labour, Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, First Sea Lord, Sir Erie Geddes, Minister for Transport, Mr. Walter Long, Secretary of State for the Colonics, Mr. Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for War, and Mr. G. H. Roberts, Minister for Food, attended a conference at the offices of the Council for Imperial Defence in Whitehall. Mr. Winston Churchill, Sir Eric Geddes and the railway managers subsequently conferred' with Mr. j Lloyd George at Downing Street. i During the evening the following j communique was issued: "Reports from the country indicate that the stoppage of the train service is complete. There have been few disturbances. The Government is rapidly organising road transport service to ensure tho food Supply, and is receiving large numbers of offers of assistance from all parts, particularly from discharged soldiers and sailors and their organisation."

FEEDING THE CAPITAL.

HYDE PARK AS FOOD CENTRE. REPORTS FROM PROVINCES. INDUSTRY DISORGANISED. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 1 a-m.) LONDON, Sept. 27. The duration of the strike is estimated in railway circles at a fortnight if the Government remains adai-uant. The Government has taken over Hyde Park as a centre for food distribution in the London area. Milk, butter, vegetables, and eggs, are brought direct from the country to Hyde Park, and sent forthwith to scheduled districts in motor-lorries under the direction of air force officers.

Country people brought their produce to Plymouth over many miles of road. All sorts of conveyances were used for the distribution of food. Soldiers at Folkestone assisted in carrying luggage and loading coal and mails to enable the cross-channel steamers to leave. Hundreds of telegrams have been received from the country, containing gratifying offers of motor-cars.

A few hundred naval men have been been drafted to London from Chatham and have been entrusted with motor-lorries for distributing foodstuffs. The postal service between London and the provinces will be re-established on Monday. Three-fourths of the Midland railway employees at the carriage and waggon building and repairing works at Derby are idle. The railway station platforms at Bristol were left piled with mails and perishable goods. Hundreds of workmen are unable to reach Birmingham, Cardiff and other centres.

Union officials claim that 3500 railway employees have left work in South Wales. There are no workmen's trains to the collieries in the Avon Valley, and on Monday every pit will be idle. The steel and tinplate works must close in the absence of coal.

The stoppage of English traffic seriously affects Belfast. The strike in Glasgow is complete, and supplies of coal are short. The mills at Burnley, in Lancashire, will soon close because of lack of coal and material. Much inconvenience has been caused in Liverpool. Steps are being taken to keep the Mersey tunnel pumps at work. Seventeen thousand colliers and steelworkers at Neath have been rendered idle by the strike. Coal stocks will suffice for the principal local industries for a fortnight.

The Irish Trade Union Congress officially has approved the strike, and has warned Irish workers to be ready to assist the strikers in every possible way.

FAILURE OF CONFERENCE. HOW THE NEWS CAME. SURPRISE FOR THE PUBLIC. A. and N.Z. LONDON, Sept. 26. News of the failure ot the railway negotiations came as a bombshell Ac the public, which had refused to anticipate a strike, at 48 hours' notice, when the railwaymen were assured of the present rates for at least three months, but those with inner knowledge, say that the public optimism regarding the settlement was never really justified. The Government this morning- made a new offer, and promised also to consider any anomalies. The men's leaders then withdrew to another room. After the proposed consultation they leturned, and said they had decided to reject the offer. Cabinet members and officials who had been waiting in great anxiety realised that further efforts were, useless. The die had been cast.

When Mr. J. 11. Thomas, the general secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, who is a highly emotional man, came to Downing Street, he was evidently on the verge of tears, lb- said to waiting pressmen, " The strike will begin at midnight." Later, Mr. Thomas stated that the executive spared .in effort to avert the crisis, and said that Mr. Lloyd (leorcre found it impossible to concede standardisation of all grades on the basis already agreed In with the locomotive men, with the result that asi r'fke became inc. ila'.lc II" honed members v.oidd realise (hat neither disorder nor rioting would help their cause. Damage to property would not be countenanced.