EXTENDING THE STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19143, 8 October 1925, Page 11

EXTENDING THE STRIKE.

LABOUR COUNCIL'S ORDER. SHIPS NOT TO BE WORKED WHARF LABOURERS DISOBEY. DEPORTATION PROCEEDINGS. Bv Tcleeraph—Press Assoc-'at ion—Copyright. (Received 10.35 p rn.) A. ard N Z. SYDNEY. Oct. 7. The Trades ard Ciborr Council has hi t ••vied all the ' iron- which are r\ff ! bated t<? it that they nvst refrain n-oni w.e-kinc a!) ships that are in disi! te This ' d"V d -e- no! apnlv to the S e ic or the Or\ieto. The a>-tv>n to he t.;' n in redid to these vessels will he con d "red inter. The Waterside Woi Iters' Federation has ref-ivd to <.'-ey the instruction. Its of'e als say their mem eis will work the shi' s. Tie -tiikecs have formed a Federal ex,vnti e. consisting of delegates from all the 00. ts in the- Commonwealth where vessels are held up. The Me-b'mrne Communist Party has summoned a left wing union conference to he held at Melbourne to consider the strike. The Sue\ic has arrived. The stewards are <3<>iw t'e work of stokers who joiner! the strikers at Melbourne. The waterside workers say they will unload the vessel. The coal lumpers to-day decided not to coal the Orvieto. Several more strikers have been sen:cnced to sex en days' imprisonment. At to-day's sitting of the Deportation Board Mr. A. R. Watt, K.C., counsel for Torn Walsh, renewed his demand for the attendance of the Prime Minister, Mr. S. M. Bruce, and the Minister for Home Affairs. Mr. C. F. Pearce- He said that if they would attend he would use his influence to induce the witnesses for Walsh to answer the Commonwealth counsel's questions. The board refused to alter its previous decision not to cail Messrs. Bruce and Pearce. A Melbourne proposal to charter vessels to carry Victorian produce if the strike continues to hold up cargoes is considered in shipping circles titers to be impracticable. FREMANTLE TROUBLE. STATE PREMIER CRITICISED. TEMPORISING WITH STRIKERS. A. and N.Z. PERTH. Oct. 7. The Federal Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. C. F. Pearce commented to-day on the conference which the State Premier, Mr. P. Collier, held yesterday, with representatives of the Labour Party and the Waterside Workers' Federation concerning; the raids at Fremantle upon the steame.Demodocus. Mr. Pearce said it was a pitiable thing that the head of the State Government, who had sworn to uphold the laws and the peace of the State, and had been entrusted by the people with the control j of the police force, should find it neces- i tarv to appeal to Labour organisations to take upon themselves the duty and re- I sponsibility which the people had placed in his own hands. Such weakness -emboldened every lawbreaker in the State. It invited violence and disorder and brought the law into contempt. The Commonwealth Government could not remain quiescent under such circumstances. Oversea trade was the life-blood of Australian production. It must be maintained. Australia's primary production, on which depended her whole prosperity, hung on this. It was owing to these exhibitions of weakness on the part of State Labour Governments that the Commonwealth Government was now appealing to the people to give it a mandate to see that any necessary action was taken to safeguard trade and maintain law and order and the supremacy of Parliament and the Government. Mr. Collier in Reply. In the course of a reply to Mr. Pearce. the State Premier said he had cabled to England denying that there had been physical force or mob violence, on the h remantle wharves. Referring to what he described as alleged lack of police protection to cope with mythical physical force, disorder arid mob violence, which existed only in the mind of a panic-stricken shipmaster, Mr. Collier said it was manifestly impossible for the police, when the strike was in progress, to line the wharves in sufficient force to compel the continuance of shipping operations. In normal times the shipowners were entitled to use reasonable force to prevent any attempt to board their ships. If lawlessness or disorder followed, the police would automatically step in, and only then did owners expect the police to usurp j their functions. Mr. Pearce was forgetting his duty as a Federal Minister, said the Premier. Ho was anxious to make as much political capita! as possible, and spoke with little knowledge of the position when he implied that the head of the State Government was setting the law at naught. Captain's Story of the Raid. Captain Sprott, of the steamer Demo docus, to day replied to denials of his statement that his crew had been intimidated as a result of a raid by British sea men. He said it. was useless for any one to deny that violence had been threatened by the stiikers who boarded the vessel. There was no police protection for his crew. Application was made for police to be present when the Demodocus was berthing, cut he was informed that no police would be made available, and that it was the master's duty to protect his j onn ship. | Subsequent to the first raid on the j vessel, said Captain Sprott, he inter j viewed the inspector of police at b re- J mantle and the commissioner at Perth They said it was not the business of the police to keep people from boat ding his ship. If actual violence circuited they v/onld take act iop. In regard to the second raid, when the Demodocus was prevented fiom leaving her beith. Captain Sprott sajd he was told that if hf flared to try to move the vessel j Bg'.in he would have to look out foi him- j Elf I The taiders threatened that they would , (] _'e the main bodes and the d nkey j fc-o'ior. ]> i f.orsj .-<r u >e;s stand 'hat the men E : . n d to smash the ref.igeiat- j J: . . ■■cl.iiieiy. If the d nkey boiler had j I n damaged the lcf.igeratcd stores j V viuld have been tuined.