EVE OF THE STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19349, 9 June 1926, Page 15

EVE OF THE STRIKE.

SCENE IN THE COMMONS. MR BALDWIN'S GREAT SPEECH ■AN INSPIRING PERORATION. "I SHALL PICK UP THE BITS." London newspapers of May received hv yesterday's mail, give an account of the tense situation in the House of Commons on the evening of May 3, when it had become apparent that all efforts to avert the threatened national general strike were doomed to failure. The representative of one journal, in describing' the Prime Minister's speech, said:—"Those present heard Mr. Baldwin sober the House with a bald statement of past relations in which fact outweighed prejudice and an impartial, summary of the recent unhappy negotiations; then from the confession of failure and the challenge of a general strike rising to a peroration on courage and hope against hope which moved the House to an outburst of enthusiasm and reduced the strained and breaking voice of the Prime Minister to inaudibility. Mr. Baldwin's Speech. The House passed to tense hush and expectancy as Mr. Baldwin rose, walked to the Bar and, calling "A message from the King," stepped up to the Speaker and presented the emergency proclamation already issued. A brief interim ■was caused by a Socialist division against the presentation of an Address-in-Reply—carried by 508 votes to 103— and Mr. Baldwin was on his feet with words about the House meeting "on one of the gravest occasions on which it has ever met," apologies for absence «md acknowledgment of strain. On the previous Saturday, said Mr. Baldwin, he heard unofficially—from the press—of the threat of a general strike. It was difficult to decide. He decided to ignore the threat for the moment. He *sked for smaller negotiating bodies in order to make conversation easier in his aim of securing an assurance that a fortnight's further truce might begin a settlements "With that assurance we would have risked it, but it was no use going on after the experience of ! the last fortnight unless we had a reasonable assurance." • > Then Mr. Baldwin came to the Sunday night meeting, with its further effort for acceptance of the report of the lloyal Commission, with reorganisation and such interim adjustment of wages and hours as ■would make it economically possible for the industry to continue.

" Ban a Great Risk,"

"Don't forget," he cried with a sudden heightening of appeal, "the risk I -was running as Prime Minister in negotiating like that up to the l« ; st- moment under the threat of a general strike. It had come to our notice thst specific instructions had already gone out under the authority of the trade union executive. Yet I continued to negotiate and ran a risk—a real risk. "At 11.30 I learned that certain overt acts had already taken place in anticipation of a general stride, not . in themselves great, but great in their possible consequences arid in their signification, These were acts interfering with ( the freedom of the press. Such actions, coupled with instructions, made me feel that we had reached a point when it was impossible for the Government, cr for me to persuade the Government, to pursue these negotiations any further.

"The Government found itself > challenged with an alternative Government, and that Government ignorant of the way in which its commands were being carried out, and incapable of arresting disobedience to it. There is no use disguising matters with words which conceal the truth.'*

This momentous step, continued the Prime Minister, had been taken by .the Trade Union Congress without ballot or consultation with the branches. He did not believe there had been anything like a thorough consultation with the rank and file before this despotic power was put in the hands of a small executive in London. This despotic power," he went on, is a gross travesty of any democratic system. Many of these unions have solemn agreements which are to be broken and repudiated. Such an extension of an ordinary trade dispute changes its character." ■ < : • "I became convinced,!' said Mr. Baldwin, "that those who sought peace were not in control, and it would bo wrong and dangerous for the Government to continue talking unless we got an immeBTdiata and unconditional, withdrawal of the J instructions for a general strike." Aa Inspiring Peroration. Mr. Baldwin ended with a touch of that courageous self-revelation which moved the House just 12 months previously and moved it again. "It will be said," he observed, "this is the end of your dreamy, visionary speeches about peace. Let me say this. I have worked two years to the utmost of my ability in one direction. I have failed so far. Everything that I care for is being smashed to bits at this moment, but that does not take away from me my faith or rny courage. "We may in this House i>o full of strife, but before long the angol of peace with healing in his wings will be with us again. When he comes let us be there to meet him. I shall pick up the bits. I shall start again. 1 may not see what 1 have dreamed of in my lifetime, but I know that the seed I have planted in men's hearts will germinate. It is in that direction alone we shall pass after much suffering through deep waters and Storms to that better iand." These -words were almost inaudible as the Prime Minister sank back on his seat and weariedly took his head in his hands. " It Must Be Over Soon." It was an exhausting effort for an exhausted man, every minute of iis hour and a-quarter packed with criticism or appeal. There was nothing to excite, much to soothe, and much that required courage. Mr. J. H. Thomas (Labour) followed with fervour mixed with fear, with hope that even now the precipitated general strike might- be put off, and a promise of sen-ice after the "wreck." "Only one thing remains to be done," declared Mr. Thomas, who had fought so arduously for a settlement. "That is to keep the strike short. It must be over soon. It cannot last. Those who talk airily of a long fight do not understand what ihey are