INDUSTRIAL TURMOIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20378, 5 October 1929, Page 14

INDUSTRIAL TURMOIL.

THE LAW OF TYRANNY.

CONDITIONS IN AUSTRALIA.

MINISTER'S FORCEFUL SPEECH

"Where is liberty if some men can say to others, 'Thou shalt not work ?' "asked tho New South Wales Minister for Mines, Mr. Weaver, at a recent meeting of the New South Wales Master Printers' Association in Sydney. "Where is democracy if some men can say to industry, 'Thou shalt not produce V " tho speaker asked. "Where is equality if some men can say to tho Stato, 'Wo demand tho legal right to strike, but wo deny tho right of other men to work while wo are on striko ?' Whore is sanity if some men can say to employers of labour, 'There are enemy workmen, but wo will compel you to employ them in your enterprise V Whore is law if these declarations subversive of its statutes can bo made effoctivo by mob action ? "Wliero is government if wo permit the organised tyranny of a section of tho community to usurp tho functions of government and to impose its will upon tho community ? And whero is courage and whence has fled tho spirit of our forefathers, who broke tho tyranny of kings, lords and nobles, securing to every Briton freedom to trade, if wo do not end this intolerable condition of affairs promptly and effectively ? If legislation bo required—then let us legislate. If education be required—then lot us educate. But whether it be legislation, education or agitation, don't let our cause and tho cause of sanity in this Stato bo lost by hesitation.

"Tho time is swiftly coming," Mr. Weaver continued, "when tho public will require in power only thoso men and that Government which will seo that combinations for tho purpose of closing largo industries, tho product of which is necessary for the welfare of the general public, will bo treated as law-breakers. Tho political party that has not tho courago to stand up and pledge itself to tho protection of the public against tho wrongs and terrors of industrial warfare will, when the public secures a just focus on this question, travel tho pathway of cowardice to defeat.

"Twenty years of industrial conciliation —savo the mark —have brought us nothing but industrial war, savage, senseless, purposeless, remorseless war, which has reduced industry to a condition of creeping paralysis. Our opponents believe in the destruction of profits for a definito revolutionary end, but tho time is coming when we shall question tho right of any section of the community, be it comprised of capital or labour, to employ and direct its resources against tho national prosperity."