BAD NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 913, 30 August 1889, Page 16

BAD NEWS.

The intelligence conveyed by cable elsewhere is serious in the extreme. On the

face of it there i 3. apprehension of a national labour strike, and the result of such a terrible calamity as that is beyond appreciation. Never in its annals —since the final disposal of the order of succession—has England had to face such a contingency. All the great riots, war scares, etc, are :in sign ilican t in comparison with this effort of the giant labour. It is exposing its massive proportions, and demanding better terms, and better terms will have

to be given if it can be clearly demonstrated that, compared with profits made, labour is under-paid. It seems to us that the day of reckoning between capital and labour is close at hand, if it has not already come. As we contend in our article elsewhere, great is the necessity for an easy and equitable means of adjusting all disputes between labour and capital. It must come to that ; a tribunal from which there will be no appeal, and composed of representatives drawn impartially from labour on one side and capital on the other. We do most sincerely hope that the dire cataclysm that is threatening the Mother Country will be averted, that wise and liberal counsels Will come to the fescue. The reaction is sure to inimicaliy affect all the.dependencies of the Empire: . Prices. Of certain lines may go up, but thfi shock td tirade will be disastrous: