BLACK AUGUST

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7929, 12 October 1911, Page 4

BLACK AUGUST

STRIKES IN BRITAIN ESTIMATED TO HAVE COST £100,000,000 I FROJI OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. LONDON, September 1. August was indeed a black month for England, and September has opened none too auspiciously. There is a grave risk of a recurrence of tho recent strikes in an even more exaggerated form. On all hands fears are expressed that another and greater labour upheaval is on the tapis. Apparently all depends on tho Great Eastern Railway. Their employees who struck complain, that the company is not keeping either to the spirit or the letter of tho agreement as to the reinstatement of drivers and guards and others who “ came out ” during tho strike last month, and it is said that the men affected are ready and eager to come out again if their demands are not fully met by the company. Their action, if it stood alone, would not be a source of vast inconvenience to the community at large, but the striking of the Great Eastern Railwayman will he tho signal for a stoppage of work of all tho men belonging to the Federation of Transport Workers.; This organisation surprised people by its exhibition of power during the August troubles, and during that, period it increased its membership and widened its sphere of influence tremendously. It. has , been the custom of smugly respectable citizens to jeer at Ben Tillett, Harry Gosling, and their co-workers for- a set of frothymouthed agitators, but they are now beginning, to perceive that those men are powers in tho land, and that through the organisations which they have brought into lino under the Transport Federation’s banner, they can bring about a complete paralysis of commerce. So to-day the sneerers axe rapidly changing their attitude towards Tillett and company. Now they are demanding their heads on 'chargers i and cursing the Government because it will not take steps to place men like Tillett and Gosling in durance vile. But these men, when all is said, are merely figureheads. They “lead” on sufferance, and just so long as they c go the way their “followers” desire to proceed. They can neither make nor break a strike, and the agreements they may make on behalf of the workers are effective or otherwise according to the humours of the men, who come out or remain in as fancy dictates, without consulting their nominal leaders. Labour in England to-day is indeed a masterless man, fully conscious of the possession of herculean strength, and ready to use it ruthlessly to attain his own ends. COUNTING THE COST. What have the series of strikes which practically paralysed the trade of the Old Country for a fortnight cost the nation? It is 'difficult, if not impossible, to give any accurate estimate, for a great labour upheaval touches a nation in a thousand ways. Its ramifications. are practically endless. It affects the price of butter in Shadwell, and lowers the price of the shares of a mine thousands of miles away; it raises tho price of the people’s loaf, and knocks down tho value of giltedged securities. It touches everybody’s pocket in some way or other, from the' millionaire mining magnate to the costermonger in the street; but in some oases in snob an indirect fashion that tho victim is scarcely aware of the fact. There are others who, though not in any way associated with those primarily concerned in the dispute, still suffer very materially by reason of it. “The Consumer pays ” is a trite saying, but a very true one where strikes are concerned, as the London, householders have good reason to know. During the run of. the recent troubles prices of almost every household commodity rose appreciably meat,' butter, eggs, cheese, vegetables, and even tinned goods and jams. In some districts fish also rose sharply in price. Altogether it is computed that tho extra cost of household necessaries during the three weeks of acute trouble ranged between 7 and 10 per cent. Beyond this householders in many districts will probably find themselves paying for the strikes in the form of additions to their local rates, rendered necessary by the heavier calls on the Poor Law authorities caused by the cessation of labour, and the increased expenditure of the local sanitary and other authorities for tho removal of refuse,' carriage of road material, etc. In the' realms of finance the operations of the strikes were very pronounced. Scores of companies about to appeal to the public were “hung up,” causing heavy losses to the promoters, and securities of all kinds fell sharply. Tho “ Bankers’ Magazine ” calculates that during August the aggregate value of 387 representative securities fell in valuo.no less than £73,000,000. Railway stock alone (h opped 18i millions owing entirely to the railway strikes.

The loss caused to the railway companies themselves is almost, incalculable. In one week alone the decrease in the traffic of seven leading lines was oijer half a million pounds. Some of tliis may bo recovered in the shape of freight on goods held back, but the lost passenger traffic money cannot be regained, nor can the perishable goods which went to waste through delays in transit. The value of these goods has been roughly estimated at over £IOO,OOO.

Heavy losses iiavo_ also accrued to almost every shipowning concern in the Kingdom. Here, again, it is impossible at present to estimate the aggregate losses of this community. Their nest balance-sheets will, however, tell the tale—a tale of dividends lost and hundreds of thousands of pounds gone beyond recovery. As'to tho value of the food products hold up In port, docks, and warehouses during the strike, and rendered unfit for human consumption, the true figures may, however, be available. Tons upon tons of fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, have been consigned to Davy Jones’ locker from steamers held up in London alone, and tons more have been sold at half , of what the goods would have fetched had it not been for the deterioration caused by delay. ’ - In the lower trading circles tho effects of the strikes have been very severely felt, especially by those small shopkeepers depending on the labour-

ing classes for customers. In London scores of these people did practically no trade for three weeks, and others had to shut up shop entirely owing to their inability to obtain coeds for sale. As regards the direct wage loss to tho strikers, it is calculated that th< workers lost at least £3,000,000, and that, in addition, they trenched. on trade union funds and personal savings to the extent of quite £2,000,000. AMiat the actual amount of London’s strike bill really is no one has attempted as yet to calculate, but Liverpool has been reckoning up her losses and puts them down at over £lO,000,000, a largo proportion of which was lost by people having no direct connection with the labour dispute. If these figures really .represent Liverpool’s bill, what must London’s be, and what figures must be put down to represent the nation’s loss? Some say that a hundred million' pounds would barely square the account.