The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1917. A STRIKE CAMPAIGN

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9639, 20 April 1917, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1917. A STRIKE CAMPAIGN

What is the full meaning of the statement made to tho Acting-Prime Minister by the National Secretary of the United Federation of Labour? It is first of all a warning that the strike, so called, of the New Zealand miners has the approval of tho organised Labour of Australasia. is tho opinion of, the national secretary and’ of the men whoso mouthpiece he is in this matter. Thp opinion may be right or it may be wrong. But right or wrong, it is the opinion of the men who have sent the warning to the Acting-Prime Minister. These are not irresponsible individuals. They are the head of a groat organisation. That is the first point. The second is that the warning is not academic. It means that the heads of the organisation intend to support the so-called strike of the minors with something more than a mere expression of approval of their objects. The miners have accompanied ■their stoppage of work with a mandate to repeal the Military Service Act. This mandate has the support of tho organisation, which has pointedly informed the Acbing-Prhno Minister to that effect. It follows that the organisation also approves of the moans adopted for enforcing the mandate. That being so, it ia clear that if the mandate is not obeyed, the organisation will use its power in an attempt to support the miners with the method of compulsion which has their approval. Tho statement-to tho ActingPrime Minister, then, is a threat to effect a general strike of organised Labour, and thus bring the industries of the Dominion to general immediate paralysis.’ The representatives of the people have passed the Act of Service, and tho great majority of tho people have accepted it. A minority refuses to obey, and seeks to compel tho acceptance of this disobedience by paralysis of tho whole industry of the State. This affects the safety and honour of tho State, by preventing the State from doing its duty by the Empire in the war, the duty inherent in the State’s Imperial relation, and affirmed in addition by the express promise made by the heads of the State and enthusiastically confirmed by the vast majority of the people. In addition to this danger and this humiliation, the action of the minority threatens the citizens with hardships intolerable. Why should the State or the individual endure a tyranny as undemocratic and absolute as anything in the practice of the Kaiser during the war ?

Tho State will not endure it, because the State cannot compromise with, defiant disobedience to the law. Otherwise the State would he putting a premium on anarchy. Neither wiil the groat bulk of tho citizens endure it. For they are loyal to the cause of Empire, which is the bulwark of their safety and their freedom; tiie link binding them to their kindred with whom they have inherited magnificent traditions ; with whose sons, their sons arc facing the enemy in battle. As an integral part of this

majority, organised Labour will, we foci sure, not carry out the programme hinted by the warning of the National Federation of Labour. xVmongst the workers there may be hero and there spirits carried away by the sort of hot air which has placed the miners in the position of rebellious disobedience to the Legislature and flagrant contempt of the Judicature. The majority of tho workers have just been eulogised by the chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board for their honesty, practical good sense, and a high order of ability, which ought to find a larger field in the affairs of tho nation than it has yet acquired. It is the opinion of a man w-ho has just presided over long deliberations of intricate character concerning complications ot conditions and conflicts of interests, which make a most difficult field, tor even the clearest _ thought and the most dispassionate judgment. It is an opinion at once spontaneous and opportune. Alert so described require no prompting. Their patriotism, their honesty, and their clearness of mind give light enough for them to find their path of duty. . /these arc. the natural leaders of organised Labour- They require no reflection to clear tho position for them. Those who are not so well furnished may possibly ho tempted to admiro the vapourings of the minority, who would like to ' persuade them to follow the warning to support tho mandate of the miners by an attempt to paralyse tho industry of the Dominion. These require to reflect well. As an aid to reflection they have the fact that essential industries have been placed on a, list in which strikes are made seditious under regulations; which have stood the test of judicial judgment. The proclamation of the list stands across the path ot tho general strike, of which menacing hint has been given. The mischief done by the mandate of a minority to repeal a law of the Legislature with the majority of public opinion behind it, is apparent already in the second cut of tho railway programme. That is the consequence of the action of tho miners. That it will inflict hardship most galling goes without saying. To increase that hardship will not be more disloyal than the action which has brought this first instalment within close distance. But it will be vastly more difficult to bear. It will, in fact, ho ruinous. It will throw Labour everywhere out of employment, and threaten the whole public with starvation, which must accompany tho paralysis of industry. The call of patriotism, of national honour, and public safety stands reinforced by material considerations most substantial, and acute enough to produce extensive disaster. That call must b°. obeyed by every unit of the many which make up the public opinion of the country. In ordinary . times the appeal would bo strong. In war it is simply imperative, because in war the sole consideration is the public safety.