A STRIKING CHARGE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12284, 10 July 1914, Page 1

A STRIKING CHARGE.

MR M'COMBS AND THE. PRIME : MINISTER, J By Telegraph. (From Our Correspondent.) Wellington, July 9. The whole of an hour's jyell-reasoned .speech - -- delivered in a deliberate,, nnemotiona] fashion, was devoted by Mr M'Com-bs (Lyttelton) this evening to a discussion of -the waterside strike. He alleged that'the - Employers' Association" brought the "Waihi miners under contracts so as- to rob them of the benefits of the Arbitration. Act. This was a lovelv- policy in view of their enthusiasm for the Arbitration Union. When the waterside workers' strike occurred Sir Joseph Ward was shouldered out of peace -"negotiations for political reasons, and Mr Pirani, a Reform candidate for Wanganui, and Mr Ac-land, a Reform candidate for Avon, were- prominent among the men who "sooled ' on-, the shipping companies to reject terms on which. they. had. almost agreed. "I charge the Prime Minister with the responsibility for. the continuance of the .strike from November 3 onwards,''' .declared Mr M'Combs. He had an opportunity, but for political reasons, at the dictation of.a political group, he refused to settle the strike in order to make political capital' out of it at the election. Was there any talk of forcing -the employers to hold a secret ballot among the hundreds of thousands of business people who suffered as a .result of the conflict, to decide whether it should continue. Tlieii - ChrLstmas-trade was spoiled, and all that suffering was imposed upon them bv a plot in which the Prime .Minister of New Zealand played the part- of continuing the industrial conflict for political purposes.