THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1924 DIRECT ACTION AND THE STATE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19147, 15 April 1924, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1924 DIRECT ACTION AND THE STATE.

Upon the quality of the mental agility which they are exhibiting tho officials of tho Amalgamated Society of Railway Servant-, cannot be seriously congratulated. Having by their procedure precipitated an unfortunate state of uncertainty in connection with the operation of one of tho most important of the public services, they now blandly suggest that the next move is with tho Prime Minister. Upon him, according to their view, it devolves to state what the Cabinet is prepared to offer the railway employees by way of increased wages. This is decidedly ingenuous, bnt tactically it is quite crude. A more unequivocal confession of an attempt at intimidation could not be desired. The society has raised the standard of direct action, and tho ballot papers on the strike issue are in circulation among its members. it coolly protests now that, while tho storm is only impending, it is for the Government to say what it is prepared to do for tho railway servants. Such rcason|ng the schoolboy learns to use at a very tender age, Directed at the State through, the Government which is its representative, it suggests a conspicuous lack of sense of responsibility upon tnc part of those who use it. Confronted with the throat of a strike it is for the Government, it is solemnly suggested, to bo sweetly reasonable and make an offer. Should it show a spirit so pusillanimous it would deserve to reap as it sowed. Emphatically the next move in the situation is not with the Government. The railwaymeu have broken off all negotiations, in order that they may play a little war game of their own. They have issued bnl lot-papers upon the question whether there shall be a strike or not. In fine they have levelled their pistol, hut that the Government should be expected to make an offer for their consideration while the weapon is presented at its head is a suggestion that should not be taken seriously. If the Government is to make a counter-proposal the time for so doing will be when the threat of a strike is withdrawn. The precipitation with which the A.S.R.S. has proceeded should gain it little sympathy. Even those who may not be able to see that a strike on the part of employees of tho State cannot be justified in any circumstances will be able to agree that it is highly improper that a body of public servants should propose to deprive the community of the use of its own property, cut off the means of communication, and subject the public to inconvenience and loss until all the means of negotiating a settlement have been exhausted. The fact that tho Amalgamated Society suggests that the next move lies with the Government is" tantamount, however, to an admission on its part that all the available methods of arriving at a settlement have not been tried. The weapon which is used by its employees against the Government is used, it is always to he remembered, against the community as a whole. The Government is the servant of the State, just as the railway employees are servants of the State. It exists to carry out the will of the State in respect of the treatment of public servants as in respect of other* matters. If it does not carry out the wishes cf the people in such a connection the obvious remedy lie* in the replacement of it by a Government that will do so. But the threat of a strike directed against it is one of a

kind which, were it permitted to succeed, might readily be -productive of results that are opposed to the public interest. An endeavour to coerce the representative of the State is clearly indefensible, and in the present instance the course before tho Government for the time being is not in doubt. The authority entrusted to it by the community must bo maintained. The Government should makft no move at all until the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants has withdrawn the ballot-papers on the strike issue, or until the strike, should it materialise, has been defeated.