Striking Brisbane Railwaymen

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26709, 2 March 1948, Page 5

Striking Brisbane Railwaymen

PREMIER’S ORDER DEFIED New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11 p.m. BRISBANE, Mar. !. The great majority of the striking Brisbane railwaymen to-day defied the Government order to return to work by 10 a.m. to-day or be dismissed. Only six passenger trains ran on suburban lines, and all were manned by non-strikers who were stood down when the maintenance men stopped work a month ago. The first passenger train to run in Brisbane since the strike started carried strikers to the Ipswich railway workshops, where large squads of police ensured that the handful of men who entered the main gates did so unmolested. Long before starting time, strikers lined the routes to the workshops. Inflammatory placards were thrown away after police instructions. About 3000 strikers then held a meeting outside, after which about 30 reported for work. About 5000 other railwaymen who had been stood down reported for work and are doing odd jobs about the yards and stations. -

In spite of interference by 100 strikers, reinforced by women and leading Communists, over 50 per cent, of the striking tramwaymen returned to work at the main workshops. The nearest thing to a riot occurred when 50 men led by Mr F. Paterson, a Communist member of the State Government, refused to comply with police requests to move from outside the tram depot. - The Rail Commissioner said that the response to the Premier's back-to-work order had been poor. Emergency trains are running, and four planes are carrying eight tons of food daily north from Brisbane. Earlier, the Queensland Trades and Labour Council supported a direction of the Waterside Workers’ Federation executive that the Queensland watersiders, numbering 3000, support the railway strikers. The council decided that the watersiders remain on strike until the State Government’s emergency measures were lifted. The council also decided to demand the resignation of the Premier, Mr E. M. Hanlon.

The Australian Railway Union executive in Melbourne has instructed its members not to handle goods for Queensland. A continuance of the railwaymen's strike would be tantamount to civil war. said the Premier, in a final appeal to the striking railwaymen to return tp work to-day. Mr Hanlon said that since the strike began Brisbane had experienced an invasion by the high command of the Communist Party, wno had come from Melbourne and Sydney and had taken control of the strike. One of them was reported to have said; “This is only the beginning.” The Police Commissioner, Mr C. J. Carroll, found it necessary to issue a special warning to the Brisbane newsroom of the Australian Broadcasting Commission that a statement broadcast in a news session was a breach of the Government Order-in-Council. The commissioner tqld the officer in charge that if there was a repetition of the offence action would be , taken under the regulations. The broadcast item was a statement issued by the combined railways union Disputes Committee, in which the Government was described as Fascist.