TRADES AND LABOUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 27 August 1891, Page 15

TRADES AND LABOUR.

(Pbb Pbess Association.)

London, August 23. It is estimated the carpenters have lost half a million in wages by their strike. BBBLIN. August 21.

At the meeting of the Socialist Congress letters were received from the Australian Wons sympathising with the labour bodies }n their endeavours to improve their social position.

Beussels, August 21.

• The Socialist Congress deprecated the labour party takiDg any pronounced political Attitude, and recommended prudence before resorting to strikes. Disorderly scenes were enacted at tne Socialist Congress in this city. Thirty-one of the English delegates of new unionism "became annoyed at the motions introduced by delegates from the older and more stable unions, and refused to attend. It is alleged that anarchists control the proceedings. 1 The congress has resolved that the military are a product of capitalism.

THE QUEENSLAND STRIKE.

The following extracts from a letter from an ex-New Zealander, whose remarks we published at the beginning of the strike, may be of interest fy} our readers :— „,.,.. - So the great Queensland strike has become an historical event. It and its predecessors have been the greatest boons that possibly oonld have befallen the struggling Queensland squatter. I started lamb marking in May, and two attempts were made to persuade the men to leave. What has been known as "moral suasion" was not resorted to owing to the presence of a mounted infantry patrol, which was quartered here for three weeks. I imported some men from Townsville, under three months' agreements, who have turned out first-class men. I also took back some of the old hands under six months' agreements. The firm attitude of the Government, the result of the conspiracy trials, and the heavy sentences passed for assault and arson com- I pletely frightened the unionists. In reality what took place was not a labour trouble but an attempt at revolution. The man who really pulled the strings is an ex-Ohicago anarchist, who made acatspaw of the Shearers' Union. The free shearers and rouseabouts for here arrived last week, and started shearing on Friday. As a body of men they are quite different from, and very much superior to, the men we have always had to put up with, even their language is quite different. The old lot used to lighten their labours by cursing the squatter, the Queen, and the powers that be generally, while this lot talk like civilised beings. There is also a very marked contrast in their newspapers. Now it is the Argus, Age, Australasian, &c., &o. in place of the Worker and Sydney Bulletin." The clip promisesffco be better than anything I have seen out here before, so the extra wool will do far more than pay for the extra expense when we can get such a quantity and quality of labour for the importation, it is simply madness to have anything to do with unionists. There are crowds of men roaming about without money or rations, of course we can't turn them away starving. I had the pleasure of supplying the wants of some men who only a fortnight before tried to stop my lamb marking. „.„.. t «. Tbe union leaders seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are trying to do away with " the Commandments." The one which says " Thou sbalt not steal "and that which is "Thou shalt not covet "—to have any meaning at all— must refer to private property, which seems to be a thing abhorrent to the meek and lowly unionist. Bub you musfe be sick of the labour trouble. Mr Bpence, tbe fiery secretary of the Australian Shearers' Union, has come to the conclusion that strikes are a mistake. At the conclusion of the recent conference he said :— " Strikes were like wars, they were not a settlement of a difficulty, they left matters worse toau they were before, frequently because bH.trrnpss and bad feeling were left behind. WflUßu recognising something of a confliot between employers and employes, thoy should not necessarily fight or quarrel. They should not quarrel any more about it tbau they would in a matter of business. Sometimes they got wide apart because they did not understand one another. If they could have had a big giant come along and knook their heads

together there would have been less trouble. He hoped each party would endeavour to act straight and be drawn closer into friendly relations, and that that conference would be the inauguration of a new movement. The workers generally were beginning to realise that it was time they did away with the old barbarous methods called strikes ; they had been forced on them, he supposed, like wars. There was, he thought, a great change coming over the spirit of men on that side, and he hoped that they had Been the last of strikes. They would soon forget their troubles, and he hoped that soon all bitterness and friction and the bad effect it had undoubtedly had on the Australian people would soon die away, and that the coming season would bring prosperity that would be continuous hereafter."