The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1913.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3114, 19 November 1913, Page 47

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1913.) THE WEEK.

" Nunquam allud natura, aliud eapientia dixit."—» JCYESAIj. “ Good nature and good sense must ever join."—« Pops. The existing situation in regard to the strike is a most interesting The Strike and at the same time _ a Situation. most perplexing one. The embargo on tno shipping industry, which the Federation of Labour at the instance of the Wellington waterside workers attempted to establish, has move or'less broken down. For more than, a week work, gradually increasing ir» volume and in tile numbers employed, has been carried on at the water! rents ot Wellington and Auckland, and has just been commenced at Lyttelton and at Dunedin. Besides which the ferry service between the two islands has been reestablished. The attempt or the part of the Federation of Labour to set up ageneral strike has been •practically a failure, except in Auckland, where the call was met with a fairly general response. But even in the northern city, a percentage —exactly to what extent 't is difficult precisely l<> ascertain —of tho strikers have returned to w'ork. It is thus correct to say tiiat the strike is weakening. and that there are signs of its fizzling out. '1 he most dramatic event of the week lias been the arrest of half a dozen of the leaders of the Federation movement in Auckland and in Wellington, whilst the ugly riots and outbursts of violence of the early days of the strike have been replaced by an ominous quiet. But when this has been said and set down there remains a great deal to perplex and puzzle the thoughtful man ere a satisfactory and permanent solution of the existing deadlock can be discerned. For while tho work of loading and unloading is proceeding on the:various wharves, it is idle to pretend that the workers employed are overtalcing I lie arrears accumulated during the weeks of inaction. Ihe terry service has been re-established, but the Patceua and the Maori —the two vessels put in commission—are manned exclusively, by the officers of the Union Company, who are glad to relieve the monotony of their enforced idleness with any kind of activity. • Even if with the flight of days the waterside operations justii •• tho ! nioti Company in once more puttii - liner fleet in commission, and the services of the ferrymen are needed elsewhi re. ;t i? oy. no means certain that the cm ; .n: 1 will be available. While it is true that the campaign of violence on me part of the strikers has been succeeded by a period of sullen passivity', it should he remembered that' the violence for the most part was the work of tiie few extremists# and that in the long run the apathy of tho many constitutes a greater menace than the outrages of tho few. For when a striker heaves a brick at a special constable, or point a revolver at a policeman, he can swiftly be brought to book for tho offence; but*so long as a capable, ablebodied man refuses to work when tempting remuneration is offered, he remains a 'Jog in the wheels of the industrial machine which it •Is impossible altogether to disregard. The balance in the Dominion between the work to be clone and the ■workers to do it has for some time past been so skilfully maintained that it always veers slightly in favour of the worker;’ consequently unemployment, except in isolated instances, is practically unknown. While the superior remuneration offered at the waterfront has attracted a good proportion of men from the country to* 5 take up this churs of work, such an exodus must sooner or later materially affect agricultural and pastoral operations. Unless some more satisfactory solution of the deadl >ck than at present on the horizon can be furnished, there in a sense in which the farmers in coming to the rescue and compelling the shipment of their perishable products mav be making a rod for their own back. To he caught between the Scylla of seeing their butter and cheese perish on the whan' and the, Charyhdis of providing the Lb mr to put it on tlie boats, is an extremely awkward predicament, especially since n. seems probable that a certain proper' inn of that labour will decide to remain in town, and decline to return to the country.

The root difficulty in the way of a satisfactory .solution is the Federal! n openly expressed hostility of or Starrßtlon. Trades I uiunisrn in the Dominion to the Arbitration Court as at present constituted. It is beside the mark at the present moment to re-enter upon the interminable discussion whether that hostility is or is not warranted. The fact is sufficient that whether warranted or not the hostility exists, and that it is no new grievance, but one of old standing that has gathered as it has grown. The start that has been made at the waterfronts An load and unload vessels with the help of men. belonging to unions registered under the Arbitration Act revives the trouble that was at the root of the difficulty at Waihi —there is clearly no room for the two unions, the employers hajp>g encouraged

gofn« to work her cargo. "Yes, we arc, said one of the mm Have you any comment?” " No,” was the reply; “you coups are members of the Amalgamated Society r>f Rdhvuy S.rv.nts. an 1 van must obey orders. We have no quarrel wth you at ail.’ * Xbe raihvavmcn filed on to tho wharf, and about 1.15 p.m. they wore followed bv a small group of waterside workers and townspeople One of tho watsrss&e workers addressed tho members of the crew on the Northern's deck in a loud voice, "if you fellows handle that cargo, ho shouted, •‘you’re doing something detrimental to your own interests. They can’t gao. you for refusing to work cargo.” The neck hands made no reply. Later on the same speaker addressed them again, to tho same effect, and one of the seamen then went to the rail and said, y\ e arc- not ‘scabs.’ and we arc not working with ‘scabs.’ Wo can’t break our articles. It should he explained that the aitic.es require them to work cargo if they are called ■upon to do so. . A,t this stage a policeman appeared cn the wharf, and quietly requested everybody to retire to the shore end of the whai.. He was obeyed.,immediately, and the mscharging of "tiic cargo was begun at once. A small knot of sightseers and others iemained for a time at the end of tho whaif. watching the unloading, but they soon became tired of that, and walked away. WOOL SALE POSTPONED. CHRISTCHURCH, November 17. , TI,C S’rAhf 'sCtCkS, abandoned, aud'ihe first aulo will be held on December 10.

SUPPLIES FOR GREYMOUTH. OFFER BY THE STRIKERS. •GREYMOUTH, November 17. A meeting of business men ha« bc°n called for late this afternoon to consider the taking of steps? for opening the poit 01 G The l Central Strike Committee has issued the following To the public of the Grey district: The Central Strike Committee has decided that, in the event of there being a, shortage cf foodstuffs for Greymouth or the surrounding districts, it wi.l allow food stuffs to be unloaded with union labour, provided that a guarantee is given through the public press that the districts with short supplies will have first call, and also providing that the goods be supplied ar normal prices and not at the famine prices now ruling for some of the necessaries of 11 f©. “We appeal to the public to assist us in nrevcntin <r merchants and shopkeepers cornering ’ supplies and forcing prices up. Wo also appeal to the general public to assist us to frustrate the at tempt of a few merchants, employers, and Massey ius who will spill blood, if necessary. to open the port of Greymouth and smasn oiganisod labour in this district. SAWMILLS AFFECTED. TWO HUNDRED EMPLOYEES DISCHARGED TAIHAPE, November 17. One of the results of the industrial troubles is the discharge of 200 sawmill 1 innds in the district covered by the ovx'rations of the Rangitikci Sawnnl ers Association, due to the falling off m the demand for timber. MEETING AT HOKITIKA. OFFERS OF SPECIAL CONSTABLES. HOKITIKA, November 17. The Holmdale is expected to arrive here from Tirnaru at noon to-morrow with a general cargo for Greymouth and Hokitika. . For the past few days rumours have been current that 400 or £OO men from Blackball, Runanga, and Greymouth intended tisitmg Hokitika’ for the purpose of preventing the unloading or loading of cargo. The Mayor stated that the residents of Hokitika and district were looked upon as a very peaceable community, but, he said, while not wishing to precipitate a conflict with those who it was alleged intended interfering with tlio working of the port, that every precaution should he taken to prevent such a proceeding. This afternoon a meeting of citizens was convened, and, althougn it was held at exceedingly short notice, there was a very large attendance. The Mayor presided, and the various speakers, including Mr H. D. Michel (chairman of the Harbour Board), referred to the necessity of preparing for any emergency. Great enthusiasm prevailed throughout, and it was ascertained that those present were unanimous in responding to the call for special constables. It was announced that these would be sworn in later on in the evening. Over 200 men offered their services for duty, and in addition to these 60 mounted men from Kokatahi and Koitcrangi have offered their services, while Arahura, Kumara, Kanieri, Rimu, Ruatupu. and other centres have offered to provide contingents (including mounted men) if necessary.

It is evident that no difficulty will be experienced in raising 600 or 7CC men in a few hours should their services be required.

A feature of the position is the large number of sawmill hands and other working men who have volunteered, and the exceedingly small number in sympathy with those who threaten, to stop shipping operations at this port. The residents are determined to unload and load the Holrndalc and any other steamer trading to Hokitika. Fortunately the Hokitika bar is carrying from 14ft to 15ft of water, and provided the weather is at all fa vourabie ‘here should be no difficulty in working the port. PREPARATIONS IN DUNEDIN. BARRICADING THE WHARVES. In view- of the fact that it was thought amongst the local waterside workers that a start will be made on Monday morning to unload tho Mocraki, which is now lying at the Birch street wharf, the men were early on the wharf. A large number of disinterested people also visited tho wharves during the morning, evidently out of idle curiosity. However, tho Moeraki was not being unloaded, and no attempt was made to got her cargo out during the day. In tho afternoon tho Harbour Board employee's commenced tho work of barricading off the roads leading to where the Moeraki is lying, these being Robert and Birch streets and tho Overbridge road. This vork was practically completed by the even-

ing, despite tho fact that the pickets persuaded two of the Harbour Board employees to •’down tools” and put on their coats. About half-past 7 in tho evening the barricade across Robert street was knocked about, but no great damage was done, and it was soon put in serviceable order again. VS bile the police and detectives were along at the Harbour Board offices watching that the men building the barricades wore not interfered with, two of the 100 or so waterside workers who remained behind at the foot of Rattray street took tkc opportunity of settling soma little difference in real oldtime fashion, the bigger man of the two finally going - down to a straight left on tne nose, and giving up tho cotest.

REGULAR POLICE TO BE FIRST UTILISED.

As it has boon freely stated by the strikers that they have no objection to the regular policemen doing duty at the wharves during loading operations by the Arbitrationists. and as it has also been asserted by some of the strike leaders that whether the regular police or the specials are in attendance the strikers do not intend to offer any active obstruction —but that nevertheless they view with great disfavour the bringing in of special jiolicemen—tho waterside workers are. in a wav. to be put on tlmir honour. When work is started on The Moeraki onlv the regular police will be on duty on the' wharves, and if there is no active demonstration against the Arbitration workmen, it is understood that the specials, both foot and horse, will not be called on in their official capacity. ENROLMENT OF “SPECIALS.” FORCE OF 470 MEN. MOUNTED MEN ARRIVING FROM THE COUNTRY. The work of enrolling tho special constables was cont.nued again during Monday when Mr J. H. Bartholomew, S.M., and' Superintendent Dwyer put through about 20U more men, bringing the total now enrolled up to 470. At 5 o clock in the afternoon the specials were paraded in the gaol yard, anti the Tail street entrance was surrounded bv a crowd of close on 600 persons. As tne specials entered the courtyard through the narrow entrance gate they were subjected to some more or less goodnatured bco-hooing.” Inside the enclosure the specials were divided into squads of 24 men, each of which was placed under tho charge of a present or former volunteer officer. *” When the volunteer policemen emerged from the yard, m Inch they did in groups, the crowd had considerably diminished, but the men were again made the butt of some crude wit and misplaced sarcasm. The specials will parade again at a quarter-past* 5 this evening. The great majority of the volunteers are young men weil known in the city, and prominent among them were at least two principals of leading Dunedin, merchandise houses. THE HORSE SPECIALS. In addition to the number of foot specials who have been enrolled, a large number of mounted men have offered their services. These men arc camping at Tahuna Park, and on Monday afternoon and far into the evening horsemen from the 'J aiori, W aitati, the Peninsula, and other outlying country districts, rode into the ground singly, in pairs, and so on. A number of men came down by sjiecial train from Oamani, arriving in Dunedin about 6 o’clock. A good contingent of city specials are also in the mounted corps. There are at the present time well over 100 men in camp at tho park.

SHIPWRIGHTS DECLINE TO STRIKE. The local Shipwrights' Union held a meeting on Saturday evening to discuss the strike situation, and a ballot was taken to decide whether the men engaged at Port Chalmers and Dunedin should "down tools.” The proposal was rejected by 39 votes to 10. It is reported that the metalworkers also met on Saturday to discuss the situation, and that a resolution to strike was negatived by an overwhelming majority. BAKERS AND PASTRYCOOKS’ UNION. At a meeting of the Bakers and Pastrycooks’ Union on Saturday the following resolutions were passed;—"That this union protests against the action of the Government hi gaoling the strike leaders, and also against the introduction of special constables into the city of Dunedin.” “That in the opinion of this union the time has arrived for the Government lo lake immediate steps to terminate the present strike on the terms originally offered by the Employers’ Federation, and afterwards refused by them, and thus end the present national disaster which is being prolonged merely through the stubbornness of the Employers’ Federation.“ That we commend the action and uphold the attitude taken up by Air Joseph Ward in the House of Representatives when tne strike question was under discussion.” It was also decided to grant the sum of £3O for the relief of any distress caused through the strike, CASE OF ASSAULT. NON'-STRIKER PROVOKED. At the City Police Court on Monday morning a carter named William Dodds pleaded guilty, under provocation, to a charge of assaulting Joseph Jeremiah Gorman on November 15. He explained to the court that the complainant had called him a “ scab ” because ho had refused to go cut on strike, and he knocked him down. Mr Bartholomew, S.M. (addressing the accused, said:—“l agree with you that you had provocation—very great provocation. The epithet ’scab’ is a very ugly word to use to a man. Still, you had no right to take the law into your own hands. In view of your grave provocation T will make the fine small. You will be fined 55.” If others who are wont to use the expression complained of, _ and other equally reprehensible expressions, to men who refuse to break the law and generally turn things into a state of chaos were knocked down each time objectionable expressions to men not like-minded to themselves, there would possibly be less striking and more work done.