“ALIEN’S” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3509, 14 June 1921, Page 49

“ALIEN’S” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

(Specially Written for the Ladies’ Page.) THE WON T WORK A-DAY WORLD. April 12 to 16. Less than a year ago men laughed at the idea of a slump in trade. They picked and chose their jobs and demanded wages far above their earnings, absorb ing th© employers’ profits. Manilla •- tuxers were not distressed for lack of orders, but by the impossibility of executing tlie orders, for not only did the

workers fix their own rate of pay, but ! they fixed their hours of work and rate ! of speed, giving as little as possible to j their task. To-day the British workman j is beginning to realise that they cannot kill ‘‘the goose that lays the golden eggs ai’J continue to have the eggs also, ike country may sympathise with the minds in their wages cut, but the whole countiv and industry has had to hear the burde i . not only of the dear coal, which has ' killed export, but has also had to pay in j taxation the many millions a year that j the Government, has paid in the miners’ | subsidy, and Government and people are i resolved that the mining industry can no longer be privileged to receive support through the taxpayer, but must stand or full on its own feet. Hence the row. The flooding of the mines, many of which are hopelessly ruined, is unpardonable. But here tiie miners have struck at themselves, for hundreds, perhaps thousands, will be thrown out of employment ; homes, probably even mining districts, will be broken up. Also, the owners say that they cannot now even offer the miners the amount which they offered before the dispute, for the offer was based on the output, and in many of the flooded mines there will be no output for months. With the means of production reduced by a large percentage, it is obvious any negotiations must ha on a new wages basis. Nor will the Government out-of-work dole be paid to the miners. Their work was there, and they refused it. If there is anything to be glad of in this disastrous week it is the test of the nation’s loyalty. Our enemies, who aie at the bottom of this trouble—the Sinn F( iners and Bolshevists, who have worked for revolution through the extremists of Labour, —must be bitterly disappointed at the result. There will be no revolution. Not since 1914 has there been such a loyal rally of tho nation. With wiiat chagrin must our foreign enemy ha e watched the wonderful response to the King’s call for volunteers bv calling out the Army Reserves for permanent service for “a state of gre.it emergency,” and also the Air Force and Fleet Reserves. All day Saturday the men poured into London to “join up” from all classes and professions, clergymen among them. The enrolment of volunteers in a Citizens’ Defence Force (for 90 days) kept the iscruiting officers busy not only in London, but in north, south, east, and west of the country. His Majesty’s ships had their steam up, and all was in readiness to “contend to the uttermost” for the nation’s civil freedom.

When the Triple Alliance announced that the railwaymen and transport workers fixed Tuesday midnight for thenstrike, strong telegrams of protest against a strike began to reach the National Union of Railwaymen’s headquarters. One large staff of Liverpool men refused to strike. “We are convinced, ’’ they said, “that the whole thing is a Bolshevist move to bring about a revolution in the country through the agency of foreign emissaries. It is not trade unionism, and we will not support any action which will plunge our country into a state of anarchy, and so strengthen and help the Germans in evading their just responsibilities. . . .” The Midland railways took the same view, and protested against the strike. A canvass of South-western railwaymen showed great opposition to a strike without a ballot, and there were indications that the Southeastern men would ignore the order to come out. Meanwhile the Government made all preparations, volunteers were enrolled to fill the place of engine-drivers and guards, and a vast scheme of transport by road prepared; motor lorries were ready, and the Kensington Park Gardens “eomman deered,” as during the last railway strike, for a dumping ground for milk, from where it would be redistributed through out the metropolis. Once more the nation has shown its patriotism and confidence in itself, and that there are plenty of cool heads among British Labour, and that statesmanship is not wholly absent from the British Government. Mr Lloyd George’s firmness at this critical moment has renewed the nation’s trust in him. ’The result of several by-elections last week lias shown the country's distrust of Labour government, for Labour has been badly defeated at each election. The fact remains, as I have said before, that, in the first flush of victory and optimistic mood, the nation was promised too much ; the ideals held up were too high for speedy realisation. New earths and new heavens are not built in a day—especially on the debris of a battlefield. Unreasoning men and women dreamed of a mushroom Utopia, sprung in a night from soil sodden with blood. Countries “fit for heroes to live in” are countries built on foundations of justice and the stability of peace, of honest work and honest pay. This game of “grab” and spirit of defiance, this greedy snatching and misrule is not “peace.” And before we can expect the fruits of peace, peace must be. Prosperity will return, not only to England, but to the world, when honest dealing is again its rule, when it realises flint cause and effect, sowing and reaping in kind, is the inexorable law of the universe. The onlv way to possess this new world for which discontented mankind is clamouring—and visioned with streets of gold—is to build it. To play the game for the game’s sake. We have not had a return of the idea! weather of Passion Week. Ihe hitter winds of Easter have prevailed with lain and hail and snow showers in various parts of the country, which adds to the general depression. Orders have gone out awiinst food-hoarding, only one week’s supply being allowed to any household, as in war time. Coal is rationed to half a hundredweight at 3s 9d for each household per week. Being through the v. inter (officially), stocks in most, cellars are low, and the present wintry spell is inconvenient, as unexpected. The gas has been curtailed ; all fancy and excessive