Patea & Waverley Press FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1924. THE RAILWAY STRIKE

Patea Mail, Volume XLVII, 25 April 1924, Page 2

Patea & Waverley Press FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1924. THE RAILWAY STRIKE

THE Prime Minister, as usual, hit the nail fairly and squarely on the head when he said the following words with regard to the railway strike;— “I believe the tactics now employed will be looked upon generally with grave disfavour. However, they have decided to test the question as to whether this country is to be governed by certain Socialistic organisations which have been specially prominent for some time past. Whatever happens, those who have set the heather on'tire must take the responsibility for their actions.” . There is no doubt that the railway men have been influenced to a very great extent by the extreme Socialists in the Dominion, who arc notoriously averse to constitutional means to gain their ends. Ignoring the fact that the raihraymen have deliberately set aside the aids afforded them by the law, and have resorted to the cruellest and most cowardly of all weapons—the strike weapon—they coolly and deliberately pass the following resolution;—“That this conference, representative of the whole Labour movement of the Dominion, deeply regrets that the policy persisted in by the Government should have rendered inevitable the climax which has been reached in the railway service. The conference strongly condemns the Prime Minister and his Cabinet for their refusal to allow Parliament to have an opportunity to deal with the trouble. We pledge the New Zealand Labour Party to give every possible support to the railway workers in their endeavour to secure wages sufficient to enable them to maintain their wives and children in decency and comfort, and to this end the national officers are recommended to place the facilities di’ the national office at the service of the A.S.K.S. Executive. Furthermore, the Parliamentary Labour member’s are recommended to give the fullest possible platform and moral support to the A.S.R.S. while the trouble lasts, and in the meantime to exercise the full measure of their influence tp secure a greedy settlement.” Furthermore, the Labourites condemn Mr Massey for refusing to

put the country to the expenseof summoning 80 members of Parliament, to say nothing of the members of the Upper House, to carry out what would be settled by six men and a Supreme Court Judge if the railwaymen would only be amenable to reason and would agree to abide by the Jaws for their benefit. The Leader of the Labour Party goes out of his way to declare that many railwaymen cannot maintain their wives and children on their present salaries, and yet the men themselves cling to the 44-hour week arid refuse to accept the offer of the Minister of further employment. Those opposed to increasing the working hours per week appear to forget that not so long since this country, in common with the remaining portions of the Empire, was engaged for four and a half years in a life and death struggle with a powerful and relentless foe, and as a result of the strife there still remains a tremendous amount of leeway to be made up if things are to be brought back to normal and the cost of living reduced to something near that of pre-war times. Instead of cavilling at the opportunity afforded them of working extra hours so as to increase their earning capacity and that of the railways as well, they should -welcome it with open arms. To refuse to work more than 44 hours, and on top of all to put the country to the expense and inconvenience of a strike that cripples the whole of the railway services, is the very way to increase the ' cost of living and make the lot of the workers and their wives less pleasant than it is to-day. There is, no doubt, a lot of truth in the declaration one often hears that the people of this country do not realise when they are well off, and that a touch of, adversity such as is being experienced by their brethren in Britain and other parts of the world would serve to show them that, in spite of what the highly-salaried agitators may say to the contrary, they have very little to complain of when all is said and done.