FIERCE STRUGGLE FOR WORK.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10957, 27 April 1907, Page 7 (Supplement)

FIERCE STRUGGLE FOR WORK.

2000 UNEMPLOYED TO BE SENT 10 HAMBURG. LONDON, March 12. Two thousand laborers are being shipped from London to Hamburg as stevedores m place of the Germans who are on strike. A mob of unemployed swarmed all yesterday round a disused eating-houso m Church-street, Minories,- where the German agent was engaging hands. The "' selection of the men has been going oil for three days. By six o'clock yesterday a number of applicants has assembled, arid by nine o'clock, when the agent arrived, several thousands were massed m the narrow street. The men had Walked' froni, all parts of London. Most of them were of the sturdy labouring type, but some wore the-' threadbare coat of the. out-of-work clerk. ' On the outskirts of the; strenuous mob that struggled tp get. near the ■- agent's door a motely army of .the -"unfit" stood waiting Hopelessly. I When the/agent arrived at' nine o'clock ' the crowd of workless men was so dense that he was unable to get : through it, auvi the men were so loth to lose their places that/they refused to budge to let aim through. At length those on the outside hoisted him phoulder high, and he was pushed forward over the heads of the mob to the door. A. doctor gained, the door iv similar fashiori. .'■■:■-.',' ; • RUSH FOR WORK. i At first -it looked as thhugh the hoase would-be stormed by the mob. Whenever the door was opened to admit half a dozen men the whole crowd pressed forward, and it needed a great effort to "got the door closed. again. The upper .windows were kept open for the sake of ventilation, and so eager were some of the men that they cliiribad up by means of a spout arid a "To Leftward, and scrambled m, until the agent came to the window and shouted that any who entered by it would not' be. Engaged. ■ '"< -' . The struggle" round the door became so fierce.; that policemen ;Were|,sent->f or, arid two inspectors and .about .two .dozen constables were engaged for riourp -m. try ing to preserve . an open space m front' of the house. ' All. applications were VmediciiUy examined, aqd the unfit were rejected. Those who were engaged were told they, would be paid 20s a week with board and lodging so long as they- were, at Hamburg; and each man wa-ggiven a pririteu order," which he was made to sign, .entitling him to receive £1 on arrival at Hamburg. ■ 'HAMBURG; March 15. Four vessels with Englishmen enlisted m London for the purpose of breaking the. strike , : of 4000 dock" labprerg now ih progress have arrived' 'here;-'.' Each' ship brought some 2QO .men. They are all ■quartered on ships m the harbor, and, while thoroughly weU cared for, are practically prisoners, iFeeling. against them runs very high -among -the German strikers. : Many of the last consignment arrived iti. 9, half-starved condition and m rags, and had to be immediately ye-; clothed and fed. Strikers' pickets . will be stationed throughout the entire harbor district 1.. ... ,niorr6w,'and'effPrts will be made^ to dissuade the Englishmen from working. The strike arose ,. through the employers requiring every man. to give a written pledge that he would work at night when called upon. Many of the men are willing to dp night work on most occasions, but the matter has been taken up, by Socialist leaders, Whose power the employers are dftermind: to; breaks-; ,