The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1924. STRIKES AND POLITICS.

Southland Times, Issue 19254, 27 May 1924, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1924. STRIKES AND POLITICS.

The political aspects of the recent railway strike are being more fully realised as the days move on, but there are dangers that the public, in the flood of revelation which is now pouring into the public prints, will misread the facts, place blame where it does not rightly belong, and overlook those who are deserving of condemnation for their efforts to use the industrial field for political advancement. Throughout the Dominion, we are told, branches of the A.S.R.S. are giving expression to dissatisfaction with the executive of the Society, but it is not clear that the men are annoyed because the executive led it into a strike or because it called the strike off so quickly. It is now made to appear that the executive, which a few weeks ago seemed to enjoy the full confidence of the rank and file, had some idea of securing some political advantage from an industrial upheaval, but if they cherished such notions those who were in charge of the A.S.RJS. were singularly short-sighted, and the men as well as the country can be thankful that the Government’s firmness avoided a disastrous battle. At the same time the incidents connected with the railway strike should be a stinging lesson to the members of industrial organisations who are asked to vote on a strike issue. In spite of some of the suggestions’ now being made, we believe that the A.SJLS. vote was overwhelmingly in favour of strike, but it is obvious that many qf the men who voted for a strike did so because they did not like to oppose what they thought to be the majority while many had an idea that this vote did no more than place in the hands of the executive a weapon which might be used in the negotiations with the Minister of Railways. The executive in Wellington by a majority of one went for the strike as an immediate act, and it would be interesting to discover if the Parliamentary Labour Party was consulted by the gentlemen, who are supposed to have been seeking a political advantage out of the interruption in the Dominion’s communications. The sooner

Mr Hofland disassociates himself from the strike the better it will be for the chances of himself and his colleagues when next they face the electors. Mr Holland is an astute Parliamentarian he should be able

to see that until he makes it clear that he was opposed to the use of the strike for political purposes, he is likely to suffer in the eyes of reasonable men and women as Mr Wilford and his friends are suffering, for the attitude taken up by the Leader of the Liberal Party. Mr Wilford’s statement in the early stages was not helpful to the Government, and it must have cheered the people who had political aims in this strike, but the Liberal Leader has not been repudiated by any of his followers, and they must stand as- being in agreement with him in a statement which was so harmful, and is revealed as even more indiscreet than was at first thought by the information that is now leaking out. The Liberal attitude can be gauged better if a recent statement by Mr R. Masters of Stratford, a statement which is quoted with approval by some Liberal advocates, is taken into account. Mr Masters is still trying to make political capital out of the country’s misfortunes, but this time his anxiety to scotch the Prime Minister at all costs has led him into a remark which shows his utter inability to look at facts without a political twist in his eye. Mr Masters is quoted approvingly by one Liberal advocate in this fashion:

Recently Mr R. Masters, member for Stratford, commented on the abeurdity of the Department and the Government which had conceded forty-four hours in a slump year deciding to revert to fortyeight when the net earnings were the best they had been for a considerable period. Only political bias of a hopeless kind could explain such a wild and utterly foolish statement. The shortening of the hours in the slump period to forty-four strikes Mr Masters as absurd, but that is because he and other Liberals were at that time howling for wholesale dismissals so that there would be a big mass of unemployed to bring the Government into bad odour. With small trade offering, the railways had the option, in addition to shortening services, of reducing hours or the staff. It selected the first alternative because it kept men in employment and assisted the country generally to get through the depression with the least loss. Now that trade is increasing, the lengthening of the hours is by no means absurd, and it is not clear that the longer hours will lead to the terrible toll of dismissals now being prophesied. Mr Masters cannot see this aspect of the matter because he is a Liberal and there is a Reform Ministry in office. A mistake is being made, we think, in cutting down the opportunities for the meeting of the general executive representing the whole body of the A.SJLS., because it concentrates more power into a few hands while it puts the rank and file of the organisation more in the dark. When the AKRK ac-

cepted the Arbitration Court as the tribunal to decide the dispute between itself and the Department, the Department, we think, might have withheld its decision concerning hours, but in any case the Court should have a completely free hand in dealing with all the points in dispute. The members of the A.SJELS. are disillusionised—they realise they were ill-led and misled—and it will be better for the future operations of the railways if this unfortunate business is cleaned up with as little heartburning as possible. The railway strike was a sharp lesson to the rank and file of the dangers arising out of strike ballots, and it is a lesson to the electors on. the lengths to which party politics will lead certain politicians.