INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 1, 17 August 1911, Page 5

INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

STRIKES IN ENGLAND. SERIOUS FIG HTTNG. By Electric Telegraph.-—Copyright. United Press Association. London, August 16. Five prison vans, conveying sentenced rioters, escorted by Hussars and Scots Greys, were traversing Vauxhall Hoad, which is inhabited by seamen and dockers, when their progress was barred by an excited mob. Bricks and stones were hurled at the convoy from the side streets and the housetops. Many struck tho troopers, sixty being unseated. Tlie crowds* were so menacing that tho convoy tired six shots. A man named Prondorgast, a carter, was shot dead, and Sutcliffe, a carter, died later. Three' others, with bullet wounds, were taken to tlio hospital.. The War wicks hires and mounted police hurried to Vauxhall Hoad. Meanwhile the vans readied tho prison.

The arrival of tho infantry was tlio signal for desperate street, fighting lasting for an hour, the rioters facing the police batons with coolness and courage. The police were badly mauled. The police report that yesterday’s riot was purely an attack on the police in a district where disorder is chronic, and liable to outbursts in limes of abnormal excitement.

HUGE STRIKE PROBABLE. ACUTE DISTRESS. London, August 16. The joint congress of tiie railway servants, locomotive engineers, firemen, signalmen, pointsmen, and general workers’ unions met at Liverpool to consider the position. It wars unanimously decided to give the railway companies twenty-four hours’ .notice in which to negotiate a settlement, otherwise a general strike will take place on Thursday morning. The confcrenco also passed resolutions condemning the company’s method of working the conciliation scheme and the action of tho police and the employment of military at Liverpool. The general strike will involve 860,000. Tho passenger services are becoming dislocated, whilst tlio goods traffice is at a standstill; A mob at Sheffield was turbulent to actual rioting. A provision cart was upset and some stone-throwing indulged in. Twenty-five thousand are idle at Manchester. The police arc escorting cotton from tho docks to the mills unmolested. The distress at Bermondsey, owing to tlie strike, is acute. Relief rations are being distributed. TC-DAY’S MESSAGES. (Received 17, 8 a.in.) London, August 16. The labour movement is increasing beyond control. It is stated that nonunionists exceed unionists. Explanations of tho strike iucir.de disaffection at the compnrati/oly stationary character of remunermoil in skilled labour for several years. Tho “Westminster Gazette,” commenting on tho workmen’s threat to smash the Railway Conciliation Boards, says no country can permit a railway strike on a largo scale. If Mr. Lloyd-Gcorge in 1907 promised to prevent such an occurrence, Mr. Buxton cannot do loss.

A representative of the Labour Party states that the Asquith-Bax-ton conference had nothing to do with actual strikes', but was designed to discuss preventive measures. Mr. Buxton lias invited the railway managers and representatives of railway unions to confer with him today.

Mr. Will Crooks has given notice of a Bill in the House of Commons making strike illegal until a dispute is considered by a Board representing masters and workers, with the Board of Trade as umpire. After the Board’s decision tho men to bo forced to accept the award or go on strike. Labourites raised a strike discussion in the House of Commons to-day. In the increases lately granted to seamen by the Cardiff Board, preference was given to Europeans over negroes, whereof there are some 600 at Cardiff, many of whom are starving, They assaulted a ship’s officer for refusing to engage them, and fought tho police, who quelled the riot with their truncheons. Seven negroes are unconscious in the hospital. The strikes prevented tho holding of the weekly tallow sales. It is rumoured that Parliament will possibly continue sitting. The Government is considering tho appointment of a Royal Commission to enquire into the problem presented by the stationary character of wages and the increased cost of living. (Received 17, 9.30 a.m.) London, August 16. Mr. Buxton conferred in tho morning with tho railway managers, and in tho afternoon with the railwaymen’s representatives. The latter complained of the slowness of tho Conciliation Board’s proceednro, which they said enabled companies to postpone the settlement of grievances. The crux of tho position centred on the recognitions of unions, which would enable tho men to be represented on tho Board by clever representatives from headquarters, instead of by local shunters and porters. They also contended that the latter were intimidated and deterred from pressing good terms lest they be victimised by employers. The North-East-ern Company alone recognised this handicap, and allowed union officials to serve on tho Board. The employers’ attitude towards labour caused dissatisfaction. Soft jobs had been eliminated, and men were now worked more intensively, although the hours had been reduced. Interviewed after the conference, tho employers wore firm. They considered their direct meeting with the men would bo a violation of tho existing agreement regarding Conciliation Boards, which the Government had imposed. It is understood that tho companies, foreseeing trouble, adopted precautions months ago for a skeleton service in the event of a strike.

Work is gradually being resumed at the London docks.

Tho Port Authority lias reinstated the strikers. AUSTRALIA. SUGAR CARGOES WORKED. Sydney, August IG. Tho wharf labourers commenced working cargoes of Queensland sugar. Upon receipt of a telegram from Brisbane, stating that the agreement had been signed, work on all cargoes was immediately undertaken. (Received 17, 9.55 a.m.) Brisbane, August 17.

Before disbanding, the Inter-State Labour Conference took tho initial steps for creating a central authority, representing the industrial unions of the Commonwealth, to deal with disputes likely to involve other unions than the one of origin.

A hitch has occurred in the sugar settlement. The waterside workers at Mackay decline to work with nonunionists,'and have notified that unless non-unionists aio i amoved by noon to-day, work on all wha> ves will cease.