THE STRIKE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 49, 3 April 1914, Page 5

THE STRIKE.

ITS CAUSE AND EFFECT. Mr J. B. Laurenson, in discussing the working of the past year at the annual meeting of the Industrial Association last night, touched upon the recent strike. Since the last annual meeting, the Dominion had passed through one of the most serious labour upheavals. The late strike was not sound in its principles, but was an attempt by a small-minority to - assert their influence over v thegreat majority. "No one denies the right to strike," said Mr Laurenson. "It is what our race has fought for during the centuries. It is'one of the essentials of liberty in its widest sense. It is our privilege and our right, but it carries a dread responsibility. Like every law, human and Divine, if transgressed turns on the transgressor. " "To be successful the strike must be the last weapon used. The cause must be just. The public opinion must be behind it. Oh none of these points was the recent strike sound, and it was doomed to failure. It was a distressingly ill-advised attempt by a very small minority to establish a precedent which, if successful, would have enslaved every man and woman in the Dominion in a bondage more cruel and unjust than any State in the" history of the Empire. "Just in proportion as the strike betrayed a weakness of the Labour leaders it established once and for all the extraordinary unanimity |nd solidity of the vast majority of the people; Nothing was so cheering and inspiring as the response to the call for law and order. Town. and s country left office and farm, and with a total absence of aggression, simply stood solid for our individual and collective liberties and rights. "That the strike has cost a great deal of money and brought want and bitterness in its train no one can deny," concluded the speaker, "but I maintain that the price is cheap if the lesson is finally learnt that the strike has lost its power." (Applause).