The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 26. THE BLACKBALL STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 82, 26 March 1908, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 26. THE BLACKBALL STRIKE.

The definite attitude adopted li.v the Blackball strikers with regard to 1 lie | ruling of tlie Arbitration Court lias, hap-1 pily, not received that measure 01 support from allied trades and l.ilinr imtoa■ll the Dominion that the ill-udvi-c <l minors had been led to expect. Indeed, the events of the pa»t two or three daywoiihl seem in have brought to light lho fact that genuine labor, brought I" its senses by an impending crisis in the 1 system of arbitration, is still, at heari, more moderate, than revolutionary, i Irrespective altogether of the legal » ■- peel, and the enforcing of punishment for striking, were the spirit animating the Blackball .-.trikcrs, and in minor dgrcc the slaughtering strikes ol la-; year, to become the accepted tenet .«. ganised labor, arbitration, and the Arbitration Court would be doomed. > - or no law. While, therefore, tile allied unions of the Dominion might, in the present ease, have extended the practical sympathy or co-operation in many ways" disastrous to arbitration and to industry, we liiul, even amongst neighboring 'miners' unions, that strong opposition to setting the Court at ileliaiic has been expressed. Suggestions lu.'.i other unions should strike, out of sympathy, have barely received a hearing, and in only a few instances lias financial assistance"been forthcoming, to aid the

unfortunate, women and children suilering through the action of their breadwinners. The most hopeful sign, 1>"«cvor. is the attitude adopted by most ot the unions, that the principle of conciliation and arbitration must be upheld. Whether this newly-developed tendency towards applying the brake against recklessness is the outcome of labor., realisation that the weight of public opinion is against them or because o; a genuine desire to uphold arbitral..-. we have no means of judging, but we incline to the latter supposition. pisquietening, comparatively speaking, as has been the experience of arbitration in New Zealand during the past year, it has been a mere circumstance to the turmoil in New South Wales, where, in turn, the miners', wharf workers' and allied unions have contrived to defy almost all attempts at conciliation or arbitration. Even there, however, reason seems to be triumphing over recklessness, and we have learned, within the last few days, that the governing body of the unions has taken drastic action to prevent further useless strikes. After 'the experience of the past few months, this welcome change of tactics is, to say the least, significant. A similar reversal of unionist policy with regard to the strike agitator is what is now wanted to restore to the industrial world the confidence that is essential to the well-

being of all associated with it—employer and the employee, capital and labor, and the public which foots the bill- To revert to the 'Blackball case, it is time the Minister for Labor adopted a more resolute altitude. It would seem thai events connected with a strike ions' run their course in successive si ages. each passively anticipated. The illaekhall miners 'have thrown down the gauntlet; let tlie Minister accept the challenge and promptly assert the rights of law and order. In his fight for Hie law and the principle of arbitration, we I have little doubt lie will have the snpjiort, not only of the great majority of the electors of the Dominion, but of the bulk of the trades and labor unionists as well. The crisis has been reached: pends whether or not the immedi ite 111•ture of industrial life is to be one of Order of chaos.