AUSTRALIAN LABOUR.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16448, 3 June 1919, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN LABOUR.

IN QUARRELSOME MOOD. SYDNEY, May 21. Australia is again in the throes of a .shipping strike which, if it is not promptly settled, is certain to extend widely and have disastrous consequences. It is of vital importance that at present, when the readjustment of war to peace conditions is taking place, that all our commercial activities be unhampered. If this (strike develops as at the moment it promises to do, the general prospect is the worst possible. Labour in Australia is in an ugly mood. Not only have wc with us the usual plagues in the shape of I.AV.W.ism and Bolshevism, but we have, also that very definite spirit of social unrest that lias been created by the. war. On top of this is the belief, almost universal. that the masses have been exploited in the most brutal manner by all kinds of tradespeople, so that the cost of living is far beyond what it ought to bo. Whether this is justified or not, the fact remains that the resentment against high prices is found everywhere. It is just the tinder that such a thing as the seamen’s strike may light. The whole situation requires prompt and delicate handling. New Zealand had experience of the same kind of trouble quite recently, when shipping was tied up for a long time because the seamen wanted —and eventually got—epidemic pay. Some two months ago, the Brisbane seamen demanded the same thing, and wore refused. Ever since then, many ships have been tied up in Brisbane. For a long time the appeals of the Brisbane men for the support of the Seamen’s Federation wore unavailing, but at last —by what devious ways no one knows — the federation has been persuaded to move. The federation demands epidemic pay for the seamen, and Victoria, and New South Wales have gone on strike with Queensland. South Australia and West Australia are standing out and refuse to strike.

Hi;.; efforts arc being made to-day in Melbourne to got the parties to agree to refer the dispute to a board of reference, and there is reasonable prospect that this will bo done.

Meanwhile, food prices everywhere are “rocketing.” The food situation is said to bo critical even now, so it can he imagined what it means if the supplies usually brought by steamer are cut off. Nothing is more certain to lead to a, revolutionary outbreak than shortage of food. A revolutionary outbreak is what Australia has to fear. The result would be a foregone conclusion. It is only the very noisy minority in Australia which the outside world hears of —but it is a minority which has to bo suppressed sooner or later.