GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14323, 13 October 1910, Page 5

GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE

OYER NORTHERN FRANCE. 50,000 MEN AFFECTED. MILITARY TO TAKE CHARGE. Press Asaoeiation-By Telegraph-Copyright PARIS, Oct. 11. A meeting of railway men in Paris resolved oil a strike throughout the northern system to-day, for a general of rest: and also resolved that they would not respond to any mobilisation order. Fifty thousand men are affected. The strike has isolated Paris.

The Post Offico has established a motor service to Calais. English passengers are held up at Calais and Boulogne. The Premier and Minister of Telegraphs state that the strike is more political and revolutionary than professional.

The Government is publishing a decree organising the railways on a military basis, and giving the Government power to mobilise for 20 days railway men liable for service. If necessary they will employ naval engineers and stokers. Measures will be taken to ensure that the postal services shall be carried on and Paris provisioned on a normal scale.

The strikers cut the telegraphs mil telephones connecting Paris with the provinces, and obstructed the line at Tegnier with locomotives.

PERSUASION BY MURDER. Received 9.45 p.m., Oct. 12th. PARIS, Oct. K\ According to the Northern Compan.-. the majority of ,tho platform and station hands remain on duty. The sijikers are firing revolvers and stoning them with a view to forcing a strike. Tergnier station, the centre of the strike, is closed. Several drivers lefuse to go thither, fearing to be murdered. The company is dismissing prominent agitators, including Taffiu, president of the drivers' and firemen's federation.

A QUESTION OF PAY. AND PENSIONS. The concession of the minimum of five francs applies to the Paris -iron, and the men demand its extension to the provinces. The men complain that pensions voted by Parliament have not been made retrospective. PUBLIC OPINION ADVERSE. Public- opinion hi Paris is hostile to the strike. Automobiles ply for hire from Paris to Calais and Bologne; the fare is 100 francs. MILITARY MEASURES. A decree has been gazetted summoning to military service for 21 days 1369 higher offirinls and '.27,(550 employees. The Northern railway -*ien contend that- it is illegal, since the law provides for the mobilisation of railway men exclusively for the transport of troops and war material.

SYMPATHY SOUGHT—AND GIVEN. The central strike committee and the Raihvnymon's National Union resolved in favour of a general strike on all French railways. British railwaymen sent a message of sympathy to the Northern France men. Received 10.55 p.m., Oct. 12th. Thousands of strikers at Lille, Arras, Laon and other stations resolved to fight to the bitter end. It is reported that the strike is extending to Eastern France, and that there is great unrest along the ParisLyons Mediterranean line. Received midnight, Oct. 12th. The porters at Liverpool have been granted an increase of a shilling a day. and the strike is ended.