GENERAL NEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14656, 25 January 1912, Page 5

GENERAL NEWS.

THE DRITISH STRIKERS. According to tho "Hound Tablo," Btrikea, like otlior things, maybe overCone. Tho general verdict nt Homo Beems to bo that tho British strikes nave already been a good deal overdone. ''For although they havo boon in sometimes wisely and justifiably, they havo also been engaged in frivolously and even absurdly. If they have ouccooded conspicuously in oer- j tain oases, it oannot bo denied that I they have also failed in others. It! cannot bo denied, however, that tho dread of strikes railway Btrikes, ooal strikes, and others perhaps as well hangs over us liko a cloud. Nor can it be denied that, though they may bo imdortakon very foolishly, and with very little hopo of success though they may bo ' diroctod ' (if such "a term is appropriate) by re on whoso Jovo of approbation somowhat outweighs their knowledge of affairs—they are not simply to bo brushed ftsido as utterly preposterous on this account. They are grounded in something real—in a very grim reality intlood. Agitation will usually fail whero thero is no actual suffering at the bottom of it. Hero, unfortunatelv, there is very real suffering. It is di'flicult for peoplo to understand tho difficulties and privations which peoplo with from 18s to 25s a week havo to contend against owing to the, rise in tho price of food. Tho extont of this riso is a matter at present under hiV"::bigntion. It is variously computed upon tm Incomo of 25s a week at, 1 roin 1b 6d to 2s 6d, as compared with tour or live vears ago. That tliorp has been a serious rise is rot denied. This is the kurn'al of tho W, f rT at or money wages has fallen, and that poor people ire fooling tho pinoh." *