THE TRAMWAY STRIKE

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 36, 25 May 1907, Page 3

THE TRAMWAY STRIKE

End of a Judicial Comedy

AFTER the boast of Mr Arthur Rosser that things in the Arbitration Court had taken a turn with the anoointment of the new President, and that the employers should accept their gruel patiently, it was a foregone conclusion that the Tramway Company would be found guilty of having caused the tramway strike and would be subjected to a penalty. This is what happened. The only surprise in the matter was the moderation of the Court. It mi^ht have chosen to be very terrible, and to have imposed a measure of punishment that would have thr6wn the labour agitators into transports of ecstasy, but it didn't. It contented itself with ordering a penalty of £5.

So far as the charges against the motorman and conductor were concerned, the Court asserted the majesty of the law by recording a conviction and ordering a fine of &i in each case. Practically, therefore, the odds are even, except that the Tramway Company is Tield to have brought about the -strike. But both sides have been fined, and everybody is satisfied, and there is little more to say. certainly, the Court was right when it maintained that the whole trouble might have been averted by the exercise of a little tact, but it does not follow that all the tact should have been displayed on one side.

Where the Court was not right was in its declaration that the strike was not premeditated. The President, in his finding, says that it took place without premeditation or organization of any kind. This is simply tommy-rot. On the afternoon of the eventful day, several meetings of the employees having previously been held, Mr Arthur Rosser, secretary of the Union, wired to the Premier and Minister for Labour in these terms : — " Twelve tramway employees were discharged this morning by the company for refusing to teach men to take their places. Remainder of men strike this afternoon out of sympathy. Understand that unlicensed drivers are being put on, to \langer of travelling public."

In the face of this telegram, how can the President of the Arbitration Court say that the strike took without premeditation or organization of any kind ? Not only was it organized, but Arthur Rosser, J.P: and member of the Conciliation Board, wired to the Premier and Minister for Labour the deliberate intention of the men to strike in the afternoon. And, on the following day, Mr Arthur Rosser, J.P. and member of the Conciliation Board, further wired to Sir Joseph Ward as follows : — " Tramway strike ended satisfactorily to men. All points conceded by the company. Thanks for your wire of assurance." And yet the President of the Arbitration Court, from his judicial position on the Bench, has the assurance to say that # the strike was without t>remeditation or organization of any kind.