The Star. MONDAY, MAY 11, 1903. THE VICTORIAN STRIKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7702, 11 May 1903, Page 2

The Star. MONDAY, MAY 11, 1903. THE VICTORIAN STRIKE.

Although the trouble between, the Victorian Government and the railway enginedrivers and firemen lias been in the air for some time, it was only at the eleventh hour that' the public realised that a gigantic Strike was imminent. It is difficult at this dis'fcanoe to ,do much bub regret that such an unfortunate conflict should have been deemed necessary, and it is perhaps not wise tor pass an opinion upon the justification or otherwise of the action of the men in putting tlie position to -th© final test. But they will bo the recipiAite of a good deal of sympathy, for it really seems as if they had not received! the consideration an_l the courtesy which every State servant is entitled to from the- Government of the day. There has been moro behind the matter than an adjustment of wages and hours of labour, and Mr Bent, the Minister of Railways, cannot be accused of acting with unduo diplomacy in the way he has been handling tlie situation. His declaration to the railway servants tliat if they did not cast off their connection with the Trades Hall they would bo "sacked," was as impolitic as ib wa.s coarse. Nor does it seem to have been thje best policy, under the circumstances, for the Premier to take a hand and support his colleague by pointing out that connection with fche Trades Hall carried with ifc an obligation to support other societies involved in outside labour troubles and disputes, and thafc he could only regard the insistence on^ affiliation with the Trades Hall as axx insistence on the right of the railway men to strike when ttyey thought proper. The men have, not been long in giving a very signal illustration of fcheir views upon this subject. They claim only to have sought for the assistance to labour which is given by a cohesion of Unions in, their demand to be allowed to retain their connection with the Trades Hall, and in the absence of a 'tribunal to conciliate and arbitrate they have naturally to be their own conciliators and arbitrators. Ifc is true that the sister colony lias special 'boards to determine the rates of wages, hours of labour and! other 'industrial conditions in privato enterprise, -o that what the Victorian Government is apparently anxious to do is to indicate terms to its own workers whilst sanctioning the application of a law to private employers in order to prevent such oppression. Such a complication could not, of course,^ have existed

in New Zealand, where the services of tho Arbitra' ion Court would lave 'beea requisitioned, and much '■ diistresa and anxiety would have been saved 1 for 'both the panties to the dispute and the general public. The pst argument of the Victorian Government against tbe establishment of such a tribunal has been, if wo remember rightly, that it would infringe the principle of independence of action, bufc ifc apparently never realised that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for tihe gander, and' that the Government employees anight some _ay claim that same right of independence of action in a way thafc would) conflict) withi the opinions of tihe Government. Our own method, despite the criticism to which it has been subjected, appears to he at present the only method of settlings ind_strial disputes without inflicting an injury upon "the outside public, and with the maximum of fairness to the parties involved.