THE END IN SIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10924, 13 November 1913, Page 6

THE END IN SIGHT.

CITY EDITION.

TOBI.TSHKD AT a P,¥.

The indications are that the stride will collapse in a few days. There is little news from "Wellington, but Auckland advjeos show thai tile men thorn are returning to work in small detachments. and it is anticipated that before the week has expired the wharves and business places will resume their normal activity. The Lyttelton water6idevs are remaining firm, but the hopelessness of the contest, seems to have impressed itself upon the unionists, and

the suffering which has been entailed upon their wives and families will havo the effect of disheartening them for further, effort. We agreo with the " Auckland Star" that the men who remain firm arc merely sacrificing themselves for a forlorn hope and that the best they can hope for is some sort of a compromise which will enable them to got to work again on a fair basis of give and take. . The positibn is a delicate and complicated one. The breach of faith committed by the wrong-heads who precipitated the strike cannot be condoned. The Wellington wharf labourers deliberately opened a breach, which tho employers' representatives on the spot were quick to widen. If the employers had been as eager for the arbitration and conciliation that they prate about as the strike leaders wore after the latter realised the full effect of their blunder, much loss and suffering to the community would have been obviated. If those at the head of the Government had been as keen to end the strike and thus automatically restore law and order as they should have been, there is no reason why an amicable settlement ' could not' have been arrived at. In endeavouring to assert their Little brief authority and to pose as strong, statesmanlike and courageous individuals: they have merely succeeded in disclosing to the community withWliat little wisdom it can be t governed. The Massey Government has negotiated with its tongue in its cheek. Its programme has been first to crush the Red Federation and. secondly to * consider tho interests of the community which has suffered intensely by the perpetuation of the strife.

We ourselves regard the Red Federation and its. propaganda as an antisocial force. 'We regard the I.W.W. doctrine as fatal to industrialism and the. best interests of the workers. We regret that it has been possible for the workers of the community to be led away by the irresponsibles who havo assumed control of the labour movement. But we recognise also that the path of the casual labourer is strewn with thorns: and that there are potent anti-social and anti-democratic forces at work on the other side inimical to the best interests of the, community as a whole.

The workers have been blindly and unwisely led, but many manufacturers, and, employers ol labour arc being made dupes and catspaws in this crisis. We can sympathise with the small farming class in the punishment •they have received by being made the shuttlecocks of this turmoil, and being forced into, conflict with their best cash customers, but there are influences at work just as fatal to the farmer and the ' email trader as to the casual labourer, influences which talk in dollars and have all the machinery to enable them to.squeeze all sections of the community. These influences will now be exer.ted riot only to bring organised labour to its knees., but also to reimburse themselves for the temporary losses suffered through the strike. The community, which has been led away to some extent by the journalistic pack which has matched the Red Feds in vvituperation, will have to see to it that it is not made a factor in a pitiless vendetta of, victimisation; An injury to one section of the paople reacts right through the whole body both in production and distribui tion. It is only when the, whole of the J body corporate is healthy and prosperous that its members prosper and thrive. This is a point which no man or woman who feels the responsibility of citizenship can .afford to overlook.