IN CONFLICT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10925, 14 November 1913, Page 7

IN CONFLICT.

AUCKLAND VIEWS. EMPLOYERS SAY STRIKE DYING. BUT -WORKERS HOPE FOR VICTORY. .[From Our Correspondent.] AUCKLAND, November 13. Sixteen days have" elapsed since the Auckland waterside workers went on strike. The strike leaders declare that they are as convinced to-day as they were in the beginning that the present industrial conflict is going to result in a win for the Unions. On the other hand, those anxious for peace are mere hopeful to-day of the trouble coming to an end than has been the case since the strike started. This opinion is based on the fact that over 400 men are now working on the waterfront. Numerous vessels have been loaded and have sailed; one hundred carts are conveying cargo to and from the wharves, and many workers have resumed their duty. Amongst those who have gone back to work are forty carpenters on the Exhibition buildings, thirty on the Wonderland Park, four hundred out of five hundred general labourers in the employ of the City Council, a handful of drivers and a fair number of builders employed in the suburbs. The strike leaders at the Trades Hall decline, however, to admit that there is the slightest sign of weakening. They assert that the strikers are determined to seo the strike through, and that the seamen are unanimous in their decision to fight along with them. They also declare that the general strike wiii extend throughout the dominion. SHOPKEEPERS PETITION AGAINST EMPLOYERS' STUBBORNNESS. Some three hundred shopkeepers in the city and the suburbs hare signed a petition which is being prepared for presentation to the Prime Minister; I copies will also bo sent to Sir Joseph I Ward, to Mr Bradncy and to seven i other members of Parliament. __ 'the | petition roads as foliows:—" We,_ the I undersigned shopkeepers and business i people of Auckland, earnestly request ■ you to bring pressure to bear on the ) Employers' Association at once and nob allow their stubbornness to ruiu our trade. Business is paralysed." i THE EXHIBITION. ! On present indications the Exhibition staff will " make good " by the opening

day, a fortnight from Monday next. Some strike pickets were waiting outside the Exhibition gates early this morning in order to bring suasion to bear on any of tho men who might bo intending to return. Their arguments appealed to a few, but the majority adiierod to their intentions and passed through the- gates. Those who responded to the call of the pickets were, it is understood, mostly plumbers. Among the failures from the strikers' point of view was a carpenter ivho was stopped while making his way across the bridge with his kit of tools. "When approached by a knot of pickets ho put down his tools, told them that ho was on his way back to work, that he was determined to carry out his intention, and that if anyone had anything to say to the contrary, ho had better "come on." No one came, and ho passed on his way unmolested. Altogother, there were over forty carpenters, painters and decorators and others at work in and around tho Exhibition buildings tins morning. CANCELLING REGISTRATION. Tho Central Striko Committee is making arrangement:* for every union now on striko to hold meetings to discusu tho question of cancelling their registration. Tho feeling of tho representatives on tho central committee is that evory union is determined to take this step. "Wo aro only asking." tho committee states, " for tho right to use tho legislation that is already on the statute book. Tho employers aro fighting to have part of that legislation ignored. Our reason for taking up this stand is that wo can see no justice whatever in ihe action which consists of registering a body of free labourers who are in no sense unionists simply for tho purpose of breaking up unions already legally constituted.'' STRIKE COMMITTEE SAYS FIGHT HAS ONLY BEGUN. With reference to allegations of weakening on the part of unionists now on strike, the Strike Committee states that only two carpenters are at work at the Exhibition and these are not members of the union. The seamen, it is stated, aro "solid to a man," and the union has taken up a definite attitude not to work ships until tho dispute is sottled- The seamen who have gone away on ships plying within tho river limits are stated to be men who aro not members of tho tmion,but have discharges because they first camo to this country under some such conditions as "a shilling a month" merely to get away from the Old Country. Tho bricklayers aro unanimous in adhering to tho attitude they have taken and are thinking very seriously of cancelling their registration. They hold strongly that it is inequitable for fifteen men to bo able to form into a union to break a union already in existence under a constitution approved of by tho majority. It is urged in tlr ; s connection that fifteen men would not be allowed to pull out from a union registered under tho Arbitration Act and form a new union unde' - the Trades Union Act,' and it is argued that in fairness fifteen men should not be allowed to withdraw from a union registered under the Trades Union A<;t to form a new union under the Arbitration Act. The sheet metal workers and shipwrights came out before they were asked. Of 1800 hotel and restaurant workers it is said that only 150 have gone back and these are all girls. "It is a case of starvation or federation," the committee states. " Auckland has led the way, and from news we have received from the south we believe that the other centres will follow shortly in our footsteps. The gaoling of the leaders has hardened up the workers and the fight, far from being ended, has only just begun." THE SECRET BALLOT. Tho Auckland "Star," commenting editorially, says: "One of tho most remarkable and depressing features of the present industrial unrest is tho "prejudice entertained in certain quarters against the secret ballot. It is gencaiiy admitted that the taking of a secret ballot is one of the most effective of all safeguards against precipitate action by the workers. During tho recent debate in Parliament on the striko Sir Joseph Ward declared that no striko should ever be entered upon till the workers concerned have had a chance of voting on the question by secret ballot, a'nd' a provision to the same effect is contained In Mr Massey's much-discussed Arbitration Act Amendment Bill. As to the workers themselves, we believe that the great majority of them agreo with the views expressed by the Premier and the leader of the Opposition. We believe also that if a secret ballot of tho workers could bo taken now, large numbers of those on strike would vote for the re-establishment of peace and a still larger number in _ the doubtful unions would vote against plunging into industrial war." NOT RIDDEN DOWN. A BOGUS REPORT. This morning the police received a complaint of a sensational nature. It was to the effect that a young man named Williams, a member of the Waterside Workers' Union, had been seriously assaulted yesterday near tho Domain by mounted special constables. Williams, it was said, when cycling on tho road at the foot of Stanley Street had been ridden down by a squad of mounted "specials," whereon he expressed his opinion concerning their action, and that one of _ the specials rode back and batoned him to unconsciousness. The police made inquiries concerning the complaint and found that Williams was in the Auckland Hospital suffering from an abdominal injury. The man on being questioned denied that he had been ridden down or assaulted by special constables or anyone else, and stated that_ he had fallen off his bicycle. The police made inquiries' at the scene of the accident and had Williams's statement corroborated'by a woman who resided in tho vicinity who saw Williams either fall off or get bumped off his bicycle on the very rough road at the foot of Stanley' Street, after having ridden down a steep incline.