The Waikato Argus, [PUBLISHED DAILY] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1914

Waikato Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 5508, 14 January 1914, Page 2

The Waikato Argus, [PUBLISHED DAILY] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1914

Although there has not from the first been any doubt as to what would be the result of the .strike of 1913-14, it is matter for congratulation that the manipulators of the Huntly miner* have given their victims permis. sion to resume their occupation and earn a living for themselves and their wives and children. There is a redeeming point to every situation; in this case it is that the lied Feds have come out of the affair thoroughly discredited in the eyes of both the employers and the employed. The former laid down the law for themselves that they would have no dealings with an organisation which ignored the laws of the country and whose truthfulness was not to be relittd upon by either party to an industrial dispute. Employers have proved themselves strong enough to secure the labour they require on terms defined by the Arbitration Act, one of them being the secret ballot as to whether there shall or shall not be a strike. This condition sub-

stituted popular opinion for arbitrary dictation by the officials of trades unions, who claimed the power, which was conceded to them by the workers, to declare a strike, they being the sole judges of its justice and advisability. The late strike has once more clearly demonstrated that a universal strike is impracticable. This is so for the reason that it means civil war amongst the people of the country. The strike has caused the loss of many thousands of pounds, one of the largest items making up the total being the money sent out of the country for the purchase of foreign coal, which was previously procured from our own pits.