British Cabinet Stands Ready To Declare State Of Emergency

Wanganui Chronicle, 15 December 1949, Page 5

British Cabinet Stands Ready To Declare State Of Emergency

Strike Of Power Workers Plunges London In Darkness

LONDON, Dee. 14 (Ree. 11.30 pm).—Cabinet is receiving minute by minute reports of the power strike and may be summoned within 24 hours to decide drastic action.

If necessary, this would perhaps take the form of a declaration of a state of emergency and a probe by the Public Prosecutor into the unofficial strike. (N.Z.P.A.—Copyright) Unofficial strikes at four electrical power-stations plunged large areas of London into total darkness last night and set Christmas candles flickering 12 days too early. The strikes threaten the city with a serious transport, industrial, and commercial dislocation. It is feared that if they spread further the national grid—the system which distributes power throughout Britain—may be affected. Workers at three power-stations stopped work on Monday over a dispute about pay. Because servicemen were drafted in, workers at Barking—the biggest power station in Europe—stopped work also. More than 1400 men at the Barking station streamed out of the building, and almost simultaneously the lights went out in many London suburbs and electric-trolley buses were brought to a standstill. Shopkeepers and housewives fumbled through the dark to light up decorative candles they had been reserving for Christmas. Sen icemen were drafted into Barking and others were standing by last

• night, while the workers at other great. London power-stations met to decide what action to take. The strikers want a payment of special bonuses for working in particularly hot or dirty conditions in addition to three-halfpence an hour wage rise recently granted on the understanding that it would, in most cases, supersede such special bonuses. Crane drivers unloading coal ships on the Thames also struck. The Government has plans ready for the large-scale employment of servicemen to keep the power stations running if the strike stoppages grow. A proclamation of a state of emergency cannot be ruled out. A London power stoppage would seriously curtail Britain’s whole export drive as well as home production, which depends on the 24-hour output of 112 power stations harnessed to the nation-wide grid. When the power stations shut because of lack of fuel in the great winter freeze early in 1947, about £100.000,000 was lost to the country’s recovery in a month. After a meeting of delegates representing the 24 London power station! late last night, a statement was issued saying that no station would handle “black current or accept black labour,” and demanding the withdrawal of all services personnel from the four affected plants.