THE LONDON STRIKE.

Western Star, Issue 1387, 7 September 1889, Page 4

THE LONDON STRIKE.

London, Sept. 2. The strike has cost the P. and 0. Company £15,000 during the past fortnight. , The Salvation Army are, providing; daily food for 'thousands . of. the strikers’ families, and funds are urgently needed to avert absolute starvation. { The striker*’, cause ia being warmly, adVocated by a numher of members of Parliament.' 4- • ■'■ ’ r The director* of the dook companies have refused, to see Bums, who is acting for the strikers/ owing to his insulting behaviour. They assert they can procure abundance of . labourers if thomenacea of the strikers be ■suppressed. ' . : The shipowner* are strongly inclined to re- * volt at ,the action ;of tho deck companies. -The strikers are enfeebled by hunger. The strikers’ meeting in Hyde Park was of an orderly character, .Barns said the marks .of-sympathy- they had from -the colonies were true federation. Parleying had ended, and the min now await the enrrender of the dock owner*. ... . . Tho agreement between wharfingers and shipowners has collapsed; <. Eight hundred “blacklegs" are housed and ~ employed in the docks; Tho directors of the companies'allege that Burns has just invited 7000 strikers to invade the docks and remove these men, and have appealed to Hr Matthews (Hdme Secretary) for help. Tho police have booh despatched to their hssistanoe. * Sept. 3. - Fresh men pre bping taken on in the docks, although 4000 picket* are constantly on the watch to prevent men from accepting em- ■ .ployment.’ The dock labourers an? greatly moved by the generosity of tho people of Melbourne. Ton thousand failure, cabinet 'and cigar makera have strhcl: ttoVk. - ' )■■ *' s '* ? ! ■' Sept. 4. Work at the riverside wharves is gradually being resumed.,, ... . - ': Tlie men on strike jeered the soldiers and 'police sent down to the docks to prevent rioting and protect property. Several London firms, who arc executing colonial orders under contract, sent rolling stock, paper, machinery, &c., to Liverpool for shipmant, but have teen forced to send it t on to Glasgow. 1 Oao hundred thousand shilling tickets for j food wore distributed among the labourers I yesterday, but tharfUWtWas only saffieient to palhateafittle of their sufferings from luck of-food.! ri X* ' MVjlk ? K *.. c • ■ The employers at Liverpool hare conceded the demand made by corn carrier* for an advance of a shiUiog a day. At a meeting hold th sympathise with the London dock labourers, it was stated that up ■tb y; storday £IOOO hud boeu collected in SydnSy, £3OO in Hobart',’£3soo in Ifelbonrne, £SOJ in Adelaide, and £7OO in Brisbane Tho Fifcshiro, has diichargod half of her cargo, liUfthe Kaikoura has only had a small -portion of-her,loading taken out. The date ot tho Tainai’s depijirturp is iqdtfiujt". , Gladstone has visited some ,of the families of the strikers, and subscribed to their fund, which is inertpsyig; Mr Barns states that tho strike at Liverpool ha* been brought about to counteract the transfer of shipping business to that ■ port, iipd hoi states that if necessary similar steps will be taken in Glasgow and Southampton. - ;; : .. Canon Holland and the Her. Mr Mnsoil, representing the clergy of tho Eastern district, have sent a lt.Uer of sympathy to the strikers,, . Fifteen thousand then arc now acting as pickets at the docks on behalf of tho laborers, . • Sept. 5. The Orient s.a. LigUria has at last been loaded and has sailed for Australia. The ■iCaikoura Put 6tbo cirbifs'bs of New Zealand mutton; The positiofi of the labour dispute is unchanged | both ■fiatHfds dogged de- i termination hot to yield. I ■Out r bf 000,000 'trades unionists 40,000 1 hare voted for an eight hours day and 03,000 against a reduction. The balance mate no sign. ! At,a,vast majority of the wharves on the Middlesex side of the Thames, work has been ! .resupiodj-aud several on tho Surrey tide are also working. , r ,. • ; * The Strike Committee are yielding to the 1 wharfinger* and granary merchants and have 1 allowed tho strikers to resume whore their 1 demands have-been coucedod. i Tho.dock companies propose a conference j with the Shipowner's Committee relative to j unloading 'their vessels at the earliest possible j moment. I The’ strike ia extending to the iron, building j ; »d timber trade?, it is not general.