THE TRANSVAAL STRIKE.

Waikato Times, Issue 12775, 22 January 1914, Page 3

THE TRANSVAAL STRIKE.

HEAVY LOSS TO BL 'SINESS. I ' A'ino.MOi, A WEEK. I i (Per Press Association.--Copyright.j \ lOHANNESIH R<-. January 20. j ll i> estimated dial apart from the I cust (il administering martial law. tinRand i> losing nvcr ,£."100,000 a week ' as rln- resuli of liic strike. Two largo linns alone put their losses last week at &2~t*i and £.'.1500 respectively. Owing In llir restricted number ol pcopie travelling and the closing of the bar- of the hotels, the licensed victuallers rspccialh have suffered heavilv. Leading ioiumerci.il men agree as to | ' the seriousness of the blow to the city's prosperity. I One authority estimates that a quar- . ti i of the iniiier- on the Reef are -till 1 otii. Corresponding loss on the gold | output will lie nearly £.' l .Soo.ooo a ; week, and ilii- means about £.50. 000 in . wages alone. - t THE RAILWAYS. J MOST ()!• MINES WORKING. ' 1 JOHANNESIU'R(i. January -'O. There is nil material change in the , position among the mines, the majority , being in full swine, with the mills crushing and the drivers at their posts, 1 hui tile employees in the mine workshops have not yet signed on. fl is officially slated that the position in railwav matters is almost normal everywhere. Nearly eight hundred men are working in the workshops at Durban, where the majority of the liremen and cleaners have also rounied.

MIXERS CAN"! (.O BACK. i WHILE MARTIAL LAW EXISTS. JOHAW'ESBI R<;. January j->. Mr Matthew?., the general secretary dl' the South African Mine Workers' ] I'nion, of which tin Transvaal Miners' I Association is the main unit, when interviewed b\ Renter's agent, said : "As I far as the Miners' Association is conj ccrni'd there can be no going back until the (iuvernment remove the martial law, and allow us to hold meetings to sec what view> the men hold. Seeing thai the men's ballot by over two-thirds of a majority favors the strike we can--not allow them to resume until the decision be reversed either through the Federation or the agency of the Mine Workers' I'nion." Another Router message states that the standard rate of pay to the men who were reinstated will not be interfered with. Boydell, Ventbridge, Tilbury, arid Rayburn, the four strike leaders arrested at Durban, were allowed bail, the two first in bonds of and the other two of subject to certain undertakings, the details of which were not disclosed. A SIGN OF THE END. PRETORIA, January 20. A proclamation has been issued demobilising certain forces in Pretoria, Fauresmith, and Durban forthwith. Other forces on the Rand and in Natal will be dismissed on the 23rd inst. Two hundred men have signed on at the Pretoria workshops to-day. The engineers and boilermakers are still standing out firmly. FEDERATION FUTILE. TWO SEVERE LESSONS. SYDNEY, January 21. In a leader on the South African strike, the Sun to-day says that the federation section of Australian unionists has had two lessons—one from South Africa and the other from New Zealand—within a few months. In New Zealand the strike tried one of the most quiet and most peaceful communi- • ties, with a Government which wouW use armed force i§jy w^^g(|ea*f*t

tuivi! d in.-iinctivel\ (d rifles, bayonets, ant! guns. Both strikes failed. These examples should he a warning to workmen when rushiiii* into a general strike thai they are looking for defeat. Legal methods in the end prove the best for the workman.