BRISTLING BAYONETS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 239, 9 October 1928, Page 8

BRISTLING BAYONETS.

WHERE LABOUR RULES.

CHAOS or AUSTRALIA.

ONE REDEEMING FEATURE.

STRONG ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT. "If there are any worse labour conditions than those prevailing in Australia to-day may I never again have occasion to visit that country," said Mr. Frank Goldberg, managing director of the Goldberg Advertising Agency, Ltd., of Australia and New Zealand, who reached Auckland by the Marama this -®orning.

''When I left Australia, Adelaide was bristling with bayonets," continued Mr. Goldberg. "Only a few hours before sailing, one of my principal clients showed me a letter from his Adelaide branch, stating that several of the leading business houses had decided to close their doors until the present struggle reached finality. Here in New Zealand you can scarcely realise the critical state which prevails. In many districts a condition amounting almost to civil war exists. Sydney, the locale of my own head office, fortunately remains comparatively calm. Work at the waterside is proceeding fairly quietly there, but there is the constant fear that the state of affairs existing at other ports may prove infectious." "The one redeeming feature of the whole situation," Mr. Goldberg continued, "is the Btrong attitude taken up by the Bruee Government. Almost for the first time, I think, the people of Australia feel that those in authority are determined not to relent in their protection of transport facilities. The move whereby all waterside workers are compelled to be licensed was cleverly conceived and admirably executed. The general trend of public opinion is decidedly against the strikers, and there is no doubt that the methods now. being employed by the Federal Government have the unqualified approval of the bulk of the population. _ "It is a great tribute to the commercial world of Australia that in spite of the critical position which has arisen, business circles remain calm and comparatively easy in mind- If .any apprehension is felt it is well concealed, We, who are engaged in the business of advertising, are able to keep a finger constantly on the pulse of business affaire, and I am proud to be able to say that no Serious flutter is felt in spite of the undeniable seriousness of the industrial position. Occuring at a time when, froin an economic standpoint, Australia is in need of the utmost co-operation from Labour, the present strike might well have spelt commercial chaos. Even now, incalculable damage has been wrought. There is, in Australia, however, a commendable spirit of courage and determination; a spirit in accord with the finest traditions of the Empire, and one feels that the Commonwealth will come out 'on top' in spite of handicaps." Questioned as to the effects of the recent referendum on prohibition in Nfew South Wales, Mr. Goldberg stated that there was never any real doubt as to the ultimate issue. Both parties spent enormous sums in publishing their arguments. Mr. Goldberg's visit to New Zealand Will be brief. His Australian organisation has developed with remarkable rapidity, and it is in order to maintain close liaison with his New Zealand offices that he is making his present tour.