DRAGON'S TEETH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 42, 23 January 1945, Page 4

DRAGON'S TEETH

IF ever a Government of any country sowed a crop of the proverbial 'dragon's teeth' the New Zealand Labour Government did so with a vengeance when it insisted upon compulsory unionism throughout the working community. The restraint which has hitherto been noticeable amongst the Trade Unions because of the fabled 'war effort' has now been flung to the four winds. The trade union 'war' which characterised 1937 and 1938 has not merely been revived, but intensified. The New Zealand public has grown used, and even callously apathetic to the long procession of strikes and hold-ups which were one time limited to the wharves and the coal mines. Unionism is. not merely dictating the course, but is now threatening openly its erstwhile champions. The background of the new Railway strike is coloured by the recent increase in "the Parliamentary remuneration which the Government instituted prior tc the Christmas holidays. There is an element of ironic humour here which will cause the opposition to plunge its tongue in its cheek at every reference to the 'new', situation. Doubtless there will be the usual idealistic appeal to the workers from the Prime Minister; doubtless too a shortlived struggle and the old game of appeasement, with the workers going back to .the job armed with a partial settlement and a lot of promises. This will tide things over, but will .it settle the difficulty or cleanse industrial restivaness! Experience has a vivid and bitter tale to tell!