Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15, 1947 TIME MARCHES ON!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 73, 15 January 1947, Page 4

Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15, 1947 TIME MARCHES ON!

THE spectacle of conference after conference instead of the firm clear-cut action which was promised, is not likely to sustain the growing wave of confidence which was won for the Government when first it set out to discipline the delinquent Watersiders Union in the present dispute. For over two months now the country has been forced to live under the ridiculous regime now ruling in its major ports—urgently needed supplies staggered, ships diverted, life-saving foodstuffs for our kinsmen in Britain delayed indefinitely. Backed by the Federation of Labour, the Government showed its first firmness in delivering an ultimatum, which was favoured by 90 per cent, of the people of the Dominion. The set-up seems to have deteriorated since. There is variation in the attitude of united labour; no longer is the Federation showing an unbroken front. The Government hesitates and temporises. What next ? All New Zealand knows that the outcome of the present dispute will have very far-reaching effects. It will consolidate the Government’s position immeasurably, or else seal its doom. In the face of the already dwindling numbers of Labour’s adherents, shown only too well by the election figures, any further display of weakness in handling the newest difficulty must spell disaster. Waverers in the ranks of rational-thinking supporters will desert en mass. The patience of all classes has been tried to the utmost, from the worker whose Christmas purchases were curtailed for lack of import deliveries, to. the manufacturer who is compelled to wait indefinitely while raw materials linger idly at the wharves, awaiting the settlement which will speed-up the discharge of long overdue cargoes. The temper of the people in the larger cities will not be helped by the sight of the holiday taken by the watersiders today in their annual picnic at Point Chevalier. In the meantime wrangles proceed at Auckland and Wellington. The Union is not discomforted by the suspension of the Commission Control, and to reach, a-real head, it appears that far more drastic action is necessary. Will that be forthcoming ? We wonder, and yet unless it is, evasure is merely putting off the evil for some future date. Such a deadlock as we are experiencing at present in New Zealand has been mounting up over the years and must finally be settled as witness all appeasement policies elsewhere which build up the inevitable day of reckoning.