MANIFESTO BY CITIZENS' COMMITTEE.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14831, 24 November 1913, Page 8

MANIFESTO BY CITIZENS' COMMITTEE.

The following manifesto was issued by the Citizens' Committee on Saturday:—

'•The Employers' Association have been asked to send representatives to an opeD-air meeting convened by the strikers to discuss the strike and make suggestions for terminating it. The matter was referred to the Citizens' Committee, who have issued the following statement: —

''The committee feel that no useful purpose can be served by acceding to the request, and that a discussion under such circumstances and conditions cannot be productive of any good.

"The issues are exceedingly simple. 'There is no question as far as the Canterbury Employers' or the Citizens' Committee is concerned of any attack on trades unionism. There is no desire to weaken or impair the efficiency of any legitimate industrial organisation formed by the workers for their own protection, or for the improvement of tho conditions under which they work. "The issue is entirely one of whether tho trade and commerce of the community are to be controlled by a small band of 'industrial anarchists' dominated by the Federation of Labour. There niust be two parties directly in-, terested in any dispute, and it is contrary to justice and common-sense that either should arrogate to itself the function of determining the conditions under which work, in which both have a common interest, shall be carried on. Tho employers do not desire nor do they ask to be placed in any such position. They are content to stipulate that there must be a tribunal provided by 'aw which shall act as an arbiter in these disputes and settle them, if possible, on a basis of equity and justice. '•The Federation of Labour, by repudiating agreements deliberately entered into, and by proving incapable of securing the observance of such agreements by its members individually, cannot be recognised by tlie • Citizens' Committee as a ■ trustworthy party for any negotiations, i Whatever the outcome of the present strike, which the Citizens' Committee desires to see ended attho earliest moment, they are determined to adhere to this principle: that in a civilized community industrial disputes must be settled in* a civilized manner, and not by the • barbarous methods of the general strike. The committee call on the community, therefore, to demonstrate that it will not tolerate the adoption of general strike methods nor allow the molestation of any persons peacefully carrying on their ordinary business.