The Dominion. SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1908. BLACKBALL STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1908. BLACKBALL STRIKE.

There is a ■world'of irony in the references which have been, and are being, made in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly to the New Zealand Arbitration Act. It is clear that the New South Wales politicians know nothing, or next to'nothing, of the painful farce which the Act has become in the past couple' of weeks, for on no other supposition can it be understood why they are still referring to the Act as if its efficiency were a matter long ago placed beyond question—as if it were one of those few examples of perfection- oh a woefully imperfect planet. To appreciate the full flavour of this delicious error one must read together to-day's report of the debate upon Mr! Wade's Industrial Disputes Bill and the latest messages from Greyniouth. The men are still 911 strike, and what is more, the Union seems to he bent on trifling still further with the law, if such a thing is possible. .It is rumoured that the funds of the Union have been divided amongst its members, in order that there 'may' be no, means of collecting the fine imposed upon' the Union by the Arbitration Court. ' If this rumour is true, the finishing' touch will ■have . been given to pne "of the most astonishing, tragedies of blundering and weakness m which , a Government could involve itself., In the general ruin there is not much that the Government can save. .The country is full of people who have broken Section 15 of the Amendment Act of 1905, and they do not entertain the slightest fear that they will -be called to account. The individual strikers are still rejoicing in their freedom from prosecution. The , Act has signally failed to secure the.' return of order. But ill all this mass of calamity there is one small achievement by way of compensation—an achievement so small as to-be a grotesque parody of the great things which the New South Wales politicians think are accomplished'by the" Act whenever it moves. Whatever else may" have happened, the Union has been fined £75." That is at any rate something to be grateful for, just as a dividend of a penny in tlie pound in a bankrupt estate is better than nothing at all. And now it appears to be likely that when the Government musters lip its courage to collect the dividend, it may not be able to do so. The Union, it is said, has offered to liquidate the fine at-the rate of 2s. 6d. per month! Could there be any more illuminating: commentary upon the Government's policy throughout the trouble tlian this superlative act of contumely on the part of the Union? Were it not that the inaction of the Government has created a situation from which one need not be surprised to see anything emerge, we should be disinclined to believe that to-day's reports are accurate. They may turn out to be incorrect, or to require modification, but nobody will be surprised if they do not. Is it possible that the Government does liot intend even to collect the fine? There is something almost sublime in the Government's desperate silence and inaction. It might say with Henley:—

In the fell clutch of circumstances I have not winced nor cjicd aloud; Under thebludgeoriings'of chance - My head is bloody, but unbowed. As, an exhibition of passive endurance of censure ' and disrepute, the Government's unbowed Lead and silent tongue are indeed remarkable, but what Las become of the principle recently laid down by the Premier that when a Government is struck in one eye it should strike the smiter " slap bang in the other"? Is there no limit whatever to the Government's tolerance of the present deplorable situation? >