BRITISH STRIKES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1217, 28 August 1911, Page 5

BRITISH STRIKES.

GENERAL RETURN TO WORK, PROPOSALS FOR PREVENTION IN FUTUREWELSH JEW-BAITING. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. August 27, 5 p.m.) London, August 2G. The threatened tramway strike in London has been averted. The committee of the Loudon County Council has agreed to recognise tho man's union, to settle certain grievances in connection with the management, and to refer others to a conciliation board. The lightermen's strike lias been settled. The shipowners at Liverpool liavo terminated tho lockout of the men, conditionally on all resuming. Otherwise tho lockout will bo renewed. Tho Dockcrs' Union aro to givo pledges not to support any men wishing to disregard tho agreement. Several London newspapers support the suggestion for a permanent volunteer league to carry ou public services in tlie event of a great combined strike. It is suggested that an organisation should be formed similar to the "public security brigade" which in 1909 causcd tho collapse of tho general strike in Sweden. Tho Leeds Chamber of Commerce has urged the Government to repeal tho Trades Disputo Act and revise tlio law as to peaceful picketing. Tho Midland Railway Company has presented tho loyalist men in its service witli a week's pay besides their ordinary wages. Apropos of tho wages question tlie newspapers publish details of tho cost of housekeeping. These show that groceries and green-groceries liavo increased in price by 25 per cent, in tho last fifteen years. LIVERPOOL SETTLEMENT. MR. TOM MANN'S VIEWS. London, August 25. All the Liverpool strikers, with th.e exception of tho dockers, have resumed work. Tho latter will start to-morrow if all are permitted to return. A number of tram-car wreckers havo been sentenced, two of them to live months' imprisonment. At a conlerence of marine engineers at West Hartlepool, it was decided to approach the shipowners for a general advance of wages. Mr. Tom Mann, interviewed regarding the settlement of tlio strikes at Liverpool, said ho rejoiced that the various sections of transport workers had lor tho first time been brought into harmonious relations. "Tho dominant consideration had been tho betterment of the workers conditions," he said, "and all old sectarian and political differences dividing them had been entirely dropped. The solidarity which had been a characteristic throughout the fight remains intact in tho hour of victory. Tlie workers would strengthen that solidarity by continuing to organise." Mr. Mann added that tho Strike Committeo.had more than quadrupled tho number of organised workers in Liverpool. WELSH RIOTS CONTINUE. JEWISH PREMISES WRECKED. (Rec. Aug. 27, 5.5 p.m.) London, August 20. A dozen baton charges were made at Bargoed and Gilfach, in South Wales, today. Several men were injured, and half a dozen premises were damaged. London, August 25. Rioting continues in the Bargoed district. Two Jewish shops have been completely wrecked at Senghenydd. Many Jewish families have fled from tho Monmouth valleys to Cardiff. NOT ANTI-SEMITIC. (Rec. August 28, 0.30 a.m.) London, August 27. Prominent Jews seo nothing antiSemitic in tho Welsh outburst, which they regard as purely due to hooliganism for the purposes of .theft. A DANGER TO JEWRY. London, August 25. According to a correspondent of the "Record," naturalisation papers show that the Jews established at Glamorgan and on tho Monmouth border were imported in recent years by their foreign compatriots. Tho latter, beginning as pedlars, soon become shopkeepers and landlords. Tho populaco wero incensed against many of tho Jews, who, under pretest of the railway strike, raised the prices of perishable products, and found that whilo the charges relating to property owners were baseless as regards nay considerable section of tho Jews, they were only too well substantiated in some individual cases. Henco a handle was provided for anti-Jewish demonstrations. Tho paper adds: "It behoves the Jews to deal drastically with their own members who constitute a danger to Jewry." A SOLDIER'S ALLEGATIONS. THE SHOOTING AT LLANELLY. Lohdon, August 25. Harold Spiers, belonging to tho Worcester Regiment, who deserted at New Radnor, declares that during the Llanelly riot he was ordered to shoot to kill the leader, who was on a garden wall. Ho refused, and was arrested. lie escaped and walked a hundred miles, living chiefly on nuts and apples. Spiers has been transferred to tho military authorities. LINCOLN FATALITY. CHIEF CONSTABLE'S EVIDENCE. London, August 25. Chief-Constable J. T. Coleman, captain of tho Lincoln Fire Brigade, testified at tho inquest on Constable Clay, killed at yesterday's fire, as follows:—"When threats wcro made during Sunday's riot to murder mo, Clay stuck to mo throughout." Tho witness added that four thousand people wero throwing stones at polico and windows, like (levils let loose. TRADES UNION PRIVILEGES. TnEIR REPEAL DEMANDED. (Rec. August 28, 0.30 a.m.) London, August 27. Thero is a widespread demand in commercial circles for tho repeal of tho section of tho Trades Disputes Act dealing with peaceful picketing, and tho section relieving trades unions from responsibility for. their acts, IF THE TORIES HAD USED TROOPS. MR. BEN TILLETT SARCASTIC. (Rec. August 2S,' 0.5 a.m.) London, August 29. Speakers at a meeting of tho Social Democrat party in Trafalgar Square donouncacl the mo of the troops during tho strike,

Mr. Ben Tilled, scc-retary of tho Dockers' Union, declared'that if a Tory Government had so aeled Sir. Lloyd George would have wept tears of blood at the massacre of his countrymen, Mr. Asquith would havo declared that the Constitution had been prostituted by Tories and capitalists, uliilo Mr. Churchill would have called up his father's ghost to wallop the Tories. UNREST ELSEWHERE. AMERICAN RAILWAY DISPUTE. (Rec. Aug. 27, 5.0 p.m.) New York, August 20. Twelve thousand men employed on the Illinois Central Railroad at Paducah, in Kentucky, threaten to strike if their demands are not granted. Tho directors of the company rcfuso to recognise tho union. Tho federation of shop employees of the Ilarriman railway lines, numbering thousands, threaten to striko unless their grievances aro remedied. Their chief demand is an eight-hour day. LITHGOW STRIKE. Sydney, August 20. Tho Lithgow strikers havo instructed tho local storekeepers not to supply non-union-ists. Tho orders aro being obeyed. Messrs. Hoskins aro sendiug to Sydney for provisions for tho non-unionists, who are unable to buy even a newspaper. STOCKHOLM'S EXPERIMENT. HOW A GENERAL STRIKE WAS MET. How Stockholm met the problem of providing for its city services during the general striko was described in a dispatch published in "Tho Times" of August 2S ot mat year. "A visitor to Stockholm at the present time," wrote tho correspondent, "would find it difficult to realise that a general strike is in progress. There are no outward signs of tho calamity, though tho sight of occasional groups of working men in their Sunday clothes might suggest that for tome reason or other work had been .interrupted. Vet, as a matter of fact, the general strike' began on August 4, and, apart from its paralysing effect on industry, involved tramway and steamboat workers, cab-drivers, and the men at the gas and electrical works. How, then, is it that the trams are running, cabs are plying for hire in the streets, tho steam terries aro working as usual, streets and houses are lighted, and there seems no lack of provisions or transport? The explanation is that these and many other of tho most important social services aro boing performed by a brigade of volunteers, who liavo come forward in the public interest and who devote their time and energies gratuitously to supplying the most pressing needs of society at largo. Securing the Public Welfare. "On July 31 plans were first formed for mooting the situation by the organisation of a band of voluntary liclpcrs, and oil August 2 a meeting was held at which deiiuito action was determined upon. A 'Public Security Brigade' (Frivilliga sky< - dskaren) was to be enrolled, and the lotlowing services, amongst others, wcro to be undertaken: — "The protection of banks, insurance offices, and similar institutions liable to attack or plunder by tho strikers; tho working of trams and steamboats, and of gas, watc.r, and electric lighting machinery; tho driving of motor and other cabs; tho conveyance of the sick to the hospitals, and tho rendering to the hospital stall oi any necessary help; the unloading and transport of the necessities of life, such ns food, coal, wood, etc. "Tire object of the organisation was not to help individual sufferers ot to saicguard individual interests, hut in every way possible to maintain such services as should bo considered necessary for tho security and welfare of the qwwnumty, A Valuable Object-Lesson. "Tho appeal for volunteers met with a generous and enthusiastic response, and within a week of tlie first mooting on August 2 tho whole organisation was in full working order. All classes supplied their quota. Counts and barone, military and naval officers, professional and business men, engineers, clerks, .<?tudentß from the universities and technical schools, alike volnnteerod their services. Tho importance of such a movement can hardly be over-estimated. The fact that tho cxcculivo body has no connootion with tho Government or municipality and yet is working in constant touc and in perfect harmony with both speaks volumes for tho spirit in which the work has been undertaken and the efficiency with which it is bein# carried out. It.is an objectlesson in tho capacity of the upper and middle classes to meet such an emergency. And, lastly, if, as is thought probable by some, the institution should becomo a permanent one, Sweden will have one of tho bost guarantees for industrial peace in tho future."