The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1912. THE CHALLENGE TO THE CITY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1352, 1 February 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1912. THE CHALLENGE TO THE CITY.

Now that the tramwaymen have gone on strike, nothing is of so much importance as that the citizens shall realise exactly what the strike means. It means simply that a band of municipal servants havebeen led by evil • counsellors into challenging the city to a trial of strength. The men have simply asserted their claim to rule the city and their belief that they can force the yO,OOO citizens of Wellington to admit this claim. There is fortunately no room for any misrepresentation as to the matter in dispute: the men demand, without giving a single reason why anyone should listen to the demand, the dismissal of a certain ticket-inspector, and the City Council has refused to dismiss him. Nobody will fail to sec that submission to the union in this dispute will mean that at any time the union may successfully command the dismissal of anybody in the cif-y's service, from the lowest official to the highest, whom it may please the men to condemn. Although a section of the public may nevertheless imagine that' a Serious ''strike'' over "a minor official , ' - is a thing to be avoided by the city, there is yet a very large, majority of the public capable of unclorstanding that Inspector I'ullkr is now merely a pivot upon whom a great principle is turning. Public opinion, wo are entirely confident, is utterly opposed to the union; and the union and its "strike, committee"—every one of whom is infringing the law—are thoroughly well aware of the importance of public opinion and of the danger to them in antagonising it. They have lost no time in making an appeal to the citizens whoso comfort and convenience, and whose public rights, they have treated with the contempt they have shown for the law.

The facts of the dispute are so simple that it is hardly necessary to say a word about the ridiculous and irrelevant statement made on behalf of the "strike committee." It is worth noting, however, that while the committee considers it necessary to pretend that the men have shown some consideration for tho public it is unable to disguise the fact that the public is regarded as "the enemy." This is not the first time a community has found , itself denounced as "the enemy" by a small section of intolerant aud misguided unionists, and if it is not betrayed by the authorities the community will on this occasion also resist tho operations of the agitators who live upon the working man. The greatest sufferers from a strike are always tho strikers ancktheir families: nobody profits from a strike save the men who engineer it. It will be denied, but the public will nevertheless believe, and rightly, that a large section of the strikers are privately sorry for themselves. The City Council, which has made few preparations for the trouble, has not yet_,decided upon any definite line of action; but we shall be surprised if it docs not show that it realises the temper df the public. Surrender is out of the question, for surrender now will merely mean a temporary postponement of trouble and a permanent subordination to the agitator class. When the public feels the full inconvenience of the strike it will be far less likely to reflect upon the ease with which a dangerous and dishonourable peace could have been secured than upon the unworthincss of a union whoso wanton tyranny has been directed against the law of the land and the rights and the convenience of the community. It will not be difficult for the city to run a restricted service, but the resources of the public are a good deal larger than the strikers suppose. Although the cessation of the tramway service will be painfully inconvenient, it will not be quite intolerable, and tho city can carry on without the cars quite long enough to allow the strikers to feel the effects of their action upon themselves. Before they left their cars, the men had few sympathisers outside the ranks of the foolish, and they have further prejudiced their case by inflicting the maximum of inconvenience upon the citizens. The fact which to our mind should goV' ern the action of the City Council and the public is this: that if we are to face a, serious strike trouble, there is nothing to gain, and much to lose, in attempting to stave off the time of conflict, The policy of paying Dane-geld can ever have but one result, namely, increasing demands from the Danes and ultimate disaster. The idea of arbitration outsido the' law, with which Sii. , Joseph Wαm> appears to have allo\ved a himself to be associated, must be abandoned. The question involved does not lend itself _ to arbitration, for the question in simply whether Ihn city or a, trade union shall command the

city's affairs. In the meantime we (-rust lliiit the public will hear its troubles patiently and give loyal support to whatever action is taken in defence of the city against, the aggressions of the Labour agitators. The city has been challenged in its supreme right, and it must meet the challenge without shrinking.