The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1912. THE WAIHI SITUATION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1598, 15 November 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1912. THE WAIHI SITUATION.

fr-^—*_„ There is evidence already that the desperate tactics of the dupes of the Federation of Labour have suddenly ended the strike and the disorders in Waihi. Nobody had imagined that the "trump card" which the Federation officials have/been talking of was all the time revolvers and gelignite; and most people will find it difficult to understand how these misguided men came to persuade themselves that such a card could be played without eternal disaster to the Federation. The monstrous manifesto from the Federation which we printed yesterday is so obviously a mass' of reckless mis-statcments that most people will see behind it the quivering alarm of the Federation leaders. For months past some of these men "have been pouring forth I wild torrents of ahuse : upon their opponents, and using language of the wildest and most .provocative: kind; and now, finding that some of their reckless followers have resorted to the use of firearms, they are in a state of panic. MR* Semflb and his colleagues may not t have expected, and no doubt did not wish, the. rank and file of the strikers to resort to shooting; but thejf are mMally .responsible for the appearance in .New Zealand of the . methods' of the I.W.W. as practised in America. Their frenzied resolutions and manifestoes are merely their last terrified attempt to overt the wrath,- not only of. the general public, hut that of their own following. They need not expect from ttie public any credence ,or' aiij , ,.sympathy. The full facts of the affair of Tuesday-will shortly be made public at the inquest on the unfortunate man EvASijß,' ~.;'■ We do not intend to defend the anti-Federation workmen, if, in their uprising against those who. had outraged and tormented them for months, they committed any offence against the law. The Commissione'r or Police, whose work has been admirable throughout the whole trying time, may be trusted to see that any prosecutions that are necessary will be attended to. Whether the "arhitrationists" broke any law has yet to. be proved. But thejr are few who will not sympathise with, and even approve, the refusal of these men to submit for ever to the monstrous behaviour of the strikers. Attempts will be made, of course-'-attem.pts have, indeed, already been made-r-td turn the unfortunate affair against the Government. That the Government has had nothing to do with the matter, and has dona nothing save preserve order, is a fact which is of no consequence to these people; hut it is a fact which nothing can write out of. the situation'. ' Unless the United Labour party's are extremely careful, and take positive steps to condemn the Federation's final "resort to firearms and explosives, they will incur the suspicion of being secretly as sympathetic towards Mn. SEMPtE and his friends as, we are sure, the rank and file of the workers are opposed to them. To all those outside the ranks of the Federation, aiid a section of LabourSocialists, the only question o.f real importance is whether the forces of law and order were used _ efficient-Is and correctly, and there is nothing but evidence that they were. We may, and we do, feel sorry that a split in the ranks of organised Labour should create so much disorder and inconvenience, but it is for organised Labour to settle its own internal quarrels. The course of events in Waihi, the recklessness and mendacity of the Federation, and the readiness of a good manjr Labour leaders outside the Federation to seek for party profit in any event, are all so well known by _ the publie that deception is impossible. In the meantinie, it is reported that all the foolish "martyrs .who preferred to go to gaol rather than give an undertaking to behave Hko civilised human beings have been released. They were not released by tho Government. They released giving tho undertaking which was'all the penalty exacted of them for their infractions of law and order. And they couldhave released themselves any. time, in the same way, since their committal. Many of them, no doubt, really believed they were "martyrs' in good earnest; to-day they cannot but realise what a foolish figure they have cut all along. For some time, as we have said, wo may expect that in their alarm, and in their desperate anxiety to try and find a loophole of escape from their folly and failure, tho Federation people, and their friends on the side of the United : Labour party, will he sedulous in misrepresenting the facts of the Waihi trouble, But the public will see through these tactics as easily as | it saw through the absurd "martyrdom" of the rowdies who thought it such a fine thing to refuse- to promise not to terrify women, insult and assault peaceful workers, and molest cripples. The Federation, with its foul language and its re-' volvers and gelignite, is now beneath the consideration of the public. It is deplorable that the quarrels and j jealousies of the two sets of leaders ] —those of the Federation and those ~of the United Labour party—should, 'by being (turned towards the inflammation of fcjta rank ond file, cftUW auoh trouble and loss to'the neutral,

ptibiio. The whole trouble lias arisen f out of a quarrel between two sections of labour, and not between employers and employees; ami while the Federation of Labour naturally seeks to make it appear that it has been fighting the cause of labour against capital, everyone knows that that is not the case. The ambition of the leaders of the Federation. lα-' force members of. an outside "union to come under the banner of the Federation originated the trouble; and the blame for what has followed must be at the door of those who planned and saw to the carrying-oiit of the campaign to give effect to that ambition. Now that the Federation can conceal its inglorious and disastrous failure no longer it has pot the courage to face the situation fairly, but is seeking to place the responsibility elsewhere. It is doomed to failure. The facts are too well known. ______ '