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Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1612, 2 December 1912, Page 5

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THE WAIHI STRIKE. : FOUR HUNDRED MEN WILLING ).. TO RESUME, ;.i DIARY OP THB WHOLE STRIKE* j (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ■' j Auckland, November 30. j The Federation of Labour has officially i \ declared the. Waihi strike at an end. / - ; Mr. lthodes, of the Waihi Company, .■■'-. when seen this morning, said he had been i officially informed that the strike was off, . ] A list of about four hundred workers will* j ing to return to Waihi had been handed: ... • j to the company. It would certainly ba impossible to find work for all, or oven ■', half, during the remainder of this year, j nor until the water in the low levels had ■ ; been pumped out, but the company had ! made a promise to give preference durin'g ; the next ten days to married men with . ' homes in Waihi, being free to obooso .. ' > from the list of those deemed to be the' " ; most suitable for the company's lequirey j ments. ' . :i , STILL DEFIANT. j A FEDERATION MANIFESTO. ■} (By TolegraDh.— Press Association.) ' . ; Auckland, December 1. ] Officials of the Federation of Labour J were interviewed oe Saturday by a "Star". \, .; reporter regarding the settlement of the Waihi strike. Messrs. E. Semple.(organ- -j iser), P. C. Webb (president), W. E. ; "; Parry (vice-president), and P. Fraser, . ; (member of the executive) made'the fol-> j lowing joint statement:— . . • '. ■ j "Although wo have declared the strike ; off, we have no apologies to make for its : ; existence. It was absolutely justified, and ';'. no self-respecting unionist could have : acted otherwise. It is now clearly known \ by all New Zealand workers that the fight " : was not one between two sections of work- i ers, but was for the fiacred prinoiple of ■ democracy rule in the industrial move- j lncnt. This fact is clearly demonstrated . j by recent developments at Huntly,. where , less than 200 men have, against the wish ■': of 400, entered into an agreement which' ;■! is intended to be binding on the whole of ! the democracy. Surely this is plain to the ! working class: That the Waihi fight was •; more than justified, and that the verj heart of unionism, is endangered: in this country by this insidious and monstrous method. •■-..■ ; "Tho employing class may be optimistic* ■ over tho result of the Waihi struggle. Wβ want to say that this is not a defeat for the working class of New Zealand from an ■' ■, educative point of view; it is a- great vie- ; tory. The treatment meted out to the , , ; Waihi miners, and the unreasonable tac« ; tics of the Government in coming to the > rescue of mine-owners has done more to ; bring the working class together than all , : the educational work that we could have carried on for years to come. Mr. Massey .. , has, in fact, acted as . a very effective ' organiser. There have been more rebels ■! made during the few months of the Waihi strike than there have been for. years . j previously in New Zealand. It has shown i the working class conclusively'what they aro up against. ' . "It may be said- that the Federation of ■ ■ Labour is dead, but it is impossible to kill ■; an organisation in the twentieth centurjr ' •', with a policeman's baton, or by any form . i of administrative tyranny. Every act of ' treachery committed fans the flames of rebellion in the working class. Everyman, ... :. * and woman of Waihi is more determined' '. to-day to fight ogainst oppression than on the day when work was stopped. The de> ; cision of the executive after the strenuous ! battle was accepted with a wpnderful re- ; sponse. The men recognised that a gTeat battle had been fought—one that they , need not bo ashamed of, but could rathet- . - be proud of. This fight has left ftniarlc v ; on the history of trades unionism in New Zealand. These people, in 6pito of the ; tremendous odds against them, would have cheerfully continued to fight if tha executive had asked them to do so. I

"As regards the organisation elsewhere, tho financial support alone readied over .£30,000, and this would have been oontinued had we thought any good purpose could be served by continuing the fight. We are in a. position to eliminate any suggestion of hardship or suffering usually inseparable from industrial confliots. Strike pay usually ceases when a strike is declared off, but we will see that every family is eupported until the natural breadwinner is in a position to take the responsibility off our hands. Wo are not at all disheartened; we have fought against tremendous odds a battle of which we can feel proud. We have fought a clean fight, but our opponents have used all the forces at their command against us.. We are quite satisfied that the fight haa strengthened our organisation. We have decided to call a confer-* euoe of trades unions together in Wei* » lington shortly, in order to solidify the forces of labour in New Zealand, so that it can more successfully combat thq forces against us. There are thousands ready to join us, and we will give them the chance. It will be seen in due time that the Federation of Labour is not dead, but is just beginning to live. One ... . defeat against such odds will not wreck ; the federation. The working-clasj movement has been built up on defeafe. The Waihi strike is an incident, not an epoch.",

DIARY OF THE STRIKE. May' 15— Strike begins. May 27.—Federation's appeal for a ten. per cent levy for strike funds. June 4.—Wellington Watersidersout down the 10 per cent levy. .June 7.—Negotiations between Mr. W. Pryor and Federation for a conference representing both sides. June 12.—Official denial by mine-ownerfl as to participation in forming Enginedrivers' Union. June 19.—Fruitless conference between employers and Federation officials. Mr. Semple states that it is "now a fight with bare knuckles." September 6.—Police force at Waihi rw inforced. September B.—"Following-np tactacs be* gun by strikers. September 12.— W. E. Parry, president of Miners' Union, and seventeen others before the Court and application made that they find sureties for good behaviour. September 14.—First batch of police oases concluded. Fourteen men bound over. September 16.—Eleven men deoide to go to prison rather than find securities to keep the peace. September 18.—Trials proceeding. Groans for ''law and order." September 19—Prime Minister declines a request to withdraw police. September 21.—Position discussed in Par- . liament. Government firm that law: must be maintained. September 30.—Sympathy meetings byfederation ists in Wellington. October 3.—Waihi mines reopened. October 4.—Brakes provided for workers* October B.—Federation proposes a "twentyfour hours" strike as protest against the imprisonment of strikers. October 10.—Fracas in street at Waihi between worker (Delaney) and a woman. October 11. —Strikera , demonstration out,eide Mount Eden gaol. October 14.—Demonstration outside the house of Mr. M'Williains, Court official. . ■ October 15.—Huntly directors dismiss the union leaders. October 18.—Charge against Delaney dismissed. : October 24.—Revolver produced in a train. October 29.—Collapse of strike at Huntly j terms of re-engageinonl\ November 1. —Position again disoussed in Parliament. Timnru petition. November s.—Mounted constable; disperses crowd at Waihi. November 6.—Pugilistic encounters in street at Waihi. November 13.—Constable Wade wounded by revolver shot. A striker (Evans) fatally injured. Workers turn on the strikers, and street fighting becomes general. November 15.—Death of Evans. November 17.—Storm centre shifts to Huntly j concentration of strikers. November 19.—Police at Huntly rein-' forced. . " November 20.—Inquest on Evans. Novomber 21.—Deputation to Mr. Masssy asking nn inquiry. November 22.—Hon. A. L. HerdmtuT (Minister for Justice) states his attitude towards proposed inquiry. November 25.—Now union's manifesto. November 26.—Evidence of strike official (Kennedy) in Court. His admissions on the terrorism. jjrQ7ember-30,TrStrjka .declared, off,