CABINET TACKLES THE QUESTION,

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1725, 16 April 1913, Page 7

CABINET TACKLES THE QUESTION,

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. April 16, 1.5 a.m.) Sydney, April 15. Cabinet is of tho opinion that tho Broken HiLI dispute can bo referred to tho Industrial Board, whoso decision, can bo legally enforced. Sucli n Board has now been constituted. Tho Premier litis telegraphed to tho strikers informing them that the disputo can bo settled by tho Board in tho absonco of either party, and urging them to present their case before tho Board. The police headquarters are preparing to dispatch a largo contingent of police to Broken. Hill if necessary.

STARVING WOMEN & CHILDREN. BROKEN HILL'S PLIGHT. Sydney, April 15. ■The resolution carried by the meeting at Broken Hill declared that if tho Government failed to put tho wheels into action within twenty-four houTS tho unionists would take tho law into their own hands, and eee that' foodstuffs wero brought to tho town, for tho. starving women and children. Volunteers wero called for to man tlio engines, and nine were forthcoming, Ministers aro reticent yesterday's interview with tho proprietors, but, whilo admitting that tho position is serious, declare that there is moro than twenty-four hours' food supply at tho railway station, only tho people cannot .get it. . While the men aro willing to submit their case to arbitration, the Tramway Company insists that resumption of work must precedo that course. Tho South Australian Government has refused tlio New South Wales ' Government's request to lend a train to run to Broken . Hill to carry supplies : should tho food question become acute. Soiith Australia has sent seventy police to Cockburn to protect railway property. Sydney, April 15. The only mines now working aro tlioso o? the Broken Hill Proprietary and the Junction North Zinc Corporation. Owing to tho shrinkage in trade, tho employees of many lcnding.businesscs liavo boon placed on half-time.

THE SOUTH COAST MINERS. • (Eec. April 15, 9.25 p.m.) Sydney, April 15.The South Coast miners are apparently not unanimous. Numbers consider that the troublo is ■unsettled, owing to the fact that nothing definite has been heard from the proprietors, despite the knowledge that Mr. Carmichael, Minister for Labour, 6tated that two representatives of tho proprietors who had waited on him had agreed to tho Government's proposals. It is reported that the men are uneasy still regarding victimisation. Resumption of work is improbable in any case tlii9 week. A mass meeting of miners will bo held on Thursday,

TITS FEEEYMEN. Sydney, April 15. An award, as an outcomo of the recent ferry strike, has been issued, Besides conceding tho shorter hours and tho improved Tates of pay contended for, it gives preference to unionists. No boys under the age of eighteen aro to bo employed as deck hands.

RAILWAYS AWARD. , Sydney, April'l4.Tho award of tho Wages Board with respect to tho claims filed by tho Railway Traffic Association has been issued. Tho hours fixed are ninety-sis a fortnight; tlw rates of pay have been adjusted considerably, improving tho position of tho men; no preference is to be given to any class of nnionists, but disputes mo to bo referred to tho Chairman of tho Board, The award is to havo a duration of three years.

A NOTE OF SYNDICALISM. Melbourne, April 15. Mr. W. H. Irvine, in a spcech opening the Federal electoral campaign in Victoria on behalf of tho Opposition, snid the Broken Hill 6triko was interesting as the first definite' note in Australia of Syndicalism. It was a clear, definite pronouncement by those guiding the strikers that unionism would control not only the Government and property, but everything. Tho outoome would likely bo the disruption of reasonable, legitimate unionism and oreato a condition of revolutionary thought in this sober community, the end of which no man could see.