STRIKE SADNESSES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1890, 27 October 1913, Page 2

STRIKE SADNESSES.

THE LOT OF THE WORKER'S . WIFE [By IMOGEN.] Anyone Watching and listening to tho crowd of waterside workers and their friends that had gathered in the squaro last Friday morning to shoot " war to the knife," must have -thought to themselves that, _ after all, man in the aggregate, in. spite of his centuries of apparent taming, liad not travelled altogether out of' sight of the barbarism from which' lie sprang Quaint survivals of old tribal customs are constantly showing ' themselves, and yesterday' b proceedings constituted one. The tom-toms were not thero, but the waterside workers' band was, and it played very delightfully indeed, and no doubt, during the days to come, it will be iu great demand. Tho shouts of defiance, tho warliko gestures, and tho abuso of tho enomy with which one savago tribe, when 011 tlio point of war, heartens itself to fighting frenzy, were all thero too, equally with tho Same unreasoning abandon to words—words, words, Out in the open nil', with the sun shining warmly down from a sky radiantly blue, stimulated by the companionship of so many of their fellow workers adrift in tho samo boat it was an easy mutter to be defiant, especially while. tho band played. Are not some of the maddest and bravest, as well' as tho worst ucodß ovo: done by man performed under tho infhionco of music, whether thev are bagpipes or any other kind of instrument? But when nipht time comes, and solitude and time for cool reflection. , with—for somo of thorn—home, and wife and children, another aspect of the ; question at issue is likely to present itself. Those people, wife and children oro largely dependant upon a man for food and shelter; 111 sickness tbey look to him for smrport and comjort ; in trouble thev look to him for help. But what happens ? Often the opposite. The worker is one thing; the agitator another. Tiisse two are the pro mmcaxb alios i" th* industrial drama. Wjier©Jj

comes tlie wife P. Nowhoro, one fears. Over and over again women have been sacrificed in these industrial ware, not so much in this country as in t'hoso of the older world. Deprivations such as are undreamt of in New Zealand, suffering, sorrow), and unspeakable bitterness, have been their lot. One won' dors why. * • Such extremes are not likely to be reached hero, but ( the .anxiety, the worry, and the pinch' of _ poverty make themselves felt quite ■ severely and quite snon enough, ■ to say nothing of the bitterness which is often aroused^—and worse ■; in its effect on women than on men.: Irreconciiables aro to be. found among women as well us among men. Waihi proved that, and oven Wellington managed to produce one yesterday afternoon, who called "scab" quite _pfettily and 1 loudly enough", taking it all in "all, however, women 'have far more to lose and suffer infinitely more in a strike than men, alid for that reason, it is likely that, were they given voting power when the question 1 of a strike conies up, as they ought to bej there might not be any strike at all With tlio secret ballot tliej' have tho courage of their convictions, and tho fighting element among' th.» mfin and women might possibly bo swamped.