ROAD TO VIOLENCE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1893, 30 October 1913, Page 8

ROAD TO VIOLENCE.

SUGGESTED TO STRIKERS. BROAD HINTS FROM SOAP-BOX. ' SpMolieSyiii plenty we.ro delivered in Post Offife Square daring the I day. Crowds listened/arid hearty approval wal expressed anything specially inllaramato,ty|w.as said. . j \ Oiio of .-ilief.first, speakers was Mr. h. E. Caniianij 'president of tho Auckland Watei'siders, Ho said thai ho_ had received a telegram from his union .that ■ the men were standing firm. Uo. was.' asked to return fit once, but lie was to' , remain in Wellington if his serWeeff were required liere. The strike would spread until it was settled with peaca and honour.. The working class had ino part in the making of tho law, to wlijin, accordinglv, tliey must not give blind, rigid adherence. If tlx© Government of • the country stood side by side with tli'6 ( employing elass and interfered. 011 its be- ,' half, there would be ructions. He urg- " ed the strikers not to coino in conflict with tho police, No one wanted to seo ; a repetition of tho Waihi fatality. Ho' appealed to all who wore not waterside, workers not td "scab." If all tho ciii-j players in tlio world fell off the planet it would not matter; the Workers would! carry on industry. ) Tho chairman announced that someono had recognised in the crowd One, Kinvig, who was employed as a, nieS-j songer ill the Prime Minister's office../ If that man was going to carry tales to j tho Parliamentary "box of tricks tUftj speaker could not be answerable- lor;what would happen him. ' , . The man who was pomted out was im-j mediatelv "chivvied" from the Squares A delegate from tho Auckland- DriverX said that his union was preparing toi come out if necessary. It, was only! waiting for advice from tho Federation of Labour. J' Strike Leaders' Fear of Truth, i The president of the Wellington', Watorsidofs (Mt. Farlaiul) chiefly concerned himself with tho Wellington newspapers, which he isnid were tlio hirelings of tho employers. He couldi show the -workers a way out of this dif-». ficultv. "Why ishould they not go along to tho offices of The Dominion nttd tho', "Post," and ask their fellow-workers/ the typesetters aiid tho printers, to join them 111 the struggle? This would stow tho printing of '"these lying sheets."'. The strikers had no newspapers 011 their ! sido, and only one aspect of the situa- j tiou was nlaced before- the public. If . the- issue of the daily papers was pre- j vented, tho difficulty would be overcome. Similar sentiments were expressed by,' ono of the. afternoon speakers- If fha , workers of Wellington stood together they could easily suppress what he term.! cd the- "miserable lies" of the Press. 1 Inoendlai'lsm suggested. i Another orator ®a.id that if a band 0! j workers camo down, front the couutrv,/ many, of tho.watersjders would proba-bljf loso their jobs.. If they did so, thoy\ might have to go into tlio farming ifis*,' tricts to look for work,_ Should tlicj '> do this, there was iio te'iiiug what "acoidents" might happen. One af tho \ workers might drop a Lighted match by 1 ehaiiee, and a firo might occur. Ho 1 therefore Urged those who shoiild go into these districts not to carry a pocketful of wax matches. (Laughter and applauso.) Emulate Johannesburg.' A speaker with ait American accent, wearing tho button of the LW.W. 111

his .coat, who spoke from a soap-box pedestal, and was theroforo probably unofficial,, urged the strikers to stand solidly togotlipr, and to allow no dissension to ariso amongst then!.,. If auyono came to them and tried to stir up' internal, trouble, they-could be assured that ho had been hired to do so by tho employers. , This , was ah old trick of the employers, and had been used in all lands. Tho newspapers—thoso "masterpieces cf deliberato lying"—probably had a hand in this game, and tliey must ba careful. They should stand, solidly shoulder to shoulder, and not wnsto their energies in petty quarrelling amongst themselves. They should busband their resources to copo with such a situation as would mako Wellington a second Johannesburg. They did not know tho moment when such a situation might ariso. The strike would probably affect not AVelliiiiiton only, but tho wholo Dominion. The employers of New Zealand were not moro civilised than thoso of' other countries. Whilst' thoy owned tho workers' bread they denied tlio workers tho right to work for it, ' and when troublo arose thoy would not hesitate to fiive them a "feed of lead.'' Every economic question was settled by foroe, and it was a question of whicn side could oxeroise the most force. Numerous other speakers harangued tho crowd during the afternoon, including various members of the Strike Coin- . mitteo and Mrs. Anderson, who urged tlio women to stand fast besido their husbands in tho' struggle,