A VISITING POLITICIAN.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1911, 20 November 1913, Page 10

A VISITING POLITICIAN.

FROM QDEENSIAND. HOW THE BRISBANE STRIKE WAS BROKEN, Among flio visitors to Wellington, at the present, time is Mr, James Alien, mei.iMic.r of the Legislative Assembly ol; ■Queensland for Kuriipa, which consists' of tlio west end. and llighgatc Hill of South Brisbane, Some little time ago. Mr. Allen suffe-tcd from a severe attack ■' of pneumonia,, and is. really over hero on a 'health-rcc-ruitiiig mission, which has led himto visit Auckland, Roto.riia, Wairakei., Taiipo, tho AVaiigaiiui ltocr,, Palmers-toii N.-ortii, and is'a'iner, only, to find himself at the, end of these waiii dorings in a city of strife. Strike coin dition's are notbiilg iiew t'O Mr. Allen., He was in business in Brisbane, and 1 was a member Of Parliament during tjio big strike of 1911. Speaking of tho, ditt'ereiiee in tho two troubles.,. $Ir. Allen said that hero in Ne.w .'Zealand thero Was a .niuch 'fi-rme.r and bigg.er pnblio t f.pinio:n up against, tlio strikers than was' Uie cttso in Brisbane. "You haYO lierej" said. Mr. Allen, "a larger majority of public opinion in favour of law and order thaii we had-' I can account for the difference, I faucy, In New Zealand all your holdings are comparatively sutail ones,.and you have it big smaiWarmcr community directly interested in keeping trade .going stoadr. ily. In Queensland the land is divided' uj> fqtf tlio nios't ;part into largo areas,, wliioli tbo owner does not.in all.. proha« bility see onco a year, Tlio-. managerand perhaps tho overseer Would bo on tlui law and order ..side. in. any -troublo,, but the rest —the boundary riders and" overlaiidors can all ho pretty well classed its Labour-Socialists. In tho pursuanee of your closer settlement schemes, the Govermneilt has created an element directly opposed to tho strikers. Tlio striker of the militant order who. shrieks' aloud fqr tho .land' to hi* cut Up and tlio acquisition of ttjo lands held by what he calls plojiojioljsta does not think' that 'by 'doing tho very thing ho suggests ho is creating a class of small farmclrs who cannot afford to be humbugged and hampere" hy -jstrikes, .. such as you have here. This'_■clement . y.flu have- already created, and. it makes ,' any hope the strikers have of success t tho moro remote. Over a Badge, "Our 6trike arose in somowhat the . same way as yours—over a triviality in . t tho form of a union badge which tho - tramway riven wished jto wear. O.n that , occasion tho Federation called out 3ij - trades unions. They came out a'l right, -1 but Went back to Work after a. few - days, Special constables, mounted and 3 f00t.., to tlio number of about .3000, wcwi s sworn in, and as soon as the. Govern-* ', merit took qoiitjol the back of tho hu-si-i nCss was bKskcii. A partial strike ; tv'3,s 1 continued for 'ftvoor six weeks,, with i the usual daily meotings. at Hie Trades. il Hall, at w-hich the. leaders.-. promised' t that something wonderful was gfling-td & happen O.u, the it never v camo.'V d the Result—Bankruptcy. <* "And what was the result? Why, tho °- strike, short as it wasj left every iiuioii 0 /bankrupt, and.- coiisiyc.ra.bJo sums of e ■ money received from outside tho .State. 0 w«* 'frittered away iii a futile attempt •* to keep the strike, .going, l : t looks as if '- it will bo a repetition of the BrisbiiUo s strike here! > "D.ftriilg o(ir trouble we closed th? i'- hotels ..for two weeks, and 1 really l.ioo jieve that that had the effect of nrini--0 misiiig the fr-ietjoii., As a matter of o. fact. We had practically no i disturbances, i- <*f tbo sort which take their rise in es> s eitement caused hy drink... It was ouo '- of tho.'best m.ovog wo .madel" e , Consolldatejl the Gomnmnlty; 1 Mr. Allen states that at the eiectiona held in April last year the .Liberal Gov- , T crnmeii't was returned with .a good Work- : ing .majority, which showed that the , : stfcijra-did not help tho LaboutvSpe.ial* '' jsts to airy apprcciablo c-Sfoiit. What » ," it had done was to Consolidiito tho farm* ■ . ing ■community into an effectivo body totally oijposcd to the ba-iling-np of t'lto country liy a handful of labourers in a city. These.'worlcer.s-^lairy-farmers mostly—are quite opposed to the copr-' is cive methods 'usually employed in s-triko u times. That is such closely-settled ji districts as the- BarKiiG Downs,..Burnett., L 0 -Lqgan., and Mere toil are strongholds or i-:L)bc'ralisin tQ-day.,"