The Dominion. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1813. THE LAST RESORT.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1921, 2 December 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1813. THE LAST RESORT.

'Now that the strike is in a hopeless state of collapse so far as Now Zealand is concerned, the Red Federation leaders are making increasingly desperate efforts to prolong the struggle by extending the dispute to Australia, and embroiling the Commonwealth workers in a trouble in which they _ have no direct concern and regarding the merits of which they seem to have the very haziest, idea. In New Zealand, where the revolutionary methods of the Rod Federation are known to the workers, and where the other unionists are in a position to form a fairly good judgment regarding tho rights and. wrongs of the position, the attempt to bring about a general strike proved a complete fiasco. But Australia is a good way off, and the strike leaders appear to think that if they arc sufficiently clever and unscrupulous in misrepresenting the facts of the case they may succeed in carrying tho strife across the Tasman Sea. It is absolutely their last card, _ and even if they should succeed in this move it cannot avert, but will only postpone, their inevitable overthrow. It would of course mean loss and suffering to a large number of innocent people, but that is a matter of supreme indifference ,to the Federation of Labour.

The Wellington Employers', Farm- j crs', and Citizens' Defencc Commit-! tee took a very proper course in cabling a short account of the origin and development of the strike t'o Mb. Hughes, who is presiding over a representative Labour Conference in Sydney. The grossly misleading reports which have been placed before the Australian workers by the other side have made it necessary to take this step. The Federation has an advantage in being represented on the spot, and it lias also sent a very onesided "official statement" to th'c Sydney Trades and Labour Council. This statement, so far as the cabled report goes, says nothing about the broken agreement with which the strike commenced, nor docs if; mention the Federation's "to-Hell-with-agrecments" policy. Another significant omission is- the fact that the Federation rejected tho proposal that. Sin Joshua AVilliajis should arbitrate when it was first made, and when it could have been carried out. The situation has now been entirely changed by the formation of strong Arbitration unionsin the principal ports of the Dominion. These and other inconvenient facts are very carefully concealed from the Australian workers, who are probably being told tho old story uf victory being in sight, instead of being honestly informed that the Federation is already beaten in New Zealand, and that nothing that may be done in Australia can possibly turn the tide in favour of tho revolutionary Socialists.

The latest Sydney papers show that the Australian unionists are by no means anxious to be embroiled in an industrial war at the present moment, and the probabilities arc that if tin: facts of the case were placed before them fully and fairly they would decline to take any part in tile conflict, and allow the Federation to bear tin full conserpicnccs of its own blundering-' Mb, M.L.C., Secretary of the New South

ales Labour Council, speaking on November Si.'j, said he had no wish to eoo the trouble extend to Now South ales. Such an extension would not help the New Zealanders, and it was a thing to be avoided. Mu. Kavakagu sees that to drag the Australian workers into the trouble, would only prolong tiie agony arid widen the area of privation and turmoil without any corresponding advantage. No one knows this better than the Federation of Labour, which by its reckless eifort-s to spread the,fight appears determined that when it goes down as many others as possible will bo involved in the inevitable crash, inferring to the alteir.pt- which is now being made to drag in Australia as a last desperate resort, the Sydney Mi)itii tiff llendd states: — The ".Red I'eds" in Wellington and Auckland have failed in their' deslsru. They lwve neither managed (a bring about- a general strike, nor have they proved indispensable as wharf labourers. Having failed at homo they call sympathisers to exercise pressure from abroad. . . . This is syndicalism naked and unashamed. "Where is it logically ty stop? New Zealand is to us as much a "foreign" country as America or Germany, and we have nothing to do with its industrial disputes. The next step will bo for our people to engage in a sympathetic strike because a ship loaded by non-union jabour at Hamburg or New York lias arrived. This would be quite in accordance with syndicalist priucinles, but it is foreign to the aims of those trades unions who profess to gain their objects by constitutional means. Most New Zealanders will regard this development as an impertinent intrusion into their affair?, almost as impertinent, indeed, as the suggestion ot the Labour Federation of Australia that the Federal Government should lay an embargo on vessels discharging cargo from New Zenland in Australian ports. Naturally •Mr. Cook refused to consider it for a moment. Assuming that the Govern, merit had power to issue a decree of this kind, it would hardly accede te the proposition that it should take sides in an external industrial dispute and endeavour to dragoon another Government or a sot of private individuals in another jurisdiction altogether. The question is jtisfc now hanging in the balance as far as the Australian workers arc concerned, and never was there greater necessity for wise leadership. New Smith Wales is now in the' midst of a keenly, iomrhfc general election, and it is well known that- a- big strike would greatly lessen the Labour Party's chances of victory. This is recognised as an important factor in the ease, but it remains to be seen ivhetliev po'icical considerations and a sane judgment on the merits of the case will be strone enoiiEh to outweigh the misrepresentations of the Nc-<v Zealand Labour Federation combined with the Syndicalist influences which are at work in Australia. Whatever their decision may he, the. result of the conflict, so far as New Zealand is concerned cannot be changed. The new Arbitration unions have come to stay; nothintr can alter that; while the Federation and its dishonourable methods have been condemned by the public, and must go.