The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1917. CRIPPLING THE COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3056, 18 April 1917, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1917. CRIPPLING THE COUNTRY

. The legal aspect of the coal strike is not ojien.to discussion at tho present stage of affairs. The War Regulations, which, are designed to safeguard the interests of the country, make it a. penal offence' for mine-owners or mine-workers to interfere with the output of coal, from _ the mines of the Dominion.' Goal is essential to the efficient eonduct of our-share in the war. Without an adequate supply of coal pur transports cannot ."cross the oceanwith the reinforcements needed to 'lighten the burden of the men who are already there fighting for us. Without.coal our freezing works Cannot carry on, and even if they 'could the transport> of stock and farm produce by rail must be hamptred : and hindered, to the detriment not only of the people of the Dominion, but to tho. in jury of our -kindred in the Motherland, who are already suffering hardship from the shortage of food supplies. : In N a multitude of ways the-stoppage of coal Supplies must directly interfero with and . prejudice our efforts, in the fight we are .making for. our individual and, national welfare. So it is that it has been found desirable and necessary.to lay clown regulations which provide heavy penalties in the, case of persons found guilty of acts calculated)to restrict or cut- off the coal supply. . In spite of those regulations, the' miners, engaged in a. number; of ; mines throughout the Dominion havo left their work-and gone on_ strike. In spite of the fact that by so doing : they ■■'are prejudicing the, efforts of their' country in the 'war, and threatening to bring loss and suffering'to . tens of thousands of their fellow l workers and their familiesin tho Dominion, they .have up to the present persisted in' their, refusal to return to work. The reason given is that they object to conscription. That is to say, a-" small, section of the community. whteh objects to the'.law'of the land passed by' att overwhelming majority of the representatives of the people in Parliament has decided to sot tho law at defiance. The miners say,' in. effect the people of New' Zealand may elect a Parliament, and ,the Parliament may pass laws for the common good or the common safety, but unless «wc agree with those lawß we shall not obey them. In defying Parliament and the law of the land the miners are not defying the Government;, they ,aro,' defying the State—the people- of New-Zealand. If one section of the community can disregard one law with impunity, another section may disregard! , another. The law is thus brought into contempt; order is trampled underfoot; and no-man and.no woman can turn to the forces of law and order for' protection and safety. That is assuming that the law is permitted to be _ set at defiance. That yet remains to be seen. , If in ordinary times it is essential to the. peace, ■ security, and good government of the people , that the law should be firmly upheld, thon.in time of war' and mOro especially in a matter directly affecting the fighting capacity and the safety of the nation, it is still more - imperatively necessary that the law should- bo enforced. 1 The country is, face to face with a grave situation. It looks to those in authority to uphold the law and safeguard the interests of the people at all costs. There is another aspect of the situation which will bring home'tb all classes the monstrous folly of the miners and their utter disregard for the injury and suffering tHey may occasion their fellow citizens. The closing of the mines if it is permitted to continue will paralyse internal transport,. shut down our industries, and throw thousands of people out of employment. Already there is evidence of inconvenience and hardship throughout the Dominion. The shortage of coal has compelled the Railway Department to take 'immediate steps to economise the supplies available. - At the end of this week the whole of the railway services will' bo curtailed in a drastic fashion, < The carriage of goods and passengers will be severely restricted, and sqmo classes of goods will not be carried at all. What this means will soon be apparent. The country districts will suffer most, but all classes of business are liable to be affected'.. The restricted transport of our primary products is not going to hit the far- 1 mer alone. It will hit all classes of the community—production will "drop, and- the > country will be the poorer in consequence. Poor production moans hard times in a country 'like New Zealand,' and the longer the coal shortage continues the harder, tho times will be and the longer the country will be in shaking off.the ill-effects. Coastal shipping services, too, aro to be curtailed which will further aggra? vate the difficulty of maintaining supplies between the different business centres as well as occasioning, inconvenience and hardship to travellers. In the cities the public aro faced with' the certainty of reduced tramway services and restricted , elect™ and gas lighting: and power.,

Ere long these public utilities may bo cut on altogether, for the coal shortage is a very real thing, the strike following on a period of "go slow" tactics at some of the mines, and a limitation of the supply from Newcastle owing to the' miners' strike there. With the cutting off of electrical and gas power plants and the scar-pity of coal, factories and manufacturing works will bo forced to - their doors, and thousands of men and women will find themselves out of work. The strike, in fact, menaces every class of the community. Coming at a \ixae like the present it is, apart from its crippling effect on the country's war efforts, a heartless and shameful, attack on / the personal welfare of practically everjN indi-' vidual in the Dominion. Its effects will act and react in all directions,: on employers.and employees alike; farmers and business men, clerks and shop-girls, wharf- labourers and factory hands. All must 1 suffer directly or indirectly from fjhe interference with manufacture, production, and transport. ' And all this loss and suffering, this crippling of our war efforts, which' plays into the hands of the enemy and throws a heavier burden than ever on our men in the lighting lines—all tliis dislocation of the Dominion's life and activities is clue 'to a few men refusing to recognise' the right of Parliament to pass '■ laws for the national safety. The miners did not strike because they had a labour grievance; they did not strike because they objected to working conditions or to rates of pay. They cannot claim the support of their fellow-workers in other branches of labour on the ground that they were being unfairly -trotted by their employers. They have set the law at .defiance, .endangered their country so far as lies within their power, and threatened the whole of the people of the Dominion with inconvenience, hardship; and heavy I financial losses because they disapproved of the steps taken by the representatives of the people in Parliament for the defence of the ! liberties which we all enjoy as citizens of the British Empire. of course, an intolerable position. An. endeavour is how being made to bring home to the men on strike a of the obligation they owe to their country and to their countrymen. If it fails, those in'authority must take steps nob, only to enforce the law, but to open and to work the mines. The, latter is a difficult but not an impossible task, p.nd the Government will 'have ,thc backing and support of practically tlie whole of the people of the Dominion, for it is the -people of the Dominion who.are being made to suffer, and who have been set at defiance by the coal miners on strike. '>