PLAYING,GERMANY'S GAME

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3060, 23 April 1917, Page 6

PLAYING,GERMANY'S GAME

•MAYOR OF AUCKLAND SPEAKS PLAINLY. Commenting generally upon the strike of coalminers and its effectsexistent and contingent—upon tho community, the Mayor of Auckland, Mr. J. H. Gunson, indulged in some plain speaking.- "I am x sure there is no member of the community who can take an impartial and unprejudiced view of tho position who does not heartily hope that wise counsels will prevail," he said. "Even the suggestion of a strike at this time , is intolerable, and I am confident \that both the Government and the employers' concerned are prepared to reasonably face any legitimate proposals on the part of the men. At the same time, thcro are fixed principles in the country's interest which, once violated, must be upheld. I am satisfied that the community is not in tho mood, during the serious national crisis through which we are passing, to tolerate any conditions or policy, that imperil or retard tho nation's ability, firstly, to vigorously prosecute the war and keep up the Dominio'n's supply of foodstuffs to the , troops, and Allied armies abroad, and secondly, to maintain our resources at home in a way that will enable us to continue.to provide the sinews of war. Any other policy at the present time is simply playing the Germans' game, and must be viowed accordingly. "All reasonable citizens have the utmost sympathy with Labour, and will agree that all just and reasonable conditions should be vouchsafed to the worker. The great bulk 'of unionists have- nobly done their part, both at Home and abroad, in connection with the present crisis. But when that is said/' concluded the Mayor, "ono is justified in stating that no section of tho community can be allowed to paralyse the interests of the remaining and larger sections, which are immediately affected, by tho stoppage of an essential article, upon ■ which we all, more or less, depend, and which undoubtedly is a national asset."