THE TRAMWAY TROUBLE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 1, 23 September 1918, Page 6

THE TRAMWAY TROUBLE

Sir,—l do not believe anyone in Wellington outside of the officials and the executive of the men (with the executive ■committee of the-Advisory Board) ' know what a serious business this action of the tramway men really is. At present they have merely. refused to. work overtime, which inconveniences, very few (and the men know it). What will the next action be? It may . be. tbey will exercise a pre-emptive ngub in tho limitation of passengers car--ried, or "go slow." In any case it will be something in the nature ot a, hold-up. It is.up,to every citizen to know that he. is going to be the one held np-that despite a definite and legal agreement, these men fancy that, they can take the control out of the. hands of the municipal authorities, an*, act as they please with a civic utility.. That sort'of thing is not to be tolerated for uno moment, and I do sincerely hope that the council and citizens will realise that to temporiseis a danger to 'tho whole oomniumty probably ior all time to come. \\.o J>ntisli, have been all tod prono to compromise wherever financial considerations or our immediate convenience is at stake, and in many respects we are> only reaping tho harvest we have sown Wo have laws agr.inst the breaking oragreements that are never exercised—probably never intended by flabby politicians to be exercised—but these gentlemen, if their eyes have not already been opened, should try and realise the hell, industrially, they are assisting to pile up for posterity. Temporise, compromise, hedge, avert, side-track, post-pone-in fact, do everything one cam to slither out of facing the situation, is the code of too many public men today The City Council have done their part in offering the men alternative, conditions, both of which have boon spurned jijth contumely by the tramway men—under tlw advice of the Advisory Board. Now it is time to fightnot to attempt any further dogradms measure, which will involve the nii"thorities in further troubV later on and will affect the pocket of ovor.V citizen •immediately. In th<? meantime it is curiously interesting to notice how tho tramway men are looking for symptliy. from the people they are attacking:— Ia ! n ' etC - CITIZEN.