RAILWAYMEN AND THE P.P.A.

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 238, 2 July 1920, Page 9

RAILWAYMEN AND THE P.P.A.

I Sir,—A Press Association message published in your tfolumns on' Juno -25, -records the resolution of o,' "masa" meeting of.the A.S.R.S. at Wariganui, protesting against, what it is. pleased to describe as, "a .slander on.the railwaymen," and sets out certain alleged facts concerning the strike of tho E.F.C.A. . In order to correct misunderstandings-which, have been created by the resolution and its widespread publication, and that was the intention of the organisers of the meeting, I desire to make publio.,certain facts as to-the attitude of the P.P.A., toward railway men and their demands, and aB to the "mass" meeting in Wanganui. . First, then,- a communication was addressed to the secretary of tho E.F.C.A., sympathising' with the' members of that association in their demand for improved conditions and advanced wages, hut regretting that the strike.has been resorted to doling the Prince's, visit. . Fur-' ther, the,P.P.A. offered to lend its support, moral and actual, to the men to eecuro their just demands. That letter was courteously acknowledged by - the secretary. I have' repeatedly stated from .the platform, and that as recently aa the 'Monday preceding the Wanganui "mass" meeting, that the claims of tho railway. :men had been, overlooked too long, and that they had legitimate cause for complaint against the Government and, tho Department.'

The P.P.A. attitndo toward' the rnilwaymen hag therefore always been one of sympathy. 1 The "mass" meeting at Wanganui, however, objected, to the statement niado by Mr. Ewen M'Gregor, that "the railway strike had been engineered by disloyal people Who wantfcd to belittle the Prince." Let it be known that tho "mass" meeting was nothing of tho 6ort. It was a meeting engineered bv Romanists and Labour extremists to belabour tho P.P.A., which they regard as their natural enemy, to bo belaboured as opportunity offers. , The intention of tho organisers of the meeting was defeated by the repetition o£ my statements at Marten, and 1 resort was then mado to tho puerile ' resolution, 'which was carried: on tho vote of a small minority, the majority being qiiito satisfied as to'the attitude'of the P.P.A.. I was in possession of a full report of the meeting within an hour, of its termination. However, if the men concerned obiect to the statement made by Mr. M'Gregor, and many other people, that the strike was engineered by disloyalists for the purnoso of belittling the Princo, will 6ome of tho Wanganui publicists explains to your,readers why the strike was hatched and declared' at Palmerston North ? Why tho executive officer of the E.P.C.A. stated, through the Press, that the strike had not been declarer? by tho executive, but that the executive hnxl to: 6tand behinnd tho decision of tho Palmerston North branch? Why did men of a certain colour in the E.F.C.A. know days beforehand- that thero wo,uld be a strike, whilst other men had 1 no forehand knowledgo? Wbv was .not tho will of the majority of tho jnembors. of the E.F.C.A. not considered in the calling of the strike? Tho majority did not want tho strike whilst the Prince was hero, and were and are gravely disconcerted by tha happening which hag 'been described as "a stain on New Zealand's escutchcon, which timo will never efface." To whom did the strike at the moment give_ unalloyed pleasure: to the loyal and patriotic members of the E.F.C.A. and the community generally; or the disloyal?. It is the grossest perversion of faot to allege that 91 per cent, of the mombers of the E.F.C.A. voted "for a strike during tho Prince's'visit. They voted for a strike before the Prince arrived, and were content to wait until after His Royal Hijjhness had departed. Let the Wanganui men answer the > questions I have hero put, and tho public will know something more of the inside of the eveuts leading to the strike thau they know at present. It is well that they ihould know. With the interests of sans Labour the P.P.A. hopee to bo over