BANNING JAPANESE SHIPPING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 8, 2 October 1937, Page 4

BANNING JAPANESE SHIPPING

It is only natural that the waterside workers at different ports in the Dominion should share with other citizens the horror that is felt with regard to the sufferings that are being inflicted upon the civilian population at Shanghai, Nanking, " Canton and other big Chinese cities by the methods of warfare pursued by the Japanese invaders. At the same time, however, it can scarcely but be thought that they^have adopted a quite wrong vs ay of giving expression to their indignation when, as a body, they refuse to work the shipping bearing cargo either from or to Japan. It is, of course, only another instance of how the "militant" unions presume to take the law into their own hands without the slightest rega rd for the ulterior consequences of their actions. In this instance the possibility of international complications of serious import are involved, while there is not the slightest chance of mitigating the savagery of the Japanese attacks. It may be all very well for individual citizens, or even groups of them, to resolve on putting a boycott on Japanese imports, but it is quite a different thing when, especially under a Labour Government, a big organised body of workers sets itself practically to ban Japanese shipping from our ports. Our Government has allowed a very great deal of liberty to unions of this character in cases where the internal interests of the community have been very seriously prjudiced. It is well therefore, to be able to note that in this case the Prime Minister recc-gtiises the urgent need to set his foot down.