The Great Strike.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 21 August 1911, Page 3

The Great Strike.

BETTER NEWS

« A [LWA YMEN'S STJKIKE

SETTLED

£UY KLKCTIUO TELKGRAPn— COPTEIOiT.J [I'Klt I'RKSS ASSOCIATE—.] LONDON, August 20. The llailwaymen's Union at midnight telegraphed to the branches a.s follows:— "Joint Comii'ittce settled strike, victory for Trade Unionists. All inn.st resume immediately. Lig.li-t-i'i'tiK'n's dispute has been -settlecli." Till<: KTEGK OK IJVKIM'OOL. ALL THAI- , l< , 1C STOPPED. All traflic has stopped in Liverpool streets. A lied Cross transport has been organised, which is amply .supplying hospital requirements. It is feared that half a million pounds' worth of provisions in cold storage will become tainted owing U> insufficient supply of coal for the refrigerator*. The death rate in the city ail most doubled in a few days. HOMK OFFICE MESSAGE. TROOPS WTTHDTUWN. WILD SCENES ON , THE RAILWAY. (Received Tin's Day, 10. 15 am ) LONDON. August 20. All troops "have been withdrawn. The Home Office reports that things are quieter everywhere. A diabolical, but unsuccessful attempt to derail a.'mail passenger train ai: Taff Vn'e by the loosening of a raii, was opportunely diseovercd Strikers and miners destroyed the rails in Ere wash Valley, and stopned the Midland Scotch express and two other trains. Troops from Derby" cleared the line. Several persons vroro injured in I>a ton chareces made by the soldiers, as the strikers attempted to wreck the signal box at .Stafford.

•Strikers at- York stoned passing trains and rushed the station crates and attempted to wreck two trains. The military then occupied the station.

Two Dover stations were closed: also a dozen stations in London and the Great Northern at Nottingham. Two thousand troops had been sent to Swindnn -mid the troops at Aldcrney and Gunrn-ey wore' summoned to England on strike duty.

The Great Eastern railway was uivable to guarantee delivery, and reruicstcd the suspension of German shipments.

NEAR STARVATION. l?olifju and Liverpool were within a day or two of starvation. Cardiff lintl on'y ore-tenth of its u nml milk supply. Margate and ft.imsgato wore short of _ provision l ?, and many visitors nuixted. Immense quantities of perishable goods are >nfc a standstill on the Eastern Coast. RACES ABANDONED. Owing to rioting a thousand troops wore sent to Leicester. The races •it Wolvorhampton wore postponed. -An express at Kind's Cross (the London terminus ;.f the Gre:i;fc Northern Railway), by a mistake in signalling, narrowly escaped collision. Tli-e Homo Office report states that it is expected tho railway settlement will solve Liverpool's and Birkonlmad's difficulties. The. military report that the- railwaymen were not responsible for the rioting.

. At Llanclly (in Wales) a train with three hundred passengers was derailed. The bridge at Runoorn was sot #.n fire in two places, and has been closed.

(The bridge referred to at Runcorn is one of the most important engineering feats in the- North of England. it is the property of the London and North-Western railway nun 1 spans tbo river Mersey, thus linking Lancashire (Widncs) with Cheshire (Uuncorn). The bridge, contains a pathway for foot-passeri-t'ors. who arc protected from the railway lines by a .high .stone wall and husre girders. The lenatb of the bridge, is about three-quarters of a mile.) SOLDIERS IN EVIDENCE. The Fishguan! express (the Great Western railway) ran through disturbed districts with rifles through the windows. Forty racehorses were held up at Redcar, waiting trains.

The War Office has ordered all troops on strike duty to return as soon as possible. Tho timeliness of the settlement is illustrated by the position up to midnight. The incident at Llanolly deeply impressed tho conference. Mr Keir Hardie. M.P., in a speech at Merth.vr Tydvil, oil Saturday, said that there would be no settlement until the Unions were recognised.

Mr G. N. Barnes (Labour M.P. for the Blackfriars division of Glasgow) at Dou'lais (Wales), said that the rviiilv solution wns to destroy

"THIS DAMNABLE CAPITAL-

ISM."

Tlie great railway dispute, he added, was only -one feature of labour unrest, which was spreading throughout the length and breadth of the country. "W'lrile ho did not object to conciliation to temporary difTiculties, there would be no broad xohitron until t-'hc workers won fa: - themselves tOio whole produco of their labour. £30,000,000 TN , SALARIES. The Railway Xe-ws shows that in 1910, thirty-six railways paid 30£ millions in salaries and. wages, or about tho same amount as preference and ordinary stock-holders were paid. The paralysis of trade due to the strike rendered idle 12,000 men in the collieries and iron and steel works in Cumbedand. thousands in Derbyshire, and at Middlosltoroiiprli (Yorkshire). Eight thousand colliers at Nottingham, ten thousand at Durham, forty thousand in Nortli C'l'nberlnjid, ar.d two thousand, at IH-.hop Auclvlatul were threatened witili idleness within days. Two I lii!.ndre:l thousand colliers wero similarly situated in Wales. Four j thousand dockers at Bristol struck •out of s-njpatliy with tho railwaymen. WAX FOX. DESTRUCTION. Acts of wanton destruction rapidlv increase- , ) in many directions, .but the lines on tlie whnle were well con- J trolled. The continual despatcih of +, •ion? to thrr-i'-Ticd areas Jiad an I imnorHnt influen'-o in seenrins; ■ methods. The Home, i Office- reports that tho Port of I*m- ' i*.on n almost full. I to the"activity of.tne Amal--I Tatnated. Society of „ llaiHvajr B&v-l-I ; y^.nt§^t r^it* .-is'*'. estimate<l''-'''tih.a!fL£— iJh£—

<niartcr of a million. Its executive made a gratuitioiis allowance of Us a wcok to non-unionists, the strikers d! , whom ivre G,OOO(P) of all .trades. Some, lawyers and doctors tolujit cored as special constables in Lon<lon. Hundreds were sworn in andi tho London and North-Western railway company gave loyalists double pay. The London, Brighton, an<l South Coast Company promised a reward to non-strikers. Passengers on many of the trains made collections for loyalists.

KNOWSLEY HALL. Lord Derby insured Knowsloy Hall for £191,000 against strike riots at a promiem of a shilling ner rent, monthly. (Lord Derby, as the TU. Horn. Mr Stanley served in the Boer War and was Postmaster-General in the unionist administration of 1903. ivnowsley Hall is in Lancashire). Numerous insurances on warehouses and shipping are also Teporterl

The Prime Minister (Mr AsquitHi), wlto is suffering from an affection of the throat, has deputed Mr LloydGeorge to act as spokesman at the joint conference.