WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 February 1917, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Brewing Trouble

The Slow Strike.

(Our Special Correspondent.)

Wellington, Jan. 31

The position on the water-front lias not grown more satisfactory during the last' day or two. The workers, still professing a desire for an amicable settlement of their differences with their employers, . are adopting the old familiar means of forcing the hand of the other side. • They are refusing to accept certain recognised methods of handling cargo, on the plea that they are unnecessarily laborious or dangerous, and are practising what is popularly known as the slow strike, going about their work in such a leisurely fashion as to give no adequate return for the payment they receive. /

Their purpose, of course, is to draw the employers into a conference at which the whole position might be discussed without any reference to the arbitration law, but at present there seems to be little likelihood of their succeeding along these lines. TUB THREE FACTORS. Just how far the bulk of the men approve of the tactics of their leaders it is difficult to discover. There undoubtedly is a large section, consisting mainly of married men with families and settled homes, that does not want to see a repetition of the fiasco of three years ago. This section stands for statutory arbitration, and probably would rather detach itself from the Union and make sure of a fairly substantial substance Ilian run the risks that would be involved in the pursuit of an illusory shadow. Then there is another large section, taking a less responsible view of life, that would be glad to resume the old quarrel with the added zest they imagine it would obtain from the prevalent discontent concerning the cost of living and the outcry in some quarters against conscription.

Between these two extremes stands a third section, honestly convinced that the working man is entitled to a larger share than he is receiving of the good things that are going, but preferring to get it by constitutional means, and on the bearing of this section the ultimate decision of the workers will rest. THE EMPLOYERS’ ATTITUDE. The employers stand on the firm foundation of law and order, which has been vindicated in many another trial of strength, and, though in the opinion of many of their own friends they committed a tactical blunder in refusing to meet the men in friendly conference, they still have the great weight of public opinion with them. They can show that the men are making good wages under the existing agreement; that their conditions of labour are at least equal to those offered in any other part of the world, and that the huge profits made by the shipping companies are not secured by sweating the workers in New Zealand. Then there is the appeal of patriotism. The idea of a strike, passive or active, at this juncture is absolutely repugnant to the best sentiment of the Dominion, and without the sympathy of the mass of the people no strike, however well organised, can ever prevail. SIDE ISSUES. Naturally the cost of living and cojpipulsory military service are frequently mentioned in connection with the labour unrest, usually to excuse the dissatisfaction of the men with their present conditions. The increased cost of living is a very good reason for demanding higher wages, and as a matter of fact it has been made the ground for many a successful appeal for better pay, but compulsory service, speaking generally, presses less hardly upon the manual workers than it does upon any other class of the community.

Ifc takes no count of a man’s worth in the labour market. Whether earning £2 a week or £2O a .week he receives just the same pay and just the same conditions when he . dons khaki, and the attempts to persuade the waterside worker that he is worse treated than the bank manager or the farmer when lie goes into camp are as discreditable to their authors as they are unfair to the military system.