A LESSON FOR MILITANTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 March 1921, Page 1

A LESSON FOR MILITANTS.

WHAT HAPPENED AT BROKEN HILL. SYDNEY, March 1. If ever Fate conspired with the authorities to teach strikers a lesson, it did so in the case of the Broken Hill strike, recently ended. It will ho remembered that Broken Hill was the home of the Labour militants—a forcing ground for every kind of fanatic and mad social creed. Two years ago flic militants flnew the mines idle, and thousands of men in Broken Hill, and in subsidiary places like Port Pine, were out of work. The companies, utterly sick of the constant stoppages, decided to leave the mines idle until the men went hack and accepted arbitration for the settlement of industrial disputes. The men managed to exist on doles from other unions, and the strike lasted for enarly tiro years—one of the longest on record here. Then the men practically surrendered.

But the settlement came too late. During the long period of the strike, which corresponded with the post-war commercial boom, metals were at a very high price, and, had the mines been working, they would have gathered iii high profits and been able to continue operations over a period of depression. But the mines were idle for two years, and their losses were heavy. By the time the miners were ready to resume metals had fallen so low that it was not profitable to mine them. The cabled advices from London, on Saturday showed that all the metals produced at Broken Hill—copper, lead, spelter, tin, silver—have fallen to a figure at which they simply cunnot be produced at Broken Hill. Therefore, the position to-day at Broken Hill is that, though both employers and employees are most anxious to return to work, operations cannot he resumed except at a loss. Lead, for instance, is at £lO 10s per ton. The lowest price at which it can he produced at Broken Hill at a. profit is £25 per ton. A year ago while the strike was on, it was at £52 per toil. Silver to-day is at about 2s. 7.',d per ounce. It cannot he produced at less than 3s |X'r ounce. A year ago it was at 7s s]d per ounce. Surely there is a lesson in this unfortunate position for every industrial combination in everv country.