A BELGIAN STRIKE.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 May 1923, Page 2

A BELGIAN STRIKE.

LATEST CABLE NEWS

OF RAILWAYMEN. AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. OABLE ASSOCIATION. BRUSSELS, May 17. Tho strike of raihvaymen and postal workers is becoming rapidly more serious. Trains running between Brussels and Antwerp were unexpectedly stopped at ten o’clock last night, leaving the passengers in the lurch. They were told to nlight and walk. Tho news caused great excitement in Brussels, where a thousand peoplo who wore waiting to return to Antwerp rushed to the station only to find no trains departing. Within an hour every taxicab was'requisitioned. Similar scenes were enacted at Antwerp, where thousands of peoplo wanting to got to Brussels were stranded. ” It is feared that the trains between Belgium, Franco and Holland will stop to-day. A deputation of women interviewed the Minister of Railways to-day, urging the institution of negotiations, hut lic°refu.sed to take any action until tlie men resume work. Soldiers wearing steel helmets, and with bayohtts fixed, lined the public gallery of tlie Chamber when the Socialist Deputy, M. Emile Vandervelde, challenged the legality of the Government’s decision to mobilise the railwavmen as soldiers to work the rail-

The President of the Chamber, hammering his desk amidst stormy scenes, threatened to suspend the session. The Minister of' National Defence declared that the Government was within its legal rights in protecting the economic life of the community. Tho House could put someone else in his place if it opposed his policy. Antwerp dockers refuse to handle goods from the militarist railnaymen. No goods are arriving at Ostend, and work at Liege is coming to a standstill. Largo orders have already been lost.

Two hundred and fifty volunteer postmen are handling letters in Antwerp, and it is hoped to have a nearly normal service in three or four days.