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Hokitika Guardian, 7 May 1926, Page 2

t The strike issue at Home is a very definite one. Tt is developing into I the greatest national upheaval in the .j history of the country. The Trades’ Council lias interrupted tho normal life of the country by requesting all and sundry to strike. The strikers dominate the country for the time being, which is another way of savin**’ constitutional government is defied. This is a revolution for the time being. Tho issue is general and not 10. . cal, in that the seat of the trouble lias passed from the miners’ mse to a national issue. The striko may he intended as a general protest, but it is conceivable it may easily get out of hand. The leaders responsible for ordering the general strike will have little authority over their dupes thereafter. Their organisation cannot be adequate for such an occasion, certainly not equal to challenging the forces of law and order. The real trouble "ill begin at the moment some overt act is committed by the lawless. But in tlie meantime the nation is in the grip of the strikers who have paralysed normal conditions by the authority to strike. The innocent are going to suffer in the fray, and untold in" jury will lie done. The monetary loss by the action of tho strikers wjil be enormous, and the lock-out is so general that the strikers themselves will feel the pinch, perhaps first and chief of nil. It is a mad method to attempt to win through. In the attempt to coerce a nation, the strikers must fail. Their immediate loss mav he trifling to what they will suffer in the after- ' math. The strike will have diverted volumes of trade from the country and that will he lost-. To regain lost trade I in a country where there is instability for industry will be an uphill I fight, and the loss will not be for to- I day hut fop a long time to pome. The I

public must endure the miseries of the strike period also. Afany will bo drawn into the vortex and suffer great loss, if not ruination. The awakening of the public to the true position, and the risk and ever present danger of giving labor unions too much liberty without safeguards for the public weal, might result in a serious overhauling of the law which will be a serious set-back to organise labor. Compacts or bargains under labor laws must not be one-sided, ami the present experience may bring that fact home to the nation. I lie rights of the people must lie paramount, and any government with a sense of its responsibilities must .see that the laws are framed and administered not for the few or the class, but for the many, the mass. The good sense of the nation will lead to this fact being asserted no doubt if tho strike extends unduly and that result will be a sorry outcome for organised labour