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Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1928, Page 2

Maritime troubles are again upsetting the. Commonwealth. The position is interesting as again demonstrating the mind of the Labour leaders under set conditions. The revolt is against a recent Court award, given in the usual constitutional way, and actually accepted by some 95 per cent of the unionists. Yet the men appear io he so much in the hands of their leaders and executive that an industrial hold-up with all kind of possible consequences.

is in sight 'The Federal Government, through its Prime Minister has indicated a definite course of action, mainly to uphold law and order and protect free labour if same lias to be resorted to, to man the ships. 'lt will thus ho seen that the Commonwealth is on the verge of a serious labour upheaval unless wisdom enters into the minds of the leaders of labour. That scorns to.be rather a doubtful possibility. These frequently recurring labour troubles in Australia are a great drawback to the prospering conditions of what is really a wonderful country, seeing it lias bad to weather so many of those dislocating strikes. It seems strange indeed with the experience of the. past that wisdom does not assert itself. At last, at Home wisdom is coming into the minds of the union leaders, but this is possible only by the discomfiture of the Communistic element. Doubtless Communism is responsible' to a large extent for the industrial trials of Australia. It is the bad leaven of the union principles. Where it has been allowed to rear its head in New Zealand it has been equally disastrous to tho true cause of labour, and the element is still apparent in the ranks and is doing harm to the cause. This dangerous leaven is one of the chief reasons why there is shell general distrust with regard to political labour. The element is the disquieting factor both ill regard to the present and tho future. Until unionism throws off entirely the contact with the Communistic principles and leaders, labour will never gain any stable support from the general public. It is for that reason Mr Bruce is strong enough to defy organised labour at this jnnctir© in Australia.