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Hokitika Guardian, 6 March 1931, Page 4

Tub compact with the Li be ml l'art.v was not strong enough to ensure the passage of the" Trades Dispute Bill by the Home Government, and for that happy issue the country should he grateful to the Liberal stalwarts. The Bill was designed to strengthen trades unionism in handling disputes, but the Liberal amendment cut at the right to strike, and was carried by the Commons. The right to resist lawful authority was what was sought, which meant the over-riding oi the public weal. In any trade dispute we have on the one hand the unionists and the employers of the particular section, on the other there is ample machinery to settle the dispute by th e legal process provided. But too often we find the unionists taking the stand that if the legal decision does not suit the organisation, there is the desire to create a general strike so that the whole community is held up and inconvenienced at the will primarily, of n section. This is obviously a negation of Lite Liberal principle, “the greatest good for the greatest number,” and true to that temet, the Liberals in Parliament stuck to the point, and vetoed the provision of a legal right for a general strike. Tn this action hy the Labour party we see the mistake it is to go too far with political power. There is not any sense of proportion with tin* Labour lenders. Over and over again we see their strong advocacy for class legislation to the danger of the national situation. There is n very grave danger to the community in conr'ibuting to tin 1 greater power politically of the Labour party. We see in Australia evidence of the high-handed action of Labour leaders in power. Volunteer labour which saved the situation for the community in grave times of strike, had been dispensed with ns soon as Labour had the power to reject them. This extreme wav of dealing fotrogressivcly w’th public affairs shows how unsafe it is for any self-respecting community to give too much power to Labour in the political arena. Labour has a penchant for going to excess, and of that there rt all too much evidence in the Labour ridden States of Australia to-day. It is well to bear the trend of the Labour policy in mind at a time-when there is opportunity to calmly study possibilities, so that in times of emergency folk are not likely to be carried away bv an false issues Which might be raised,