THE LESSON OF WAIHI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1094, 10 September 1912, Page 4

THE LESSON OF WAIHI.

Most of our readers will heartily endorse the views of the N.Z. Herald, which says The lesson of the Waihi strike will certainly be taken to heart by that great law-abiding majority which forms public opinion and constitutes the governing authority in every democratic State. Civilisation would collapse if any irresponsible body were allowed to usurp authority and —by taking advantage of a mistaken sentiment during times of general excitement —to violate the undeniable rights of citizens and to plunge innocent communities into industrial chaos. In Waihi we have a serious and threatening industrial conflict, deliberately precipitated not to rectify any grievances or to protest against any injustice but to compel a union of skilled workman to submit to the dictation of a federation with whose special aims and peculiar methods they have nothing in common. The enginedrivers are as far from being anti-Unionists as it is possible for men to be, but simply because they are anti Federationists the Federation ut labour is treating them as though they had committed some deadly crime, the Miners’ Union has thrown the Waihi mines idle, and a prosperous district has been brought to the verge of ruin, Those who are inclined to resist this mushroom tyranny are threatened in an unmistakable manner, because, forsooch, the New Zealander is not to be allowed to work without the permission of an organisation which has undertaken the task of introducing into this Dominion the practices and methods of a notorious American society. It may be safely asserted that the great body of workers are strongly opposed to tactics and principles ot the Federation of Dabour, and that the proposed legislation—designed to protect law-abiding workmen from the machinations ol professional agitators—will be greeted with wide-spread approval. The time has not yet evidently arrived for regarding strikes as a thing of the past, but undoubtedly the time has arrived for enacting that irresponsible officials shall no longer disturb industry by dragging Unions into industrial conflicts without the expressed and definite determination, expressed by secret ballot, of the men actually involved. It is also time that boycott, threats and vilifications, intended to prevent workers from following their lawful occupations, should be brought under the Police Offences Act, so that prompt and effective steps could be taken to assert the authority of the law. Moreover, any legal recognition of Unions organised outside the Arbitration Act should cease. The intention of modern society is unquestionably that full justice should be done to wage-earners, that hours should be reasonable, conditions humane, and wages adequate to maintain s lamily in comiort. It is equally the intention of modern society that assaults upon constituted authority and violation of the rights of citizens shall not be tolerated, but that redress of any real grievances shall be obtained by peaceful and constitutional means.