The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, November 11, 1913 NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1170, 11 November 1913, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, November 11, 1913 NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Federation of Labour bosses have played their trump card by ordering a general strike in the four centres of the Dominion The call for all sections of Labour to down tools has been generally responded to in Auckland but in the other centres has re suited in a fiasco. A conference of delegates from the various seamen’s unions was held last night at Wellington, and a motion was passed asking seamen to give _M hours notice to leave their ships at their final port ol discharge. The conference was not a happy family and Mr Belcher, the Dunedin representative, held out against extreme measures. He explained that if the seamen leave their vessels as set forth in the motion, their action will not constitute a strike. This statement is somewhat con fusing and requires fuller explanation. In any case the object of the Federation is to completely paralyse shipping, and in the words of one of the Sydney labour leaders, to strike New Zealand “off the map” until the Red Fed. flag is hoisted victoriously. In any case, so far as costal and intercolonial shipping is con cerned, the hold up cannot be much more complete than at present obtains. The loss and inconvenience this will occasion to thousands of people cannot yet be estimated. It is only a matter of days when there will be an abundance of arbitration unionists

to work the wharves, but the manning of the ships with qualified men is another question. There will be no difficulty in unloading and loading the Home boats and this work is now proceeding merrily at Wellington. So far no attempt has been made to work the boats at Auckland until the new union is thoroughly organised. Acts of lawlessness are now few and far between. The authorities have made it abundantly clear that persons who want to work shall not be molested by the blackguardly and cowardly element which had been misled by the foreign fat salaried “bosses” into the belief that they own the earth. A few blatant satellites of the fat salaried foreign agitators are to be found in nearly every union. They act as phonographs for the revolutionary leaders and by their loud-mouthed and glib utterances intimidate their more industrious and retiring fellow • workers These men are continually stirring up unrest and although they are but a noisy few, it is nothing short of marvellous the influence they appear to exert upon the crowd. To argue against them is to be misrepresented and to be dubbed a sanguinary “scab” and traitor to the “sacred” cause of labour. Ye gods! and to think that. Britishers are prepared to prostitute their manhood by following such wind-bags ! These iutimidators are as callously indifferent to the awful consequences of strikes as they are ignorant of the merits or demerits of causes. Intimidation is their chief weapon. Referring to this point the Dominion rightly states that “the chief weapon of the Federation of Labour is intimidation ; it is a weapon which deprives men of the right to work save at the risk of insult or injury ; it is a weapon which robs the community of tbe service of workers necessary to the carrying on of those undertakings without which business and trade must come to a standstill and ruin spread over the country,” Our contemporary continues ; ‘ ‘The time has come when Parliament must, in the interests of the country, lay it down clearly and definitely that every man who desires to work shall have the full protection of the law. To secure such pro tection a substantial penalty must be provided, which will deter either unions or individuals from attempting any form of intimidation to prevent men from working,” To this end it suggests to the Government that it should immediately bring in a short Bill of one or two clauses making it a criminal offence to attempt to intimidate by threat or violence any member of the public who desires to undertake lawful work which is available. If an Act were passed rendering all persons attempting such intimidation liable to twelve months’ or two years’ imprisonment for each offence, without the option of a fine, the despicable intimidation and terrorism which have been carried on under the methods of the Federation of Labour would quickly cease, and any dispute

which might arise be fought out on its merits. Tint secret ballot should also lie a compulsory pro cedure prior to a strike. It is a known fact that had a secret ballot been taken by the Wellington Watersiders prior to the declaration by the extremists, the present strike would have b.en avoided.

Tiik general strike is a stupid and suicidal policy. Tde great Labour leaders of Britain and Germany who have made a scientific study of industrial war have abandoned it, because they have found by experience that it does more harm than good to the cause of Labour. At the recent German Socialist Congress, Braun, the vice president of the Central Commission of the Syudicats, in examining the results of the geueial strike, as attempted in other countries, said : “Every strike led to disastrous results. In Holland the general strike had the effect of restraining the right of combination; in Sweden it bad decimated the labour associations, ard destroyed half their wealth ; and in Belgium the workers had singularly suffered from the strike. During the strikes, notably in Sweden, recourse was bad to the funds of the German Socialists ; but on whom can the Germans rely ?” asked Braun. “Could they rely on the aid of their French comrades, who once sent a telegram of encouragement, accompanied by 20 francs?” Braun, indeed, thought the very discussion deplorable, as likely to raise the destructive idea in the minds of the workers that a strike was a panacea. David, another Socialist leader, declared that a general strike would lead to a terrible disaster. “We are in a minority,” said another speaker, “and we cannot compel the majority to accept our views—that would be ami-democratic.” The New Zealand Federation leaders will yet be compellel to endorse these views.