THE STRIKE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1174, 20 November 1913, Page 3

THE STRIKE.

YESTERDAY’S HAPPENINGS. AT WELLINGTON. The Post Office Square was cleared of strikers yesterday morning. A mounted special’s horse slipped and fell on him, breaking his leg. Several of the crowd were batoned but none were seriously hurt. All the hotels were closed at n a.m. The arrested strike leaders were further remanded till the 28th inst. Bail was refused, A number of arrests were made. The cargo of the Atheuic which sailed on Tuesday includes butter and cheese to the value of about ,£254,000. The vessel has also taken over 3,000 bales of hemp, between 1,500 and 1000 bales of wool, about 1508 carcases of mutton, 154 cases of tallow and a quantity ot general cargo. The Athenic has left nineteen days late, and she will arrive in Eondon about the end of December. A mob of strikers followed two specials, one of whom was subjected to a minor assault. The Federation of Labour have issued a fresh strike manifesto. The membership of the new union now totals nearly 100 a. ELSEWHERE. The strikers held up shipping at Lyttelton yesterday. At Dunedin some lively scenes are recorded but cargo was discharged from the Moeraki. A suggestion was put forward at Dunedin at a joint meeting ot the local strike committee and the relief committee, that the whole question at issue in the strike should, with the consent of both parties, be unreservedly referred to Sir Joshua Williams, as a mau in whom the public has entire confidence, for the settlement either as affecting Dunedin, or, if the Federation of Labour should be prepared to fall in with the proposal, as affecting the whole of the Dominion. The suggestion was favourably received, and it is probable it will be put into concrete form. Notice was given by Mr Robertson (Otaki) yesterday to ask the Government whether they will take steps to ascertain if it is a fact that a few days after the conference between the employers’ representatives and the representatives of the Federation of Labour, presided over by the Prime Minister, on Tuesday, the 28th October, the representatives of the shipping companies concerned were agreeable to discussing a settlement on the basis of a proposal previously submitted by them at the said conference, which proposal has since been offered, and is still offered by the Federation of Labour as a basis of settlement, and that the representatives of the Merchants’ Association iu Wellington intimidated the shipping companies into withdrawing this offer by threatening to fix up freight contracts with an outside shipping company ; and if this is found to be true, will the Government take steps to see that such intimidation is put to an end ? THE POST ON MR MILLS. Which is the better fit — “revolutionary evolutionist’’ or “ evolutionary revolutionist ” —for Mr W. T. Mills, of Milwaukee ? It is hardly necessary to discuss Mr Mills as a factor in the strike ; it is sufficient to point to his revolutions in the evolution of himself as one who keeps his "job,” whatever else may change. This has been done in The Post’s news columns since the strike began, and it has therefore not been necessary to comment on this crafty American’s methods of keeping himself busy with words. Extracts have been given from his own speeches of last year to show that there is no more deadly critic of the Mr Mills of 1913 (the Red Mr Mills) than the Mr Mills of 1912 (the blue-and-white Mr Mills). He is a kind of industrial Proteus jbe can take various shapes to suit exigencies ; he can adapt himself to environment, A year ago he was the butt of the Red Federation. In the Labour Page (now extinct) of the New Zealand Times Mr Mills passed pitiless judgment on the Ultrar Socialists and their official organ, which retorted vigorously. Today the same Mr Mills is in the employ of the Red Federation, and the recriminations ot last year are forgiven, temporarily, if not forgotten. This stranger from Milwaukee has revealed himself as one who knows how to keep himself in profitable employment, as Labour must have perceived. Probably the Reds know well his versatility—his readiness to be an organiser for “Evolutionaries’’ or “Revolutionaries,” at a salary—but believe that it may be beneficial to themsalves to retain such a smart speaker. It has to be admitted that the American is a clever platform or soap-box speaker ; he knows all the vocal tricks of the demagogue, and his mild appearance helps him. He can roar himself red in the face at a moment’s notice, and beam as placidly as a child immediately after the artificial paroxysm. He is a clever actor, but behind the inask of his part for Labour the i workers must’ have seen by this the real Mills, one who works for Mills,'one who strikes the iron while it is red-hot.