Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, DECEMBER, 19, 1916. HOT AIR INDUSTRIAL UPHEAVAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1652, 19 December 1916, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, DECEMBER, 19, 1916. HOT AIR INDUSTRIAL UPHEAVAL.

OPR Palmersi on evening eonieunporarv says that "advie-e lias reached Pabimi’slon dial the biggestcoal strike experienced in the history ol.‘ New Zealand is likely to lake place early in (In' New Year. The men usually lake a fortnight's holiday at Christinas, hut they make no secret of their intention to make it a lengthy one this year. The reasons given for their extraordinary action are (1) their opposition to the Conscription Act and (2) the imprisonment of Robert Semple at Christchurch for sedition.” It was common .property prior to tin' passing of I lie Military Service Act that, the extreme Labour section threatened to foment a strike if conscription was enforced. Our contemporary is aware of the utterances and threats made in Palmerston and elsewhere in this connection. Although the authorities have appeared to the public' to be very “wooden" in the matt ex’, they have not been inactive, as will quickly be disclosed if anything more than hot air is apparent. The will of Parliament and people concerning this country's obligations to (In' Empire and her allies is not going to be flouted by threats from irresponsible and irrational firebrands of (he I.W.W type. It is a simple matter to threaten a strike which “will demoralise the industrial affairs of the Dominion from the North Cape to the Bluff." Talk is clump, but the workers are not all fools, and the majority of them are possessed of a wider * outlook than the extreme leaders credit them with. No, we do not believe that there is going to be the “great industrial upheaval" which our contemporary hints at, but even if there 1 is any foundation for such alarm, the 1 public can rest assured that the necessary machinery is in order to cope with it in such a manner as will surprise l even the extremists.