STATEMENT BY MR. PARRY.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 75, 16 August 1912, Page 3

STATEMENT BY MR. PARRY.

A REPLY TO THE COMMISSIONERS. RUMORS AND HALLUCINATIONS. Tho President of the Waihi Workers' Union (Mr. Parry), who is at present in Gisborne, in the course of an interview, referred to statements contained in an interview at Auckland with Messrs Triggs and Hally, Conciliation Commissioners, regarding tho situation at Waihi. Mr. Parry said that he was surprised at i l --' fusing their luuction as public officials wiith that of busybodies and! instead of reporting to their superiors in a calm, impartial manner on the evidence procured by them permitting themselves to become a vehicle for furnishing the public with all kinds of imaginative rumors and hallucinations totally unsupported by facts, and all of which were calculated to injure the strikers' cause. Their interviews more than justified the attitude taken up by the union in refusing to give these gentlemen evidence. The miners never took the Commissioners seriously, considering their mission to Waihi as a practical joke. If the Commissioners really wanted evidence from the miners, why did they not approach the Federation of Labor, the executive of which had charge of tho fight, and which was sitting in Wellington when the Commissioners set out in quesb of horrible details of barbarity existing in Waihi?

He said he considered Mr. Hally's statement regarding firearms as a direct incitement to violence and a challenge to the miners, and stated tha"S there had been no mention of pistols prior to Mr. Hally's advent on the scene. He would like to draw attention to the fact that pistol-carrying was entirely on tho part of the scab enginedrivers, a fact that no doubt accounted for the attempts they had made to induce the strikers to molest them.

Up to the present there had been not even the slightest indication of violence in connection with tho strike.

He questioned if ever in the whole history of the Labor movement such a record was surpassed. During the whole 11 weeks there had been no case of assault, threatened or actual, before t»he magistrate. Thero hnd been no reinforcement of the police staff. The police had practically nothing to do other than routine work in Waihi at present.

He was quite willing to abide by the judgment of the sergeant in charge on this question. Such statements as Mr. Flnlly's made the task of keeping order all the more difficult for the union official?,. Agitators in the service if the State should not be encouraged.

Mr. Parry said he gave the lie direct to tho statement that cases of"distress were numerous. Hβ stated that while a certain amount of suffering was inevitable, it was cheerfully borne by the strikers and their womenfolk (including his own wife, mother and sisters), who would endure anything rather than the smashing of their organisation, the only safeguard they hnd against the brutal competitive contract system.

It had ever been the custom among the workers in Waihi to render all possible assistance, through their union, in cases of distress and need, and even during the present struggle, harassed as they were on every side, they contributed £25 for the purpose of helping the wife of one of thn'r fellow-workers, who died from pneumonia contracted prior to the strike.

Mr. Pnrrv continued: "Mr. Hally's Rymrn+hv tnVes the form of praebieallv recon-irending that strike contributions should be stopped, and urging starvation n.s the only means of ending the trouble. His tribuite to the men's solidarity is appreciated, although it appears strange thnt no thought of the possibility of the company being induced to take the initiative soems to have crossed his mind."

Mr. Pnrry stated that he wns intimately ncri'inintrd wilb the facts concerning the ra?n of diphtheria mentioned by ttio Commissioners. Befoio leaving Waihi over six weeks ago, he was approarjied by a relativo of tho deceased child, who stated that he

considered that the child's death was directly duo to stagnant water lying in a swamp on the property of ono of the gojd companies in close proximity to the child's homo. If Ih<; Commissioners took the trouble, to approach the health officer ho would no doubt have supplied them with some information regarding this swamp.

"Tho value of property fell over 100 per cent in Waihi long bet'oro over a strike was considered possible, owing to the slump caused by rumors of the alleged depreciation of tho niino," continued Mr. Parry. The eases admitted to the. hospital during April numbered 64. Tho jmmber of patients admitted during July, when tho strike had gone through six or ton weeks, was 40, a decrease of 24. Practically everything in tho Commissioners' statements was "alleged" or "was stated." Public servants who indulged in newspaper chatter on l no better grounds than mere allegations and general statements of gossip, were not likely to inspire confidence in their capabilities or impartiality.

By their prejudiced statements regarding the Waihi workers, the Commissioners bad discredited their own work there, and no Cabinet Minister with a grain of statesmanship in his composition would take their report seriously.