THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1913. THE STRIKE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 2, Issue 145, 14 November 1913, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1913.

THE STRIKE.

" We nothing cxtenwue, nor scl down auuld in malice."

All persons with any sense of responsibility will deplore the general EtuKe which has plunged the commercial interests of New Zealand into chaos. But a situation has arisen which admits of no weak sentimentality, and which must be di?\\ with wiln determination and decision The workers have every right to form unions acd, if they consider themselves unfaiily dealt with, have every right to stop work—to strike. But their prerogative ends there. They have no right to terrorise their fellows into joining their rarks or to attempt to prevent others from working. The "right to work" is a claim frequently made lor thems.lves; tbev must conctde the "right to work" to other people. It is too ea'ly yet to suggest what form any new legislation should take, but it is quite clear that all our la'.our laws will require to be remodclbd. We are not hopeful that strikes (or, as an alternative, organised loafing) will ever be suppressed. Just now, for instance, Labour is collar-proud as the result of years of good iiving conditions, and it was bound to rest upon any pretext that uttered. But the consequences of the strike so far have been whclesome. The violent extremists have been shown that they cannot tike industry by the throat ar.d thrcttl? |r. They have a rew force to reckon with —the tanner?. It is queer, after all, that the captains cf industry in tha city should have been fr.ed from the choking grasp of discontented Labour by the country' workers. All honour to them. In the present crisis they have acted with gnat promptitude and wc nave nothing tut praise for the courageous restraint they have displayed in the face of blitcr provocation. We know that all wage-earners are not malcontent 3 , but unhappily their ranks a'c pitted with strife-mongers whose business is to foment trouble end to foster the spirit cf unrest. Still, it h through these stirrers of strife that Labour cries: "Workers of the world, Unite!" "Workers," uf course, means tne wage-earners. The farmer who toils from daylight to dark, in season and out of season, dce3n't count as a "worker" in the agitator's scheme of economics. Neither does the shopkeeper, nor the tradesman, whose tusincss needs constant and strenuous care in order to pay its way. But the fanners during the past fortnight have «hown what the antidote is far the threatening cry cf the alleged "workers of the world." The fanners of this district (amongst others) have restored order, laid the foundations for the restoration of industrial activity, and have shown the existence of a force hitherio unsuspected by the "worker" at tne watersicb. What the fatmera have dane heie, the farmers of the world will do. thss war hai hitherto been preached—and. unhappily, malignantly preached—by the "workers" only. But if class war is forced upon the productive and the manufacturing classes, if organisation must fight organisation, then —well Labour, as represented by its bud-mouthed agitators, will lose and lose heavily.