Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9139, 7 May 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE Labour Department appears to have shown the greatest incapacity in its methods of dealing with the Blackball strike and in taking steps to recover the fine imposed by the Arbitration Court on the Union, xlfter considerable delay it was disUnion had no funds to pay the fine and, according to the Arbitration Act, the liability then falls on the men. As all Unions have to forward a list of their members to the registrar on the first of January in each year, and as no member can resign his membership without giving three months’ notice there can be no difficulty in "discovering the names of the members of the Union. The Arbitration' Court is sitting in Auckland and summonses were served on 120 members of the Blackball Union to appear before the Court and show cause why they should not pay their proportion of the fine and costs. This may be a mere legal formality, but it certainly seems unfair to summon poor men living on the West Coast to appear before the Court in Auckland. The Union has naturally made a protest_^.and,

though we have not the slightest sympathy with the strikers, it seems a perfectly justifiable cause for complaint on their part.

ANOTHER point in the Arbitration Act seems likely to be cleared up as soon as the legal machinery can be put in motion, the Blackball Company having, at the instance and expense of the Employers’ Federation, decided tn bring a test case against one or other of the Unions Which has subscribed for the support of the Blackball strikers on the ’ground that it has aided or abetted a r strike. The point at issue is whether a strike is or is not a continuing offence. Dr. Findlay’ gave an ingenious opinion to the effect that a strike was an offence which ceased as soon as the man left work and that, therefore, it was only possible to aid or abet a strike before it had actually occurred. This may be the true reading of the Act, though all will admit that it was not the intention of the legislators who passed the Act. On the strength of the opinion of Dr. Findlay, the Cabinet decided to take no steps to test what the Act really means, a point that can only be interpreted by the Court. The Minister of Labour was the person whom the Act directed to take action and the whole question would have been left in uncertainty had not the Blackball Company been induced to take the matter up in order to ascertain the opinion of the Court. The case will he followed with considerable interest as on its result will depend the ments required by the Arbitration Act.

PEOPLE are so accustomed to regard the inhabitants of Bengal as a race which can be kept in check by a small body of resolute rulers that it comes as an unpleasant surprise to find that a bomb factory has been discovered and that"several outrages have already taken place. The bomb is a leveller which puts the moat cowardly on a level with the bravest, and it has particular attractiveness for Bengalees, who, though cruel by nature, great dislike to risking their own skins. Education has brought out some of the worst points in the native character. It has deprived them of their old faith ‘and has not given them anything to take its place. The ruling power has, therefore, a peculiarly difficult task before it and it may become necessary to take more stringent methods than hitherto for the protection of Europeans in India.