THE STRIKE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 73, 26 November 1913, Page 5

THE STRIKE.

THE ONUS OF THE STRIKE. FEDERATION MANIFESTO. DISCLAIMS LIABILITY. ‘‘WILL NOT BOW THE KNEE.”

[Peu Press Association. 1 Wellington, November 26

In reply to the Employers’ manifesto. the Federation Executive has issued a statement talking of its ‘garolcd inaccuracies,” ami claiming that the onus of the strike does not rest on the workers, but upon the shipping companies, and particularly upon the Union Company for their “arrogant refusal” to adjust the shipwrights’ grievances. They deny that the Federation refused all offers of settlement, Th 6 only offer made was the Arbitration Act and nothing but the Act. They also deny that the strike occurred at the behest of the Federation. They decline to be made responsible for what the late. Federation of Labor may have done. The new federation has only been in existence since July, and had nothing to do with the Waihi strike. As to the employers’ statement that no reliance can be placed on the written or spoken word of any labor organisation, they point to the tines and summonses inflicted on the employers for breaches of agreement, and denounce the contention. As to the puritanical employers, they argue that they want to wipe out unions who will not bow the knee to them, and the Federation is equally determined that the smashing of legitimate unionism by concerns created in the headquarters of the Employers’ Federation shall not prevail.

THE HOLD-UP IN SYDNEY

A RECORD MAIL. [By Electric Telegraph—Copyright [United Press Association.] (Received 10.5 a.m.) Sydney, November 26. Thevoffices of the Union Company were besieged yesterday by intending passengers for New Zealand. There is much annoyance at the unavoidable delay. Many people waited about, waiting for news of the possible prospect of getting away. Over 450 applications were made for berths by the first boat. Four hundred bpoked by the Maheno, which has only a remote prospect of sailing to-day. Those include the Manuka’s complement. The vessels laid up are the Makura, Manuka, Maheno, Karitine, and Willochra. The mails removed to the Manuka were transhipped to the Zealandic for Auckland. She also took a large portion of the Dunedin mail which usually goes south via Melbourne. The Zealandic took 1179 bags of mails, which is a record for one steamer for the Dominion. They included the English mail by the Macedonia. SYNOD UTTERANCE. REV. d. A. LUXFORD SPEAKS. THE STRIKE A BLUNDER. The Rev. J. A, Luxford, touching on file subject of the strike at the Methodist Synod this morning, spoke as follows I should be liable to a charge of negligence if .l omitted a reference to the unhappy state of affairs at, present existing in our Dominion. The Church is a friend,of both employee and employer. She has advocated the just claims of the employee. The history of the evolution of labor can be traced by the changing terms given to the working man at different periods. They are those of slave, serf, servant and employee. In advanced civilisations even the term servant as applied to the working man has become obsolete. In this evolution of labor the Church has supported steps taken in an upward and onward direction. I deny that the Church stands for privileged classes. She insists on the employer, whether he be shipowner, merchant, manufacturer, or farmer ceasing to adopt the old adage that “business is business,” and Siie ma'“tains that sympathy, often ironically called sentiment, must be ah integral part of his business methods, that the vortex of self-interest must be turii-j ed into a stream of mutual consideration. When differences occur which 1 clash with this idea! the best method of settlement is arbitration. It seems to me that an industrial dispute can be settled in throe ways: by force, law, or arbitration. Force should never be used until other expedients have been ruthlessly rejected. Law is often too rigid and unbending. Arbitration can take into account present exigences; is fair to all concerned, and is in harmony with the Spirit of Jesus' Christ. I have been told that the Arbitration Act is unpopular with many labor unions because of the skein! of red tape requiring to be unwound| before taking advantage of it. If| that .bo so, surely the Act can be| amended, making it more pliable antli applicable to emergencies. When leaders say; “We’ll have neither law] nor arbitration and to hell with nil j agreements,” the State is bound to guard against the dangers of anarchy. Anarchy is a cruel and ugly tiring opposed to ail government of man by man. Without sound and stable gov-, eminent neither life nor property is safe. Ido not hesitate to say that'

the striko of to-day is a blunder for which stipendiary agitators are respon-j sible. The workers themselves have' no (piarrel about Wages or hours. Thej cry for a living wage and shorter hours is not valid here. No one attempts to justify the strike on these! grounds. Whether it has ils origin j in the trivial dispute of the slop-'

or whether that is only anj excuse for plunging the country into, disorder and strife L cannot say, hut I do assert that the unhappy relation-j ship now existing between employer j and employee would have been ohviatedj if the principles of arbitration had not) been ignored. Does it not seem j strange that this Christian principle: embodied in tlie Statute Book—a prin-j i iple for which relonners have plead-] ed—there are leaders who decline to j take advantage of it. and say “toj hell with all agrements!” In this and other districts an important sec- 1 lion of the communit.v called “the small farmer,” hitherto quiescent re-i garding industrial questions, lias been aroused and in the future will demand' a voice in the settlement oi industrial | disputes. Henceforth he is to lie con-| sdered. Why should Tit l be exciud-j ed ? All classes have e<iual rghts. One cannot be allowed to domineer over and ruin the others. Arbitration safeguards the rights of each and prevents the action of any one becoming at tyranny. Bet us all so act and pray that measures may speedily be adopted which will cause producer, employer, and employee to grasp hands and say : j “Bet then' lie no strife between me and thee, between thy herdmen anfl my I hordmen, for we lie brethren.”