In Full Swing.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 18, 21 January 1914, Page 5

In Full Swing.

SOUTH AFRICAN STRIKE. RETURNINC TO NORMAL. [By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] [United Press Association.] (Received 9.5 a.m.) Johannesburg, January 20. There is no material change in the mining position. The majority of mines are in full swing, and the mills are crushing. The drivers are at their posts, but the mines workshops employees have not yet signed on.

it is officially stated that the railway position is almost normal everywhere. Nearly 800 are working in the workshops at Durban, where the majority of firemen and cleaners have also resumed.

THE MINERS' POINT OF VIEW.

(Received 9.50 a.m.)

Johannesburg, January 20.

- Matthews, general secretary of the South African Aline workers' Union, of which the Transvaal Miners' Association is the main unit, on being interviewed by Reuter, said that as far ;as the Miners' Association was concerned there can be no going back until the Government remove martial law and alio wus to hold meetings to see what are the views of the men. Seeing that the men's ballot by over a twothirds majority favored the strike, we cannot allow them to resume until the decision is revised either through the Federation or the agency of the mine workers' union.

Another Heuter message states that the standard rate of pay to the men who were reinstated will not be interfered with.

STRIKERS OUT ON BAIL.

Durban, January 21

Boydell, Bentbridge, Tilbury, and liayburn, four arrested strike leaders, were allowed bail, the two first in sums of £450 and the other two in £l5O, subject to certain undertakings, the, details of which were not disclosed.

COMMANDOES DISBANDING.

Capetown, January 20

All commandoes and regiments are demobolising, excepting in the Rand, Pretoria, and Fauresmith districts. This means that 30,000 men are still left behind.

The Yogelstruis strikers have been ordered to quit their living quarters on the property. LESSONS FOR THE REDS. Sydney, January 20. The Sun, in a leader on the South African strike, says that the Australian Unionist's red section have had two lessons in South Africa and New Zealand within a* few months. In New Zealand, the strike tried one o! the quietest and most peaceful communities with employing the full spirit of concession "from a Government which would use armed force only with the greatest reluctance. In South Africa the employers, the Government, and the public" turned instinctively to rifles, bayonets, and guns, yet both strikes failed. The talk is not of revolutionary success, but of legal enactments for arbitration and conciliation, and these examples should be a warning /to the workers, that when rushing a general strike they are looking for defeat, and that legal methods will, in the end, prove the best for the workers.

COST OF THE STRIKE.

Johannesburg, January 20

It is estimated that apart from the cost of martial law, the Rand is losing over a hundred thousand weekly as a result of the strike. Two large firms alone put their losses last week at £2,700 and £3,500 respectively. Owing to the restricted number travelling and the closing of the bars of the hotels, the licensed victuallers especially suffered heavily.

One authority estimates that a quarter of the mines of one reef are still out. The corresponding loss of gold output will he nearly £IBO,OOO weekly, and about £50,000 in wages alone.