QUEER STRIKES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 5

QUEER STRIKES

GAOLS AND CHURCHES UNDERTAKERS’ HATS There have been many queer strikes in the world at different times, as the following will show, says “The Sydney Sun.” A short while ago the beer drinkers of Lithgo, N.S.W., went on strike be-

cause the price of beer was raised, and now a similar strike is in progress in another of our country towns. These strikes also had parallels in •England. The beer drinkers of Bambar Bridge, Preston, struck as one man, because the price of their favourite beverage was raised. The school children of Colsterworth, near Grantham. England, went on strike against one of their masters who was reported to be a very stern man. Price of Executions The executioners of Canton went on strike once, complaining that, unless

they got more than 500 killings (at about 3s a head) they would starve. The price of executions went up. The barristers and lawyers of St. Almand (France) struck as a protest against the “tyrannical attitude” of the presiding judge. ; In England recently, the paupers in a certain workhouse went on strike because their food ration was cut down. There are two cases of a strike occurring in gaols, one in England and one in Sydney. The female prisoners in the Wormwood Scrubs Penitentiary struck

against an order requiring them to carry coal for the laundry fire, work which had previously been the prerogative of the "gentlemen” convicts. How this strike finished is not known, but the prison strike in Australia ended in a victory for the convicts. Milk and Sugar Strike The female prisoners of the Parramatta Gaol (or the factory, as it was then called) were used to having milk and sugar in their morning tea. For some reason it was curtailed, and the prisoners went on strike. Getting up from the tables they marched

out of the gaol. A company of soldiers stationed at Parramatta at the time was called on to stop the strike. When the women marched down the main street they found the soldiers lined up with drawn bayonets. The soldiers advanced and the women naturally fled back to gaol. Although the prisoner:; lost the strike they gained their end, and next morning milk and sugar were *.'n the tables. Choir Boys Rebel 3/he choir boys of a church in Eng-

land went on strike recently because the hymns which were chosen did not suit their voices. Ministers also went on strike because they considered £1 a day “little better than an insult.” The commercial travellers of an American firm refused work “because a timekeeper was following them up to keep a check on their calls, and to see that they did not waste any time.” In Sydney, a good number of years back, the barbers of a leading saloon went on strike, but they no sooner left their chairs than the bosses had employed other men.