The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1930. VIOLENCE IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 873, 17 January 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1930. VIOLENCE IN NEW SOUTH WALES

IN any clash between authority and the miners on the New South Wales coalfields, authority must win, if only from weight of numbers. The shooting of Norman Brown aligned a certain amount of public sympathy on the side of the miners, hut once the men institute belligerent tactics they will sacrifice all of that sympathy. Through long association the Australian public has become tolerant in its attitude toward strikes and strikers: hut when the public is placed on famine rations through the interference of industrial hold-ups with its fuel and food supplies, and with its transport arrangements, then lenient tolerance soon flares up into active dislike and resentment. Taking advantage of these sentiments the Government could without doubt enlist active support to assist the maintenance of law and order. Lives would he lost on both sides in the jirocess, but the Government would nominally triumph. Unfortunately a nominal triumph does not mean a cure of the cankerous evil which is at the root of the deadlock. Before. New South Wales can be certain of industrial tranquillity, her people have got to revise their outlook toward the irresponsible politicians who, chiefly on the Labour side, have helped to create an unhealthy spirit of acquiescence in the destructive doctrines which have promoted and sustained the long series of labour troubles. The workers, too, may take a hand in the process of salvation. They have yielded to the persuasions of leaders of the Garden and Kavanagh type. Through them arose troubles like the recent timber-workers’ strike, which held up an important industry for months, resulted in the loss of thousands of pounds in the wages of the strikers, and immense loss in the form of damage to plants and machinery. Assuming that the deadlock on the coalfields cannot drag on much further without causing the public extreme inconvenience and so ranging its sympathy definitely on the side of those who are trying to keep the mines in production, it remains a fact that there have been mistakes on both sides. A prosecution that had been instituted against John Brown, the principal colliery magnate, for allegedly causing an illegal lock-out, was withdrawn before it reached the court. The Federal Government advanced as the reason for the withdrawal its fear that had the case been heard it would have prejudiced chances of an amicable settlement between the parties. This reason may have been given with all sincerity, but it has failed miserably to yield the anticipated result. The bitterness of the miners doubled and trebled after the stultification of the prosecution. If its withdrawal sustained the spirit of goodwill on the part of the collieryowners, it eliminated it altogether from the other side. The situation was complicated by the Federal election, at which the Labour Party under Messrs. Scullin and Theodore made an appeal for support on the assurance that if returned to power they would have the idle mines operating within ten days. This appears now to have been just an idle political boast. Furthermore, the subsequent developments have created the disquieting impression that Mr. Theodore rather than Mr. Scullin is the true master of the Federal Government. His past affiliations do not create confidence in Mr. Theodore’s ability to intercede with any equitable contribution toward a settlement. Still, the Federal Government’s existence may he assumed to depend on its success in handling recalcitrant Labour. If it fails, it loses the confidence of all parties. In the meantime, violence on the coalfields is an hourly possibility. To such an outbreak there could he only one immediate sequel, the defeat of the miners. But the' later sequels would be far more unfortunate. They would mean grief in many homes, a bitterness tinged with sorrow, and the survival of class hatred which would make the coalfields a centre of danger for many years.