LABOUR NOT POPULAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 882, 28 January 1930, Page 10

LABOUR NOT POPULAR

EFFECT OF COAL STRIKE IN N.S.W. PAID AGITATORS AT WORK "Two months ago. when I last visited Australia, the people all seemed pleased with the advent ot the Labour Government. "The position is reversed today—l believe that if there were an election tomorrow Mr. Scullin and his party would not go back into power.” Colonel J. Preston Stevenson, who has just returned from Australia, made these remarks on the Maunganui this morning. He visited file coalfields, saw something of the conditions and came away with the opinion that the end of the strike at Cessnock is in sight. “I think that Mr. Bavin’s move to stop the payment of a dole to men who are concerned in unlawful assemblies is having the desired effect,” he remarked. “There was a general feeling among the miners, outside the militant factor, that it was a good thing for the Government to take such a firm stand.” In the opinion of Colonel S eveuson the whole trouble at the mines has been caused by a few extremists and a number of young. hot-headed miners. The men of 35 to 45 were more sane and were looking for the strike to end as quickly as possible. These men, he said, would willingly accept the new conditions as desired by the Government. “If a secret ballot were taken tomorrow I am sure that the majority of the men would accept the new conditions,” continued Colonel Stevenson. “The strike is being kept alive by paid agitators. They are being paid overtime, and in some instances are getting as much as £l2 a week while the strike is on. "Businessmen in New South Wales are very anxious to have the strike settled. There is no doubt that it has seriously affected the prosperity of the country.”