THE SEAMEN'S STRIKE.

Taihape Daily Times, 24 July 1919, Page 5

THE SEAMEN'S STRIKE.

._~__..__..¢_____..__. ;SEV'I:IRE DISTRESS CAUSED. lieferring to -the niaritime strike, a Melbourne paper recently csfiniatéd the losses in wages to tilc'"‘\fi‘3i'kers‘ at £263,202 in that city alone, while the less of wages tlll‘oug‘hout Australia was set down at J;'1,'052,0g00. ~Since the estimate was I'na‘do ythesefigures have greatly ' increased. The approximate number of men out of work in Victoria was given as 331,700, made up as follows:——Clothing trade 6000, Confectioners 3-100, general nlanuf=actu.z'ies 2000, waterside wori;el's 2000. iron and steel trade 2100, rubber workers 1500, brick, tile, and pottery 1300, ammunition workers 1100, seamen 1000, boot trade 1000, storemen and packers 1000, carters and drivers 1000, implement imakers 1000, textile and hosiery 1000, woollen mills 1000, manlifae,turillg* grocers 700, wool and basil workers 600, printers and litho 500, timber trade 500, fuel and fodder 500, and miscellaneous 2300. As an Outcome of the coal slioi-tinge arrising from ‘the strike, it was. decided to cancel all the elaborate schemes of illunxinatxion of public and pl'iVa’£.o buildings, and in the streets, 11111055 the strike was speedily concluded. I

I\‘eferring to the strike position in 3speech, the .-\c-ting-Priino Minister, Mr Watt. said that. although the legal machinery cm-:ate<] for the Pl'°"'°"'fi°n and settlement of strikes had‘ made mistakes. zll*l_)it:*::lt'iowl and conciliation were infinitely prefernl:)le to the system of strike, :1-ml of trial by force; during which not only the men engaged in the issue Sufi'ero<_l, but Vast numbers of others. including women‘ and children, whose position was .pitiable in the extreme. The Government would allow no force, however arrogant and however powerful, to usurp the functions of Government. There was coming a trial for supremacy in the country, between the force of ol'(_ler and the force or "disorder. If they were true Britishers. worthy of wlht. Britain had given «them, worthy of what the efforts of their men and of the Allied peoples had preserved for them. and Worthy of the country they had obtained ‘in such linmwy fashion, then they would stand definitely and finally for’ British law £l2lO. British order. _