THE STRIKE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81918, 2 March 1907, Page 2

THE STRIKE

SPEECH HY THE ACTING PREMIER. TIIK ACT HAS XOT FAILED. ■< or Press Association. Chrustchurch, March 1, •Speaking at a luncheon to newaper proprietors in Christchurch, the acting Premier, the Hon. W. Jlnll'mies, after instancing tlie prosperity if the colony, said it was true tlic'v mil hud during the past few days a • ttle -rift in the lute" in connect .m 1 vith the Arbitration Act. Jl ( . ini"ht | w .pardoned for sayng one or Uvo .voids upon this matter, because it was I in important one. It was a subject which iooncenrt'd .evdiy man, iVionian. :uid child in the colony. We at ]>rcsent occupied a proud position, and we had to be careful that nothing was done by which the progress of tin- past few years might, be ail'eetoj, and that nothing should be done to cause any reaction or cessation in the onward move we had been taking. tie would illustrate what ho meant. Wo hail a big meat trade with the Old Country, lie know that it had been en Weil to the old land that a strike had occurred in New Zealand, and that the men were leaving the works. A meat buyer in the Old Country would say to himself: "Trouble in New Zealand! We may have to look out for /fresli supplies if we cannot get supplies i ron: Isiew Zealand. Then we must looli to some other source for it." Tin mere suggestion of a strike or the ces sation of our supplies was calculate! to do us an immense amount of harm There was no need for any troub.e Borne people had said the Act had fail e.l. He (Hon. Mr Hall-Jones) sail it had not faded. The Act was a: strong as they could wish it to be The only thing that had failed hat been this—that those who should hav done so had not 'taken advantage o the provisions of-the Act. Two case had been brought before the Court recently. There was the Parenra cast in which the Act did not fail. Th men wcro lined' Then there was th case in Wellington, where the Act wa not at fault. The fault was wit those who did not see that the agree merit with the men had been execute in the terms prescribed by Ihe Ac That was not the fault of the Act, bit there might be faults, and one of tli difficulties he foresaw was that j would be. necessary to provide for mai ters brought before the Court bcin more expeditiously dealt with. If thn was going to assist in a solution of tl question, then 'the additional assis' ance wouhl be provided by the Goveri nient, but in the cases that had oceu: red, it was regrettable to think tha those who have been the prime nun crs -were many of them, most of then not people belonging to our own eo ony, and they had not taken advai tage of the opportunity afforded li the law of bringing their case befoi the Arbitration Cout. There ws one failure on -the part of the Ac On Saturday twenty-three conrictioi were recorded against employers i Wellington, and a. Cue of from xi '< I £s was imposed, and very proper, so, because a breach of the law lis been committed. There was the ltn and any persofni who committed breach of the law ought to bear' tl penalty imposed by law. The ei: ployers had incurred a penalty, ai. the line was imposed upon them, they did not pay their line, there wi a sure legal recourse in order to o tain payment. If there was no meat qf obtaining the amount of the fin wcllj then, the employers would hai been imprisoned. He hoped it won never be said, as had been said ; some countries, that there was oj law for the rich and another law fi the poor. The Government realis, their responsibility iai the pfesei position o£ affairs. They realisi that 'the law in all its integrity mu be sustained, and those powers wliii existed for the enforcement of the la must be so enforced. It was for t] benefit of every man, woman, and chi in the colony to seie that our laws : passed by Parliament were enforced.

LATEST PARTICULARS.

Gore, March 1. At Mataura the meu were given an hour and a-half this morning to say whether 'tmJy w'du'ld resume. They did not start, and'the iour men killing licet yesterday are also out. To-day the loan of the works was granted t'o P. Wallis to kill 2250 lambs, and he has made arrangements with the men to kill these tor him this afternoon at a 20s rate.

The Hon. .Mr Millar's allegaton that Australians are at the bottom of the (rouble is certainly tiue as far as the Mataura works are concerned, the prime movers there being several Syd-uey-sidcre who luue been particularly keen on the question of striking, and who made no secret of their connection with strikes in Australia, and the success that attended them. There is a feeling abroad that the strike is in the fizzling out stages.

Chruatchurch, March 1. Inquiries at 'the head office of the two local freezing companies to-day show the position in regard to 'the slaughtermen's strike is still unchanged. Twenty men, including assistants, farmers, and casual workers, are now butchering "pojttcrs" at Belfast, and applications of employment in similar work are being received bv the other company. Mr Way-mouth," when pressed on the subject, admitted Unit iie had heard a rumour to the effect that the slaughtermen were feeling disposed to resume operations almost immediately, but he had nothing to say about it. Apparently he attached no importance to such statements, for he went on to say; "Our position is unchanged. We are waiting for the I nion to approach us. We understand they are calling a meeting for to-mor-row night, and in the meantime we aie content to wait. Cisborne, March 1. About forty summonses for breach of award have been issued by the Labour Department against loea' slaughtermen. A sitting of the Court will be held here within a fortnight. A meeting of the Freezing Works' I Hion was convened for to-night to discuss the situation, but as the meeting had not been called in strict compliance with the rules, it was decide j to adjourn. The slaughtermen, however, remained and discussed the terms which they could not see their way to accept. This leaves the position much as it was, excepting that the ice has been broken in the matter of negotiating.