INDUSTRIAL UNREST

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 93, 10 October 1911, Page 5

INDUSTRIAL UNREST

THE POWER TO STRIKE. HIGHLY PRIZED BY UNIONISTS. By Cable —Press Association—Copyright. Received 9, 11 p.m. London, October 9. Mr. Thomas, addressing a meeting at Bradford, representing all the railway workers' unions, said that Mr. W. Churchill's statement meant either the House nf Commons Committee would deal with wages, or nationalisation. Either alternative meant relinquishing the power to strike, to which he would never agree. If the Midland Company would not stop victimisation, amalgamated labor would resolve on an immediate general strike. Thirty Durham lodges are pledged to support a federation for securing the minimum wage.

DISLOYALTY OF UNIONISTS. London, October 8. The Amalgamated Railway Society has passed a resolution viewing with regret the failure of the men. of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland and the Midland and Great Western Railway to respond bo the call for a general strike, causing its failure and the victimisation of -loyal members. It also deprecated unauthorised strikes.

DISSATISFIED MEN FORM ANOTHER UNION. London, October 8. The Southampton branch of the Sailors' and: Firemen's Union, with a membership of sixteen thousand, in view of ponsistent refusals of the head officials of the union to supply a financial statement, have formed a British Seafarers' Union.

THE LYELL DISPUTE. Hobart, October 0. The Lyell miners have decided to refuse the offers of the director?, and a bitter struggle is inevitable. , Received 9, 11 p.m. Melbourne, Octol>er 9. Matters jointly arrived at at the recent Lyell conference, and subsequently turned down by the men, included the arrangement that all the men return to their old working places with the exception of White. The company intimated it would grant a conference for the discussion of increased rates of pay. The men unanimously declined any conditions not reinstating White.

STATION HANDS' STRIKE. Sydney, October 9. The officials of the Australian Workers' Union have expressed dissatisfaction at the award, and already there is a small strike of station hands in Queensland.

COST OF THE STRIKE. WHAT THE DISLOCATION OF TRAFFIC HAS MEANT. London, August 21. The effect of the fifty hours' dislocation! of railway traffic has been so vast, t'lat it is only possible to make a rough calculation of the loss in life ami wages which has accompanied the strike.

During two short days thousands of pound* have been lost to masters and men, thousands of tons of perishable fowl have been wasted, the price of food has advanced from -2;) to 100 per cent., and, owing to the closing of works and factories, an army of workers has been thrown idle.

Heher are some approximate figures as clo-ely gauged as possible of the effect of the two diiys 5 strike:— People killed 10 Injured 450 Arrests made 300 Troops called out 50,000 Special constables 0,000 Passengers affected ti.000,000 Loss to companies £700,000 Lost, to employees '. £200.000 Loss on goods traffic £300,000 Loss in dividends' £200.000 .Miles of railways affected 53,072 There is hardly an industry which has not suffered- more or less from the strike. The inability to ge,t raw material and to despatch goods has resulted in scores of cotton mills being closed in Lancashire, and in th-e northern counties and Wales thousands of miners have been thrown idle as tlie result of tbe railway war.

The following table deals only with great industries, and the figures" would be considerably enhanced if it were possible to include all the multitude of Mnall stoppages which have been caused throughout the country:

South Wales miners 200,000 Northumberland miners 40,000 Korth Wales miners and iron-

workers 20.000 Durham miners 10,000 Lancashire miners 7,000 Lancashire cotton workers 70.000 01-asgow cotton workers 1.000 Kllesmere Port ironworkers 11,000 Another inevitable result of the stoppage of the goods traffic was the immediate rise in prices of various foodstuffs.