STRIKERS AND GUNS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 291, 5 June 1912, Page 6

STRIKERS AND GUNS

A MINISTER'S VIEWS. COMPULSORY 'SERVICE AND LABOR UNREST. Auckland, June 2. The strike at 'Waihi received much attention at a dinner held at Mnnuwera last evening to celebrate the improvement in the suburban railway services. The gathering was attended Ijy four Ministers, the Leader of the Opposition, and seven other members of Parliament.

Early in the evening the subject of industrial unrest was discussed by Mr. George Elliott, president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Elliott said that he did not wish to criticise the Conciliation Act harshly, but it could not be denied that the Act had not done for New Zealand what its promote!* claimed it would do. New Zealand was not the strikeless country they had claimed it would become. He could not understand why one small section of the community, with a dispute in one part of the country, should be a casus belli in all parts of the country. Any grievance should be remediable by conciliatory methods. The only possible conclusion was that a party which used threats and coercion had no faith in its cause. It was peculiar that such a section of the community could paralyse all industry. That condition was possible only while the majority of the people, the great third party, stood idly l>y and permitted such a paralysis. 'Unfortun" >]y such methods would bring in th: ■ train rioting, wantonness and lawless.uss, but he Relieved that the majority of the people, animated by the spirit of obedience to law and order which was characteristic of the race, would not submit to the j domineering actions of a small section, j That section was led by men who made an open boast that they cared for neither God nor man, ilag nor country; who! issued orders as if they were vested with j governmental powers, and who were try- j j ing to destroy the secret ballot, and to lead their followers back to the days of [ open voting. lie could not believe that one-fourth of the who followed these | leaders believed in such principles. (Hear, hear). "The Arbitration Act is not being carried out by the Government as it ought to te," continued Mr. Elliott,''Surely our legislators are not afraid of these street-corner Dervishes?" Some j time ago an amendment of the Act was proposed that would 'have prevented any/ official of a labor union from holding his ) position unless he was actually working - in the trade. That clause was dropped, and the only reason, so far as he could see, was that the legislators were afraid of the howls of those would-be leaders. \ Mr - Massey: Not all of them.

Mr. Elliott: You were on the other side. Continuing, he suggested that Parliament should consider the wisdom of re-introducing the clause, and of wiping out the blot on the Act—the provision \ that a union could cancel its registration. (Hear, hear). If the Act were to be carried out in its entirety every industrial union should be forced to register under the Act, and to abide 'by its provi-1 sions. (Hear, hear). '"The people whOv are behind every Government," Mr. Elliott added, "are the loyal moderate community who are influenced by the traditions of the race, by love of their country/and by respect for their flag. Unless ■ something is done, and done very quickly, this majority will rise and demand of our legislators laws to govern properly 1 the labor unions of the country." (Loud applause).

Mr. 6. L. Peacock, chairman of the Auckland Railway League, said that all would agree with Mr, Elliott in lamenting the grave mistakes and blunders which had been made by the leaders of the men on strike. Everyone would absolutely condemn the sentiments of the strike leaders, who, he believed, had misled a majority of the men. He suggested that before long there must be an international conference to devise' some means of settling the world-wide industrial unrest.

The Hon. G. W. Russell, Minister for Internal Affairs, spoke in repl)-. "I have not come here," said Mr. Russell, "for the purpose of making a political speech, nor to throw the apple of discord into a harmonious meeting. It is a question of taste whether such a speech, which would he perfectly appreciated from the j chair of the Chamber of Commerce on a I question of such grave importance, j should be made at a gathering of this j kind. It is idle for anyone to point to j the position in this country and endea- | vor to hold the Government or a body of legislators responsible, or to charge inferentially any body of men, whether the Government or its followers, -with cowardice, because they do not take a certain line. Through the whole world there is a vast unrest, which is the re- ; suit of the effort of the working classes to obtain a greater share of the good things of this world than they had hitherto had. What we must consider is that we are only one little section, one rock before the great tide of unrest which is rising, and instead of blaming your legislators and your laws, the wiser course is to sit down quietly and wait until things settle down ; for and, when we find how these thing# settling, endeavor to adjust our social conditions so that we may be just to the workors at the same time as we are just to ourselves."

IMr. Russell deprecated the suggestions made by Mr. Elliott. "Are we to thrust these men "by the hundred into prison ?" he asked, "The result would be that barricades would be erected in youf streets; guns would be got out, and there would be civil war. The men in England who were opposed to compulsory military training knew what they were about. They realised that if you place guns in the hands of uneducated and uncultured men you are possibly providing them with a weapon which they may use to upset your entire civilisation."

Mr. Russell said that tlie course suggested by Mr. Elliott would make striking something in the nature of a crime. This was against the principles of humanity, for every man had a right to sell his labor at the price he chose. He remarked that he had no wish to trench upon party politics.

At this remark there was loud laughter.

The question, added Mr. Russell, was too large to be settled by an after-din-ner speech. It required the attention of the keenest intellects, and the fullest measure of religious and brotherly love.