THE WAIHI STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 167, 2 December 1912, Page 5

THE WAIHI STRIKE.

A BOLD BLUFF. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Saturday. The Labor Federation states that it will support the strikers and their dependents until the breadwinners obtain work and all possibility of hardship is at an end. Mr. Semple claims tihat the Federation has been strengthened by the fight. Labor is now solidified and' knows the forces arrayed against them. He offers no apology for calling the strike ofl', and says no self-respecting unionist could do otherwise than raise a llgiht against an attempt to organise a minority to act against the wishes of the majority. A COMPLIMENTARY BALL. Waihi, Saturday. The most successful ball yet held in Waihi came off in the Academy Theatre last night, as a compliment to the police. Upwards of a, thousand attended in appreciation of the services to the community during the late troubles. The Mayor, on behalf of the citizens, and. Mr. Donaldson, on behalf of various public bodies, and Mr. Rudd, of the Workers' Union, spoke in eulogistic terms of the conduct of the police from the Commissioner to the rank and file, and complimented the Department of Justice on the splendid body of men, mentally, morally and physically, who composed the staff. The Grand March was then formed, in which about 500 took part. THE STRIKE OFF. Waihi, Last Night. Mr. Rhodes, of the Waihi Company, when interviewed, said that he had been officially informed that the strike was off. He mentioned, that a list of about four hundred workers willing to return to Waihi had been handed to the Mining Company. It would, he said, be certainly impossible to find work for the lot, or even for one-half, during the remainder of tho year, nor until the water in the low levels had been pumped out, but the Waihi Company had made a promise to give the preference during the next ten days to married men with homes in Waihi. The company, of course, was free to choose from those offering, but those who were married men were deemed to be the most suitable for the company's requirements.