The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1915. BRITAIN'S INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 234, 12 March 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1915. BRITAIN'S INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

Another strike, this time of laborers, is threatened in the Clyde shipyards, while one hundred and fifty thousand postal servants in Britain have asked for an increase—these are the latest features of the labor unrest that promises to spread throughout the. Unit, ed Kingdom. It is unfortunate that these serious industrial troubles should arise at a time when the Empire is fighting for its very existence but a scrutiny of the exchanges that'arrived by the latest mail suggests that the unrest among the workers at Home is more the result of a genuine and steadily increasing economic pressure than an attempt to force the hands of the employers at a time of national crisis. The

working classes of the United Kingdom, much less happily situated in the matter of trade conditions and. wages than their fellows in X ew Zealand, have begun to feel the pinch of war seriously. Coal rose to a prohibitive price durin« the early English winter, and food com° nudities made a corresponding advance in sale value. The British workman's relatively ] o w wages purchased less and still less, with the result that the trade

'"■ ions appealed to the Government to ■"terrene and try and remedy matters. J. he response, apparently, was not as Prompt a s the situation warranted for m yesterday's cables appeared the statement of Mr. Hodge, Labor member for Gorton, that most of the unrest in one particular branch of industry was due to the "unconscionable delay 0 f the Government in settling disputes." It i 3 an established fact that thousands of artisans at Home, though in steady employment, are nevertheless in a serious condition because of the abnormal ™e i n p r i ce va l ues . This fact; combincd with the suspicion that the shipping companies ami importers were takin" unfair advantage of the extraordinary conditions to exploit those helpless "Samst exploitation, rankled in the minds of the unions so insistently that they have been, moved to take the haw into their own hands. It is obviously absurd and futile to expect a full measure, of patriotism from a

hungry man with a hungry family, while otliers, who are certainly not hungry arc making fortunes at the expense of their more luckless brethren. If it is the case that unscrupulous traders and

contractors are using the crisis to enrich themselves at the expense of the workers, then it is time for the Government

that could take control of the railways and guarantee the money market against disaster to step in and see that

the provisions of the Defence of the Realm Act are enforced rigorously and witliout fear or favor. It has been argued on behalf of the shipping companics that freights—one cause of the rise in prices—have had to be increased

because of the numbers of vessels tied up. the shortage of labor to work them, and the general chaos and congestion that exist in the largest ports. But

there is no evidence that there is any justification for the huge increase in freight charges—in many cases these have been doubled and trebled. Taking their cue from the shipowners, the importers, it is stated, have put up thenprices to an abnormal degree with the result that the economic stress ha", become general, though there is litt.e or no unusual unemployment. If the foregoing represents the true state or affairs at Home—and the evidence strongly suggests that it is so—if the workers are in truth being exploited, the general labor unrest can well be understood and, in part, condoned. It means that the army contractors, the shipping interests, the importers are the real offenders, and as such should be dealt with without mercy. So far the liberals have risen to the occasion like men, hut their glory will be tarnished if they fail to afford the necessary relief to the struggling artisans in the United Kingdom, who are probably as patriotic as they can afford to be.