BELGIAN MECHANICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1915, Page 12

BELGIAN MECHANICS.

REFUSE TO [WORK FOR GERMANY. USELESS BRIBERY AND COERCION. London, August 6. The Belgian Government has thought it well to give the world a glimpse of the way in which the German authorities in Belgium have used every means of pressure to compel Belgians to work for their armies in the construction of trenches and other defence works, and in connection with the output of munitions and other material necessary to troops on active service. They have not found it easy to either cajole or coerce the Belgians into lending their aid, and they nave found the Belgian rairway workers a particularly obstinate lot of men,

The Belgian railwaymen are fully aware of the value their services would be to the enemy, and have steadfastly refused to lend their aid to the German authorities, notwithstanding the poverty to which they are reduced. Not only have they resisted most tempting offers in the way of salary, but they have endured all manner of persecutions for their refusal to serve—even indirectly—against the interests of their native country. The persecution extends over the whole of Belgium, and the "Seere-' tary-General for Imperial German Railways" at Brussels, has openly said that he will achieve his purpose by means of famine; he will drive back the railwaymen to their lines and their workshops by preventing the Belief .Committees from helping them. At Luttre the German authorities assembled about thirty railway mechanics and requested them to resume their avocations. Ordinary workmen were offered 5, 6, and 7 marks ,a day, skilled mechanics up to 20. The mechanics returned a decided negative, and were thereupon shut up in raifway carriages, and told that they would only be let out when they consented to work. The threat was useless. After several days they were told that they would be sent off to Germany, and there set to forced and unpaid labour. At the same time their families were warned of the threat, in the hope that they would induce them to yield. Nothing of the kind happened, and on the following day, as the train steamed off, the imprisoned mechanics and the people who had crowded down to the approaches to the station joined in hearty cheers of "Vive la Belgique." The train went as far as Namur, where the workmen were turned loosel RAILWAYMEN DEPORTED. A few dayß later a second attempt was made. The Germans assembled by compulsion about 100 workmen in the dining hall of the Centra! Wdrks, where an officer summoned them to resume work. When they kept silence he threatened to.send them off to Germany; he added, "You need hare no fears for the future; the 'Kommandatur* will give you certificates stating that you only resumed work under compulsion; let those Who consent make two stepß to the front." The whole body of workmen made a 9tep to the rear, and shouted, "Vive la Belgique. 1 '

In consequence of these incidents, M. Kesseler, the manager of the Central Railway Works at .Luttre, was arrested, and was taken under escort to the Luttre works, where a great number of his mechanics had been assembled. A written notice had been given to each of them, threatening deportation to Germany if work was not resumed. M. Kesseler was told to induce the men to yield; he replied that he had sworn fidelity to his King, and that he would never perjure himself. He was then requested to invite the men to work on condition that they would only be employed on civil goods traffic. M.Kesseler put the offer before the men, but not a man consented to resume work. After this a hundred and ninety workmen were sent off to Germany, and sixty more were arrested later.

PUNISHING THE POPULACE. At Malines the German authorities ordered the Communal officers to give them the list of the staff of the central works. The officials had no such list, having nothing to do with the railway administration, but the Germans persisted in their demand, and threatened to fine the town 10,000 marks unless a list was sent to them within twenty-four nours. The Burgomaster thereupon posted up a notice stating that the German authorities required all railway servants to present themselves at the office of the German engineer in charge of the works. This appeal had no effect. The Communal officers were then forced by the Germans to draw up a list of railwaymen, extracted from the register of householders, ancfc these persons to the number of some 500, were arrested at their homes and taken under armed guard to the workshops. To make them work they were locked up and not allowed to return to their homes. But they still refused to "turn to," so the Germans revenged themselves on the whole population of Malines. Till they should submit it was ordered ehat no one should quit his dwelling after six o'clock in the evening. Moreover, the town was to be isolated; no one was to enter or leave Malines. For some days a reign of ter ror prevailed, but all these measures of intimidation were vain, and not a single railway mechanic could be induced to commence work.

At Srveveghem, near Courtrai, incidents resembling those at Malines occurred about the same time. There is a large factory for the manufacture of wire The Germans ordered that barbed wire for their trenches should be put in hand. The 350 workmen refused to enter the factory. Thereupon the Burgomaster and the Secretary of the Commune were arrested and sent to prison, and notice was given that severe punishment would be inflicted unless work was resumed within twenty-four hours. When the workmen repeated their refusal Swevenghem was surrounded by troops and isolated like Malines. No one was to leave the place or to enter it, even for the purpose of bringing in focM. The whole population between the ages of fifteen and forty-five were ordered to present themselves at the Towfl Hall. The workmen were forced to enter the factory. When they refused once more to get to work, in spite of much brutal compulsion, sixty of them were sent to gaol. A few days later their wives were also despatched thither, and on their way they were, as the Belgian report puts it, "odiously maltreated." In the light of the never-to-be-forgotten Bryce report on German methods in Belgium, there will be no necessity to interpret those two words. But in spite of temptation and dragooning, the Sweveghem wireworkers, like the Malines railway-men, steadfastly refuse to aid the enemy.