THE SYDNEY STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1917, Page 2

THE SYDNEY STRIKE.

SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. Writing of the strike in Sydney, a New Zealand lady who i,; a graduate on the education staff in New South. Wales says:—"l suppose you have seen what an exciting time we are having over here. Wc have neither trains nor trains, so of course, business is largely hung iin, as the people can't get in'from the suburbs. Only four trains went to the city from here yesterday, and the funny part was that nobody knew they were to be "oil'," and the stations were crowded with people waiting to go to business. Some of our girls nearly got killed getting oil' the train in the morning—the men rushed it. Finally they had to scramble down on the off-side of the train. One ti-j.tin alone carried 2,000 people. They were stuck on all .over it even sitting on top. The inspectors drove the trains, and were greeted with ringing cheers at each station as they pulled up. 1 had to laugh at one train that came through hWe. The stoker was a fat old man of 70 years, long since retired, and was dressed in a neat black suit, arid a stand-up collar. The perspiration was positively rolling off him, but he was quite happy, and well repaid by the gratitude of the yfessengers as they alighted. His job was made more dillicult by the fact that men. were sitting on his heap of coal, and he had to dig under tiieni for each shoveful. As far as wo are concerned at school, our girls walked from a radius of seven miles all round, but the gilt was off the e.ocoanut when they found only four teachers at school, and were sent home at 1 p.m. with instructions to walk back over the seven miles, and see that they got home (before dark. The other three teachers .then set out to walk to Sydney, nearly eight miles. This morning none of them turned up, but two others came out by private motor. I had the school all on my own at first, and had classes in four rooms, walking over themselves, being rendered quite useless in the discipline line by a bad cold, which left me minus voice. The people as a whole are very cheerful, and the. remarkable thing is, that, unlike moid strikes, there is not a soul in sympathy with the strikers. It is a poor lookout for them."