The Daily News. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1919. THE CRISIS AT HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1919. THE CRISIS AT HOME.

Following closely oil the signing of peace, Britain is being convulsed by a strike of railwaymen Which may develop into a situation j of appalling, and, possibly, unpre-1 cedented magnitude. The menj have struck the first blow in a trial of strength with the Government, and it is considered probable that on the result of the conflict will depend whether the general high level of wages arising out of the war period shall be the future standard. The dispute has been going on since early in the year, an agreement being arrived at in March that the war bonus of thirty-three shillings a week which the railwaymen received in addition to their pre-war pay should cease at the end of the year. The men, however, claim that the bonus should be permanent, and this the Government has refused, offering instead forty shillings a week as a minimum and drafting a scheme for an advance of 100 per cent, to all grades. Eecently the Government consented to continue the war bonus until the cost of living (now 115 per cent, above pre-war) falls to 110 per cent, and remains at that level for three months, but the men rejected the offer. When it is considered that the addition of one hundred per cent., coupled with the shorter day conceded, represents the huge sum of sixtyseven millions sterling some idea can be formed of the magnitude of the interests involved in the aggre- J jgate. The men's demands involve a further fourteen millions, hnd it is obvious there must be a limit beyond which the Government is not justified in going. The men I havte struck, and the gravity of I the position is accentuated by the probability that the strike will automatically include the transport workers, thus paralysing the whole country. The fight for supremacy has begun, no loophole being left for negotiation. How serious the position is can he gathered from the summoning of Field Marshal Haig to a Cabinet meeting and the issue by the Government of an urgent appeal for volunteer motor drivers to carry food. The strike is regarded as being directed against the life of the community, for unless food supplies can be distributed starvation and terrible sufferings will ensure. Fortunately, the Government is in a position to deal with the crisis, as the necessary organisation that dealt with food shortage and distribution during war time still exists. The prospect of returning to the system of food rations is fraught with the danger of turbulent disorders, but the Government is also prepared to cope with that aspect of the trouble, while the right of commandeer is to be freely exercised. The people of the Dominion thotight themselves hardly used when the railway cut was recently in force, but the people of Britain are now called upon to face a total withdrawal of the railway services, and those who know how millions depend on these services in. getting to and from their daily work will realise the immensity of the' upheaval. Every other means of transport will be pressed into service, but there will be thousands compelled to tramp for miles each day before and after their work, if, added to this great hardship, the transport of coal has to give way to that of food the people of the Motherland will be in a parlous plight. There appear to be all the elements of a general industrial war over this question of wages, and if the Triple Alliance of Labor decides on joint j action, on the ground that the ! present dispute is a continuation of that .which was supposed to be

settled last March, it will create a disaster of unprecedented magni- S tude, even if it stops short of civil! war. The Government lias elected ; to see the struggle through to a j finish, and has lost no time in i ■raking the necessary measures.: The strikers appear to have i accepted the Government's pro-1 ; posals as a challenge, and they | are determined to wipe out the 1911 defeat. It is no longer a question of wages, but a test of strength. Probably this long deferred struggle was bound to come, but it is a serious blot on civilisation that such an industrial i war should be possible. There I appears to be a consensus 'of opinion outside union circles that I the Government's offer was fair, I yet the men refuse to listen to.' I reason, and rely on the strike, j 'weapon to compel the people to force the Government to give in. i The nation that has defeated the Huns will surely endure further j . hardships to remove the long i standing menace. Unfortunately j it is the. women and children, the j weak and ailing, that will suffer j most, but this is inevitable. The j irony of it that the men. who • denounced the late war and! contended that international disputes should be settled by arbitration now flout that method and declare war on their own kith and kin. The gravest anxiety must be felt until the crisis is over and the men recover their reason. Meanwhile the Government is prepared, as well as determined, and if that attitude is maintained there can be but one end to the struggle, and the sooner the • strikers recognise this the better j it will be for the whole nation. Labdr has its rights, but they cannot be such as will be suffered to usurp the place of stabilised government or to inflict dire penalties on the community.