The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1920. THE RAILWAY STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1920. THE RAILWAY STRIKE.

It will be admitted readily enough that the raihvaymen (and pro- j bably the whole of the Public Service) have grievances in the matter of pay, consequent in the increased cost of living, but the matter is one that can, and should, be settled by constitutional means. The Premier may not have acted diplomatically either in merely promising to appoint a commission to inquire into the grievances in June, or in refusing to allow the delegates to attend a meeting in Wellington, but the men are certainly not justified in using the strike weapon at a moment's notice, thereby penalising the innocent people and holding up all activities in order to bring pressure to bear on the Government, In ordinary times, direct action is jnost reprehensible, but when, as at present, the whole of the Dominion is concentrating on welcoming and honoring the Heir to the British Crown, the raihvaymen may well be charged with resorting to primitive barbarism to gain their ends. All right-thinking citizens must feel a sense of shame that a section of the public servants should have chosen the time pf the Prince's visit as an opportunity which they deemed favorable for forcing their will on the Government. Surely the rest of the community, who heartily sympathise with the workers having a square deal, should not, after so much enthusiastic preparation for the Koyal visit, be deprived of their anticipated pleasure of seeing the Prince", possibly for the first and only time in their lives. The situation might be met by the Government assuring the railwaymen that whatever may be found to be the difference in their present pay and its value as compared with pre-war rates, will be adjusted by an acceptable tribunal, and the difference, whatever it may l)e, paid to the men either from the commencement of the year or in correspondence with the growth of the cost of living. A dispute lias been filed under the Industrial Disputes Act by one section of the railway service. This is an additional reason why direct action should not be used, and no further steps taken except under the terms pf the Act. If tlia iaea jjersist iu

their strike attitude, then it must be war to the knife—a struggle for the dominance of law <md order against the tactics of "stand and deliver," for a war of this nature, once entered upon, should be carried to a finish, and the question of who is to rule settled once and for all. Certainly the railwaymen, or any other small section, cannot be allowed to rule, otherwise ordered government would have to give way to brute force and anarchy. Whatever public sympathy the railwaymen possessed before—and there is no doubt it was considerable—will be forfeited by the precipitative and ill-advised action now being taken. Without public support no strike can succeed, and the railwaymen will find that in this ease they have ill-judged public opinion, which will be greatly exasperated at their resorting to the strike weapon at all, but particularly at a time when the Heir Apparent is the guest of the country, and extensive arrangements have been made in every part of the Dominion to do him the honor that is his due.