THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1893. THE STRIKES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2498, 4 May 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1893. THE STRIKES.

A general sti'ke is threatening England at the present time, and if conducted on the same lines as the one at Hu 1 ! the consequences wi'l be serious and farreaching. After the dockers' strike Mr John Burns was reported to have said that "a little more of the devil" would have to be thrown into any future strike, and it is probable that this policy has been adopted, for we find that £1,000,000 worth of timber has been burned. That would pay the wages demanded by the men during their life time. Let us suppose that a general strike takes place throughout the whole couutiy, and that these tactics are adopted—that is, the tactics of destruction—who wi ll suffer? The whole nation wil l suffer, the working men wi'l be great sufferers, but many employers w'H be mined. Insurance companies wi ll . refuse to take risks, or where they have taken the risks they will not be liable to pay, if the Hull taciica are extended to other districts, and the result will prove disastrous to trade and commerce. The outlook is not bright, and yet the possibilities are even worse than we can fu -1 y realise. I f a strike takes place, and the men throw " a little more of the devil into it," there is no possibility of foretelling where it may end. It may lead to any disaster conceivable, for men driven to desperation by hunger and poverty cannot be expected to count the coat too minutely. But this is only history repeating itself. In the earlier conflicts of capital and labor during the first half of the present century much damage was done to property, and even human life was frequeutly sacrificed. In the History of Our Own Times, McCarthy says " when a workman had made himself obnoxious to the leaders of some local trades-union some sudden and signal misfortune befell him. Perhaps his house was set on fire, perhaps a canniater of gunpowder was exploded under his window, or some radely-con-structed infernal machine was flung into his bedroom at night." Assassiuatiou was often the doom of those who brought upon themselves the illwill of the unions, and men were shot at as they went about their work. The union denied that they had anything to do with this till at last the Government appointed a commission of enquiry, with the result that it was proved that all the mischief was concocted by them. At a public meeting held to denounce the outrages, William Broadhead vehemiuently protested that the unions had neither hand, act, or part in them, but it was afterwards proved that he had arranged and paid out of union funds for the murder and mutilation of offenders against the unions. " Broad-he-id himself," says MeOarthy, "came before the examiners and acknowledged that he had devised and organised them (outrages), selected agents by whom they were to be committed, and paid them out of union funds." At that t ne the persons on whom the unions wreaked vengeance were " blackleg " laborers, but now it appears they have decided to attack the employer in a more direct way by setting fire to his goods and chattel. There can be no doubt that it is a very effectual way of causing wholesale rum if the system should be extensively adopted. Employer and employed would soon bg tired of that system, for both would be *?ad,«&<;d to starvation by it, and the whole natjQtj would suffer. Is it not imdmra fop a Nation J-,o stand by and look on while its'w?alto i? being thus destroyed. Could anything h m.qre insaue'J We seldom hear of strikes in France, and the reason is that there 1 exists in that country Bop -da of Con- ; silicon which fl3tfle a 1! trade disputes. 'Siiaiiss iii*tituii,ons would P ro Id,l(f 1 d,l( f ecma M v satisfactory r,esr4*S iu England, and iVwouM be graft**? *P «M» f *** fW of all that they should ewt. ft js certainly the fault of the British employer that they have not been into existence long ago. He wants to manage his own business in his o\v .1 way; ho wants freedom of contrast, and he refuses to be hampered by any tribunal which would curtail his liberty to do what he liked with his own. That is at the bottom of it a l !—this idea or individual 14 berty, which of course means the strong 1 opproabing the weak. The British employer is not**: ring oi much sympathy whatever happens, for *6. certainly is more at fault than his employes', is in the struggles existing between capital and labor in the old countries a lesson by which we ought to try to profit. Our beautiful colony is now emerging from the gloom of misgovern ment, and it is our business to do all in our power to keep her prosperous. We cannot do this better than by making provisions for such possibilities as strikes, and that we can do by insisting on Parliament passing a law under which all disputes between capital and labor shall be settled by peaceable arbitration. A Bill having that object in view was introduced by the Hon. W. P. Reeves into Parliament last sesaiou, but it was. opposed by the

capitalistic party, and it did not become law. For the safety of the whole nation the passing of this measure ought to be insisted on at once, so as to provide that trade disputes shall never again create disturbances in our midst. COALITION. One of the most extraordinary suggestions in connection with the political complication which has been so happily settled, was that Mr Seddon contemplated making an overture to Captain Russell, with the view of foiming a Coalition Ministry. How such an idea could have got into any sane head is more than anyone can conceive, yet it is more astonishing still that a newspaper could have been found so foolish as to publish it. That the strongest political party New Zealand has ever seen should go into the Opposition camp for assistance is inconceivably ridiculous, yet the Wellington Press was foolish enough to suggest such a possibility. There is no fear of that. Mr Seddon is not the man to bow down his neck so readily, nor do we think that under any he would agree to such an arrangement. Coalition Ministries are about the most dangerous institutions that any counti/ could establish. For many years Victoria was governed by a Coalition Ministry, and what is the result now'/ The system worked for a time; money was borrowed and spent lavishly; a land boom was set on foot, and a season of unexampled prosperity was experienced. But the day of reckon iug came, and the crash was terrible, and now Victoria w :i l be in a depressed condition, for the next twenty years. A great deal of this is attributable to the fact that she was governed by a Coalition Ministi/; for all the leaders were on one side, and there was no one to criticise them. This, too, illustrates the latest craze of doing away with Party Government. Tf this is done the result must be somewhat similar, while corruption and fraud would be far more likely to occur from it than under the scathing criticism of an opposite party. Under a non-party system the leaders on both sides would be included in the Ministry, and the outsiders would have no incentive to criticise, because they would have no chance of ever reaching the Treasuiy Benches. It would be a dead, sleepy, flabby, dangerous system, under which there would always be a danger of wrongdoing. Under existing circumstances, Party Government is the best system that ha 3 yet been suggested. It merely means that the great prize of place and power is offered to ore set of politicians to watch another set of politicians, with the result that very little can go wrong without the public knowing it. Then there is always a rivalry between these two Lets of politicians, and if one makes a proposal the other immediately determines on going one better, and the inevitable result is progress. Let us keep the progressive system; it is one which ages have evolved out of the British Constitution, and it is the best.