BRITISH RAILWAY TROUBLE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8872, 5 November 1907, Page 5

BRITISH RAILWAY TROUBLE.

THE TIMES ON THE POSITION. Received November 4, 10.18 p.m. LONDON, November 4. The Times warns Mr Richard Bell, M.P., Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, that 76,925 votes is only just over 12 per cent, of the railway men of the country. The Times adds: "There is a wide difference beween declaring anonymously in favour of letting other people decide to strike if they saw fit, and abandoning the situation at somebody else's order." The paper declares that Mr Bell is unable to rely on half of these men actually resigning their positions. RAILWAY GOODS DEPARTMENT. LOYALTY OF CLERKS. MR BELL'S DEMAND CONDEMNED. Received November 4, 10.18 p.m. LONDON, November 4. Clerks in the goods department of the Midland railway at Derby have presented the directors with an address expressing their loyalty to the company and condemning Mr Richard Bell's demand. MANCHESTER WORKERS FAVOUR A STRIKE. Received November 4, 10.30 p.m. LONDON, November 4. It is announced that at Manchester upwards of 3,000 members of the General Railway Workers' Union, in response to a ballot, favoured a strike. One thousand did not reply. COMPULSORY ADJUSTMENT HINTED AT. MEN READY TO STRIKE. Received November 4, 11.16 p.m. LONDON, November 4. Mr J. E. Ellis, M.P., presiding at an overflowing meeting of railway men at the Albert Hall, said that the omens were favourable for a settlement of the difficulty, but if the result was less happy than he hoped it would be the Government's duly to submit to Parliament a scheme for the compulsory adjustment of differences between Boards of Directors and the workers. Mr Bell quoted statistics to show that the railway men were badly paid and ill-used. He announced amid enthusiasm that of the 97,631 ballot papers issued 88,134 had been returned. Of these 76,925 favoured a strike, and 8,775 were against a strike. He hoped the result -of the conference with Mr Lloyd George on Wednesday would render a strike unneccessary, but if the inevitable happened the men would be ready.