LABOUR UNREST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10569, 27 February 1912, Page 3

LABOUR UNREST.

THE THREATENED COAL { STRIKE. NATION'S EIGHT. (Received February 20, !.) a.m.) LONDON, Feb.nip.vy a.",. The electric lighting company at SoutJnvarlc had stored thousands oi' tons of coal in view of a possible strike, and this caused tho wall to collapse, iuid the coal fell into an alley where children were playing, two being killed. Mr Asquith, replying to Mr Field, Nationalist member for Dublin, said ho was una bio to regard favourably tho suggestion that tho coalfields should bo nationalised. The Executive of the Lancashire and Cheshire miners hare instructed delegates to Tuesday's- conference! io refuse to suspend tho notices. Mr Iveir Hardie says only the conI cession of tlio men's demands could i effect a settlement. The miners wer-j not go'ing to Mr Lloyd-George like the railwayman did. The sending of troops implied that the miners were hooligans and blackguards. Tho Lord Mayor of London presided at a conference of the mas-ors of tho United Kingdom, all the large towns being represented. Tho meeting pass- ; ed a resolution that the claims of the community outweighed any conceivable difference dividing the negotiators. Several speakers urged that tho rights of the nation as a third party should ho heard.

j THE BRISBANE STRIKE. MINERS CO-OPERATING. FUNDS VOTED. (Received February 20, 9.5 a.m.) SYDNEY, February 2G. A representative of the Queensland strikers reports that as a result of his mission to the South Coast, the district miners haro promised to do everything possible to prevent coal being shipped to Brisbane. Tlio District Miners' Association has voted £2OO to the strike funds. VESSELS STILL HELD UP. (Received February 26, 10.5 a.m.) SYDNEY, February 26. The wharf labourers are still holding up Brisbane steamers and those sailing on Saturday took no cargo. They also decline to dischargo vessels arriving from the northern port. INDICATIONS OF STRIKES ENDING. (Received February 2G, 10.4 a.m.) BRISBANE, February 26. Mr Coyne, chairman of the Strike Committee, denies tlio rumour that the strike committee has decided to order all strikers, with the exception of tlie tramway employees to resume work on Tuesday. Ho declared that the miners and wharf labourers Mould remain out as long as they were rcqiured to. Notwithstanding this declaration there are indications of tho strike ending. Work is steadily proceeding on the wharves by free labour. A steamer left on Saturday for the Gulf Country, where supplies arc mulling short, no steamer having visited ther.o for five weeks.

THE FIREMEN'S STRIKE. A SERIOUS SITUATION. VOLUNTEERS. FILL VACANCIES; (Received February 20, 8.5 a.m.) | ADELAIDE, Feb mar y 20. The firemen, on all the permanent staffs throughout the State have struck.' The Board has made arrangement.;! to* man three appliances with volunteers at the Metropolitan station arul suburban stations will be proportionately provided. Tho strikers are picketing the stations which the police are guarding. Four alarms were received and the volunteers responded well, hut all al amis proved to I>o false. Tho fire brigades board lias ordered \ the managers at all places of public J entertainment to appoint men from j their stall's to attend to the lire ap- I fliances. Business firms regard the ,situation as serious in the event of a big outbreak, with which it would be impossible for the depleted staffs to cope. HOTEL EMPLOYEES STRIKE. THE HOTELS CLOSED. I (Received February 20, 8.5 a.m.) ! SYDNEY, February 26. _ Tho hotel employees at Broken Hill luivo struck, excepting four hotels

and tlirep workmen's clubs, which arc paving tho Union log. Tho hotels hare closed, excepting ono bar, which tho proprietors manSUICIDE EPIDEMIC. IN ST. PETERSBURG. FORTY-TWO DEATHS IN FOUR DAYS. (Received Fcbruai-y 20, 9 a.m.) ST. PETERSBURG, Feb. 25. Thero havo been forty-two suicides in four days, the majority being by poison. A muiiber of suicides occurred in the streets. Tho average age of the suiciders was under twenty-four years. Tho Leaguo of Life and other antisuicide societies have been fruitlessly attempting to stay tho epidemic. HORATIO BOTTOMLEY. \PPLICATION FOR HIS IMPRISONMENT. CONTEMPT OF COURT. (Received February 2G, 8.5 a.m. LONDON, February 25. The High Court is hearing the Prudential Assurance Company's application that Horatio Bottomley, editor of "John Bull" and "Mrs Bull," should he imprisoned for contempt of Court, alleging that he published a slanderous article in the newspaper "John Bull," .because the Prudential Company refused to. participate in his bankruptcy scheme.