THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1913. THE FERRY SERVICE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 8 January 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1913. THE FERRY SERVICE.

The. dislocation of the ferry service between Wellington an'd Lyttelton, ;ks the alleged result of a simple little paragraph sent out by the. Press Association, shows to what lengths industrialism may go in this benighted, labour-ridden community. The commerce of the whole State has been temporarily paralysed, because n j handful of firemen imagine, in soine ! way or another, that their dignity hu.s I been offended. For the benefit of our | readers, let us briefly state the facts. The Union Company had x arranged that the steamer Maori should run an excursion to Picton on Now Year's Bay. At the last moment the exeursion was abandoned. The shipping reporter of one of the city papers was informed that the reason for the abandonment of the trip was that tho firejnen had demanded 30s apiece for the day. Tin's information reached the | Press Association ngent, and was I telegraphed throughout tho Dominion. It subsequently transpired that the real cause of the abandonment was I the roughness of the weather. The [firemen were naturally aggrieved at 'the circulation of a- report concerning themselves that was unfounded, though they had made a. precisely similar demand only a few weeks previously. When the Press Association discovered that a mistake had been made, it immediately ..sent out a correction to the whole of tho Association newspapers of the Domin. ion. ft went further, and tendered an apology to the firemen for having caused them unnooes-saiy annoyance. But this did not satisfy the men. They insisted upon the name of the person communicating the informa-

tion to the Pre&s Association being 'disclosed, and a. public apology being made by him. Now, it is a woil-recog-nised rule of the newspaper I', ess that the .source from wliich information is received should not be disclosed under any pretext. It will at once be seen that an infraction of this rule would stultify the Press, and make its ]>osition as a purveyor of news one of utter impossibility. The firemen, however, have expressed their determination to pursue the mattor to the bitter end, and have refused to return to work until the name of the newspaper reporter re•sponsible for the misleading paragraph has bo'in <'i closed. It is unnecessary to ask how the disclosing of the name could po.-sibly affect the dignity or the status of the firemen. At the most, it would enable the men to victimise, abuse, or terrify an innocent reporter. The most unfortunate circumstance surrounding the childish, affair is that the Seamen's Union, by -some extraordinary development of unionistic brotherhood, has declared the case, one for concerted action against the Union Company and the public, who are in no way responsible for what has occurred. Tt is intolerable to tliink that so trivial a. matter should bo made the pretext for a threat of a general, strike. . And vet this is what has really happened. The Seamen's Union has plainly stated that if other vessels are brought into requisition fort the ferry service before the alleged dispute is settled, there will be a general strike. Thus, the whole community is made to suffer because a junior shipping reporter made a mistake. It is idle to state that the firemen have a general grievance against the newspapers, and that I they are adopting the present means [of securing redress. As reasonable ■ would it be for the slaughtermen of the Dominion to go out and slay innocent babes.because the newspapers stated that thev demanded 40s per hundred for killing sheep, when they were only demanding 30s! The proposition were unthinkable. The insane action of the men at Wellington, endorsed as it apparently is by an union of workers, will bring the whole .scheme of industrialism into contempt. From one end of the Dominion to the other the public will he aroused to a state of profound indignation, and there will be a demand for punitive as well as preventive measures on tho nart of the .Legislature. The sense of justice and fair-nlay that possesses the workers in the communitv will be outraged by this latest exhibition of tyranny on the part of a handful of men. and they. n«' well as the great ma-s,s of the public, will be filled with resentment at a crisis which mnv set bao 7 \ the progress of industrial'"development I for an indefinite period.