A WANTON STRIKE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 6 May 1913, Page 5

A WANTON STRIKE.

CABLE NEWS

(United Press Association—Bl? Electric Telegraph — Copyright.)

TO HOLD UP PUBLIC SERVICES. JUDGE SPEAKS PLAINLY. ■SUBSTANTIAL FINES IMPOSED. i Received Last Night, 8.-15 o'clock.) SYDNEY, May o. A:s ii sequel to the railway strike, Mil- Justice Heydon, in th? Industrial Court, delivered judgment in the erases of forty-nine porters who had left work at Darling Harbour. When the matter was before the Court, counsel raised the question whether the men's action constituted a strike.. Justice Heydon found that the men had acted in concert and the essence of a strike was concerted cessation of work without the consent of employer. The men had chosen an exceptionally busy day in the railway yards, on which, being public servants, they were in charge of one of the links of communication between the metropolis and the rest of the State. They had broken the link, and caused great inconvenience and loss. The choice of an exceptionally busy day, when perishable goods might be destroyed, was a circumstance of extreme aggravation. It was pure destruction of their fellowcitizens' private property, at the very momen* when the Board was considering an award under which their fellowcitizens made them a present of wages to the extent of £60,000 annually. Many strikes now displayed the character of reckless malice, as if there were a grudge against society, and a desire to injure it as much as possible. His Honor fined the sixteen leading porters. £lO each, and thirtythree other porters £7 and costs each, leviable upon their wages.