THE INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 5 November 1913, Page 4

THE INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

. The, Dominion is now in the throes of one of the most serious industrial crises that have been recorded in colonial history. Up till yesterday it was hoped that, by the intercession of the Prime Minister, the parties to the dispute would have beau able to arrive at a satisfactory settlement. All hopes were shattered, however, when the Red Federationists refused to come under the Arbitration Act, and tho light will now be fought to a finish. It is well to remember that the dispute has assumed national proportions. It is no longer a contest between the. waterside workers on the one hand and the Shipping Companies on the otlxer. The Federation of Labour lias taken up the cause of the watersiders, and is conducting all negotiations, while the whole of tho employers of the Dominion are ranged together in the defence <jf the arbitration system against the revolutionary tactics of tho Red Feds. t The employers have arrived at the conclusion that if the Conciliation and Arbitration Act is not to be a dead letter, and if the Dominion is to be secure from perpetual dislocations of trade, the workers as, a body must be brought under the operations of the Act. The Federation of Labour, without consulting the great'mass of the workers, and without regard for public convenience, ha« determined that tho Arbitration Act must go, and that all disputes, shall be settled by the jngaiis of tjie barbarous strike. The employers, 1W their part, iiisfsi that? if the Act is to remain upon the Statute Book, it must be applied to : all branches of industry. In this insistence they will be supported by a large section of the working class that regards the Act <js of grgat yaThe fight, 4liere= !&■<s, resolved itself . intd one between the Red Feder&tltfhtste—the revolutionary elenlfeiit—and all other sections of tKe iibmmunity, including the .registered unions. It is not a qtiest&A of the shipowners and the e,mpiiVers alone. It is a question Vh'at affects every man and woman who believes that industrial disputes should be settled by arbitration instead of by the brutal strike. If the Red Federationists are permitted to dominate the position in the present casd, it M ill be good-bye 5> the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and good-bye to those awards "which have brought benefits to a large number o£ working people. "When free labour is employed to work the wharves, as it most assuredly will bo r the death blow will be sounded to syndicalism and anarchy, and the wateiv side' workers will be registered! under tho Conciliation and Arbitration Act, as.all modetate-thinking trade unionists believe they should be. .The employers are not only fighting for tho preservation of industrial peace, but are fighting for the cause of that large section of working people -who object to being tyrannised over by a small but noisy banc! of revolutionaries. If New Zealand is ever to be-

come a great and prosperous country, it, will be when the revolutionary agitator is scotched, and capital and labour work harmoniously together. The scotching process is now m progress, and the operation will be completed in the course of a few days. ' •