THE GREAT STRIKE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2676, 5 September 1889, Page 2

THE GREAT STRIKE.

NEGOTIATIONS PROCEEDING. ACUTE SUFFERING. (BV KLKCTItIC TKUJUHAPH.— COrVHKJIIT.) London", September 2. The strike lias cost tlic P. and 0. Company £15,000 duriug the past fortnight. The Salvation Army and others arc providing daily food for thousands of strikers' families. Funds are urgently needed to avert absolute starvation. Further large contributions are anticipated from America and Australia. The strikers' meeting in Hyde Park was of an orderly character. Burns said the marks of sympathy they had received from the colonics was true federation. Eight hundred " blacklegs " are housed and employed in the docks. The directors of the companies allege that Burns invited seven thousand strikers to invade tin; docks and remove these men, and have appealed to Mr Matthews for help. Police have been despatched to their assistance. At a large meeting of wharfingers, resolutions were carried advising the men to accept the terms offered by the Dock Companies. Great preparations have been made to suppress any intimidation on the part of those on strike. London, September 3. The directors of the dock companies have refused to see Burns, owing to his insulting behaviour. They assert that they can procure abundance of labour if the menaces of the strikers are suppressed. The strikers are enfeebled by hunger. Sixty strikers scaled the walls of the Albert docks, for the purpose of coercing the men at work, but were expelled. An attempt to sink the dock tug also failed. The dock labourers in the grain and flour sections at Liverpool have struck for a shilling a day advance. The movement in that city threatens to spread. The London dock companies iiave declined the shipowners' proposals, and suggest a joint committee of the two interests should ho appointed to consider the whole situation. This has been agreed to, and the committee meets to-day. Fresh labourers are arriving at the docks daily, notwithstanding the fact that the strikers have pickets of -1000 strong. The directors of the dock companies have finally refused to act jointly with the shipowners until after the strike is ended, and the shipowners have formed a committee to confcr with the dock companies as soon as the latter are disposed to discuss the matter. The dock companies believe they will win in the end. Burns threatens to excite the labourers at Southhampton to join the London strikers. At Liverpool the excitement is increasing, but up to the present time only the corn and flour carriers have gone out. They demand increased wages to six shillings per day. The strikers are deeply moved at the generosity of Melbourne sympathisers. Ten thousand tailors, cabinetmakers, and cigar-makers have joined the strikers. Svdnkv, September 3. The Local Seamen's Union to-day voted the first instalment of £500 in aid of the London dock strikers. Melbourne, September 3. At a mass meeting of sympathisers with the London strikers, £1700 was collected. The Seamen's Union has voted £.'SOO, and the Trades Council has collected £2,400 for the London dock strikers. Auckland, Wednesday. The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants have decided to vote £'2.j for the London dock strikers' fund,an 1 are inviting other branches of labour to co-operate and open a fund here.