The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1891. THE AUSTRALIAN SHEARERS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XII, Issue 2420, 31 July 1891, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1891. THE AUSTRALIAN SHEARERS.

The great strike is at an enrl. ' What it.has cost the shearers and their fellow-Unionists can only be estimated, but it must have been an immense sum; indeed it is said that the Unionists' treasury is completely* exhausted. On the Pastoralists' side the losses have also been serious ; while the colony of Queensland has been brought to the verge of bankruptcy, and the other Australian colonies have been prejudically affected to a very serious extent. After all, the compromise which has been arrived at, and which is declared by both sides to be satisfactory, is only what might have been accepted months ago. The Pastoralists have maintained their principle of " freedom of contract " — their right to employ whom they please, without regard to his being a Unionist or not—and they have conceded the comparatively unimportant point that aliens shall not be employed, the term alien, we may presume, including Kanakas as well as Chinese. The late strike, as is shown by the report of the Royal Commission of Enquiry, appointed by the "'New South Wales Government, turned almost wholly on the point pf the employment of nonunionists. There is a very broad distinction between those demands of the wage-earning class which directly aftect their welfare and comfort, and [ those which are put forth m the I interests of their labor organisation, and m assertion of the right of not only each union but the whole labour confederation to dictate to whom and on what terms employers shall bs at liberty to give work. Now that the disagreement on this point has been adjusted it will be well to consider what steps should be taken to prevent a recurrence of so disastrous a strike. The Commission that we have referred to-do not pretend that a State organisation for conciliation arid arbitration would, under existing circumstances, be a cure for industrial conflicts; but they believe it would be a step m the right direction, and that its establishment should not be delayed. No doubt legislation bused on the report will be initiated and perhaps the New Zealand Parliament may come to a similar conclusion, and Queensland, Victoria and South Australian Parliaments follow m the same direction.