The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1909 THE TYRANNY OF LABOR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2404, 20 January 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1909 THE TYRANNY OF LABOR.

“The president of the Union anticipates no violence unless drafts of police appear.” This is the significant message.which comes from Auckland in regard to the mining difficulty at Huntly. The position which has occurred there is grave and menacing, for it suggests that we in New Zealand, who have been living in comparative industrial peace for many years, must at last be prepared for the worst features that follow in the wake of labor troubles in other countries. Since the Arbitration Act was first challenged and afterwards defied by the unionists in different parts of the Dominion, there have been several strikes, but, although there has been a good deal of unpleasantness, there has been on the whole a reasonable respect for the law of the land and for public opinion. .. The Huntly dispute, however, breaks new ground, for the attitude of the work-

ers there has a nasty and menacing tone which bodes ill for those who desire an amicable settlement for all industrial disputes which occur in this Dominion. The facts are simple. Prior to the Government coming forward with a State guarantee in order to settle the mining dispute, four of the miners at Huntly accepted the conditions of their employers, underwent the medical examination required and went back to work. In doing SO' they took a step which was in accordance with the law of the land, with their own rights of personal liberty, and with the expressed wish of the Premier of the Dominion. However, their action did not meet with the approval of their fellowworkers, and now that the Government has made".a tremendous concession in order to satisfy the workers, they turn round and say in effect: “Yes, the terms are satisfactory; we have been offered conditions of employment that are also satisfactory, but wo will, nevertheless, not go back to work until the four who went

back before are disrated in their employment.” Naturally the mineowners object to penalise the lour, men whose only fault is that they complied with the law of the country as embodied in the amendment to the Workers’ Compensation c Act that was passed last session. Wherefore .300 minors are out *on strike, and arc spending their time in persecuting the. unhappy four. We are told that the Town .Band plays the “Dead March” in front of their residences, and that processions, obviously uncomplimentary, eecort them to and from their work? There is said to have been no active molestation as ye ! , but one has only to imagine the For lings', of the wives and the children o, those men subjected to public attention of such a nature to realise how -acute must be the sufferings o! those who are being visited by such brutal and callous treatment. It certainly seems as though the arm of justice is weak if it cannot step in and prevent the unjust persecution of these men and their families. True, they have had a disagreement with their fellow-workers,; but still they have rights as citizens, and it is simply monstrous that organised insults towards them should be permitted. Then comes the calm announcement of the president-of the union, who “anticipates no violence unless drafts of police appear.” In other words, stone throwing and personal violence will probably not occur so long as the miners are permitted to continue their refined torture of those .whom they wrongly term “blacklegs,” but if any attempt is made to give- the four the protection which they are entitled to as ordinary citizens, then direct violence may be expected. This roads perilously like a veiled challenge to the Justice Department and a defiance of the country’s laws. The position is at once critical and dangerous; and unless the miners can he induced to take a more reasonable view than seems likely at present, the consequences may bo more serious than anything which has occurred in New Zealand for manv vears.