THE WAIKATO MINERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25021, 15 September 1942, Page 4

THE WAIKATO MINERS

By their decision to absent themselves from work yesterday morning, despite the result of the secret ballot last week, the miners at five of the Waikato collieries have put it beyond the power of the Minister of Mines to place the responsibility and the blame for the strike on the shoulders of “a few irresponsible wreckers. - ’ The miners in a body liave associated themselves with the “ wreckers.” In doing so they have defied their own organisation and the Federation of Labour. That is a curious circumstance, but it is of far greater significance and of disturbing import that they have defied the authority of the Government, in reliance, probably, on the fact that it is through a pusillanimous Minister of Mines that the authority of the Government, as it affects them, is exerted. Gravely regrettable though it is that the action of the miners reduces the output of coal by between 2500 and 3000 tons per day at a • time when there is a serious shortage of coal in the country and that the effect of it is to embarrass industry that is engaged on war service and to dislocate the railway system, the most serious aspect of it consists in the challenge which it " directs against the authority of the Government. They have been strongly urged by persons who might be expected to have influence with them to return to work and to allow the trivial matter that is in controversy to be settled in the manner for which their industrial agreement provides. Among those whose advice would ordinarily possess weight with them we do not include the Minister of Mines, tor it is reasonably plain that he does not command their respect. But Mr McLagan, Minister of Industrial Man-power, who has intervened in the dispute, was recently re-elected president of the United Mine Workers of New Zealand. Even his influence was obviously of no avail, and a further appeal by the Minister of Railways appears to liave fared no better. The failure particularly of Mr McLagan’s effort to per-

suadc the men to return to the, mines throws a strong light upon their recalcitrance. We have previously described their stoppage of work as comparable to sabotage, and we see no cause for qualifying the expression. It is, at the same time, a direct challenge to the authority of the Government. It is a challenge that cannot possibly be ignored if the prestige of the State is to be maintained. The Government. lias Hie widest possible powers for dealing with the untoward developments that have been witnessed. It should have no hesitation in asserting its authority.