126 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



April 1. 1913. 



than the balance of the 96 hours in 

 the succeeding week; the weekly pay 

 to be the same as was previously paid 

 for a 60-hour week. The strike em- 

 phasised the necessity for the North 

 Shore bridge, a political bunch of 

 carrots which has been dangled be- 

 fore the electors from the days of Sir 

 Henry Parkes, and a theme in which 

 pantomime comedians have grown 

 white- whiskered in humorously ex- 

 ploiting. 



Strikes and Rumours of Strikes. 



The Sydney public have been hav- 

 ing their fill of industrial warfare dur- 

 ing Lent, and the air is still thick with 

 dust. Following on the gas strike, the 

 South Coast miners are out on strike 

 at the time of writing, and the omin- 

 ous black clouds of a general strike 

 are slowly rising on the horizon. The 

 real cause of the strike is said to be 

 an apprehension on the part of the men 

 that the mine proprietors are adopt- 

 ing a policy of freely using their legal 

 powers of dismissal in an arDicrary 

 manner, and it is contended that if 

 this should be suffered no employee 

 would be safe m protesting against 

 any act of the management which 

 might be considered unjust or unfair. 

 The particular instance which the em- 

 ployees have in mind, of course, is the 

 Russell case. As the strike stands 

 many men are idle, and huge sums 

 are being lost in wages. The bakers 

 in their turn have given uneasiness to 

 the public mind, and during Easter 

 week it looked as though a bread 

 famine might be precipitated. How- 

 ever, a conference of the parties took 

 a reasonable view of things, and the 

 casus belli was removed. Apart al- 

 together from the points at issue which 

 have induced recent strikes, the ser- 

 ious aspect, as Mr. Wade, the leader 

 of the State Opposition, has empha- 

 sised, is the reckless and irresponsible 



manner in which the principles of ar- 

 bitration are being ignored. It is not 

 a question of grievances, but of prin- 

 ciple. The Arbitration Act has been 

 reduced to a farce, or proved to be 

 unworkable, whichever \-iew one may 

 care to take. Recent happenings have 

 disclosed the unhappy situation that 

 the Arbitration Court has no ef&cacy 

 in preventing strikes unless its award 

 happens to be wholly in favour of the 

 would-be strikers. 



The Blue Mountains' Centenary. 



Xext month, May 2^, will witness 

 the interesting centenary celebrations 

 connected with the hrst crossing of 

 the Blue Mountains. One of the chief 

 events will be the unveiling of the 

 memorial to the three explorers, B'ax- 

 land, Wentworth, and Lawson, on the 

 summit of Mount York, which was first 

 discovered by them on May 28, 181 3. 

 The Centenary- Celebration Committee 

 are at this early stage bewailing the 

 proclivities of the vandal, and proclaim- 

 ing the danger this monument is in 

 of being disfigured by the scratching 

 on, or painting of initials by visitors. 

 Already the shelter shed on the sum- 

 mit has been daubed over inside with 

 yellow paint, even to the seats, but as 

 the " artist " in this instance has chosen 

 to record his name in the same dis- 

 figuring material, an effort is being 

 made to locate him, with a view to 

 prosecution. Wtien the pa\-ilion shall 

 have been completed a notice will ap- 

 peal to the public to assist in the pre- 

 servation of the monument. If that 

 request should not be heeded steps 

 will be taken to exclude visitors from 

 the enclosure wherein the memorial 

 will be erected. 



New Zealand Finances, 



The British Empire Trade Commis- 

 sion visited Xew Zealand and secured 

 some verv valuable evidence there. It 



