952 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



December 1, 1913. 



The N.Z. Strike. 



The strike of waterside workers in 

 New Zealand has seriously damaged the 

 trade of the Dominion. The trouble 

 began with a few shipwrights, and 

 rapidly spread to the wharf-labourers in 

 Wellington, and later to the other New- 

 Zealand ports. An attempt to induce 

 other unions to join in a sympathetic 

 strike failed, and the waterside workers 

 themselves began to break away, joining 

 a new body called the Arbitration 

 Union. The wharves at Wellington are 

 again busy, and the strike has prac- 

 tically ceased. Before this happened, 

 however, special constables had to be 

 called in, and for weeks disorder 

 reigned. Apart from the actual damage 

 done to trade the cause of arbitration 

 and conciliation has received a severe 

 set-back before the world. That such 

 a thing could happen in New Zealand, 

 the leader in legislation to prevent in- 

 dustrial conflicts, will seriously hamper 

 similar efforts elsewhere. Unfortunate!)' 

 the defeat of the strikers in New Zea- 

 land has not ended the trouble. The 

 Australian Unions do not recognise the 

 new Arbitration Union, but have de- 

 cided to assist the old Watersiders' 

 Union by refusing to handle any New 

 Zealand cargo. This decision is against 

 the advice of their leaders, of whom Mr. 

 Hughes, M.H.R., is one. This has com- 

 pletely stopped trade between the Com- 

 monwealth and the Dominion. Thou- 

 sands of pounds' worth of goods are 

 lying on the wharves in Melbourne and 

 Sydney waiting shipment, and obviousl}- 

 shippers will suffer an immense loss. 



The Inspector-Generalship. 



Major-General Kirkpatrick leaves 

 Australia this month to take up a re- 

 sponsible post in India. During his 

 term as Inspector-General he has seen 

 the defence forces of Australia come 

 into being, and it is largely due to him 



that such rapid progress has been made. 

 Considerable controversy has taken 

 place over his successor. Should he be 

 an Australian or an Imperial officer? 

 The retiring Inspector-General put the 

 case for the latter most forcibly at the 

 Lord Mayor's banquet in Melbourne. 

 The agitation is not so much that an 

 Australian officer should be appointed 

 at once, but that the post should not be 

 closed to Australians. It certainly 

 ought to be open to local men — after 

 the\- had acquired the necessary experi- 

 ence. The rapid advance in military 

 science and evolution in tactics makes it 

 imperative that whoever is charged with 

 the supervision of our forces should 

 have had a wide experience in handling 

 troops, should have witnessed the 

 methods of European armies. In any 

 case the appointment should be for a 

 few years only, as it would not be pos- 

 sible to grant such an ofhcer long 

 enough leave of absence to enable him 

 to keep himself tru fait with militar)- 

 progress at home. To qualify himself 

 for the post an Australian would have 

 to spend many years away from the 

 Commonwealth gaining training and 

 experience at home, on the Continent or 

 in India. 



Federal Parliament. 



During November the Government 

 did what many of its supporters con- 

 sider it should have done earlier. It 

 forced through two bills, one restoring 

 the postal vote and the other denying 

 preference to Unionists. The two mea- 

 sures were sent up to the Senate, which 

 refused to consider them. The Labour 

 Senators declared that the Senate must 

 adjourn so long as the vote of censure 

 on the Government, moved in the House 

 of Representatives, remained undis- 

 cussed. Three words in the Constitution 

 save a deadlock. The clause therein 



