Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/736

 714 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL becoming aware that the railway men, knowing that the Railway Commissioners were well prepared for a strike, would refuse to obey if they were ordered to go out. The attempted boycott of the Company continued for some time longer but was gradually dropped, as public attention was occupied with the strike which took place in September. An attempt was made by the Unions to pack the school committees at the election last April, but this utterly failed, the moderate Unionists, in some cases, stating at the election that they would have nothing to do with anything which might prejudice the education of their children. It should be noted that so far from there being any attempt at combination against the Unions on the part of employers, the bulk of them did their best to persuade the Company to accept the terms of the Unions, and that the result was not a decisive victory for the Unions was owing to the firmness of the managing director of the Company backed up by the shareholders. In this respect the victory won by the Com- pany is particularly interesting when compared with that of employers generally over the strike in September. Another point of interest to New Zealanders is the advantage gained by placing the railways under the control of a non-political board not responsible to the Government of the day. This was done by the appointment of Commissioners for five years under an Act passed in 1888. It is difficult to say what might have happened had political pressure been brought to bear upon the railway authorities at the time, in view of the fact that a general election took place at the end of last year. ' II It is not often that a struggle the result of which could under any circumstances only be loss to both parties, has been entered upon with so little reason as the strike in New Zealand last year. On looking back upon it, it is difficult to avoid the convic- tion that, so far from being brought about by an attempt on the part of capital to crush labour, exactly the reverse was the case. Not the least remarkable feature of the struggle, was the extra- ordinary want of generalship shown by the leaders of the labour party. In the first place, the trouble began in Australia, where labour alleged certain grievances, whether truly or not, we are not concerned with here. While this struggle was going on, it was plainly the policy of the labour party to help their brethren in Australia, and this could only be done by keeping their own hands