Page:The Fremantle Wharf Crisis of 1919.djvu/8

 of pillaging, whilst using every opportunity of accusing the lumpers. Referring to a case of assault, supposed to have been committed by lumpers against Nationalists, Mr. Renton said:
 * "Eight of our men were arrested on a charge of assault and brought before the Court. At the time of the assault none of them were near the scene, some of them being home in bed.  Each case was won by the Lumpers’ Union; yet, in the meantime, these men were pre-judged by the committee managing affairs on the wharf so far as labor is concerned, were suspended until the trials were concluded, and deprived from earning their living at their usual calling as lumpers on the wharf.  Before trial in the Court they were tried by this committee, without a hearing, condemned and suspended."

THE BREAKING POINT.

Here, then, were all the ingredients for revolt. No self-respecting body of men could be expected to submit to such studied oppression. The breaking point came on April 12, when the members of what had become the National Waterside Workers’ Union &mdash; it was registered as such on October 20, 1917 &mdash; decided, in defiance of an understanding arrived at the previous day, to work the influenza-stricken interstate liner Dimboola before her period of quarantine had expired. The lumpers decided to prevent them placing the lives of the people of the State in jeopardy. That morning, when a few of the "blacklegs" attempted to proceed to the Dimboola, lying in the stream, they were directed by the lumpers to leave the wharf. They did. That was the end of the National Waterside Workers. Their connection with the wharf terminated from that hour.

The next day was a Sunday, and no work was done, but on Monday morning, April 14, the lumpers again refused to let the small body of "blacklegs" who reported for work set foot upon the wharves. During Sunday police reinforcements were despatched to Fremantle, and it was evident from the conduct of two of the employers on the following morning that they were prepared to immediately employ force in order to allow the "blacklegs" to return. The lumpers did not subject any of them to personal violence of any description; they simply gathered round and prevented them from being employed upon work which they believed might involve the State in an epidemic of disease such as had not been known before. At no time did the lumpers refuse to work; but that day, finding that