NEWS OF THE WEEK.
GERMANY is greatly moved by some formidable strikes. They began among the coalminers of Westphalia, but are extending to the collieries in Silesia, and also to other trades, and seriously impeding all the industries which depend on coal. The miners want more wages, and a repeal 'of the new rule under which their walk to the mine is not counted as part of their "eight hours' shift." The strikers are now more than a hundred thousand in number, and have had three collisions with the troops, resulting in each case in loss of life. The Government, however, wishes to mediate on the side of the men, and, to avoid these collisions, is replacing the troops by bodies of gendarmerie from other provinces. 'The Emperor received on Tuesday a deputation of miners, and while expressing sympathy with their condition, warned them not to resist the authorities, or to join the Socialist movement. "If you do," said the plain-speaking Hohenzollern, -"I shall shoot you down," an utterance modified in the official report into, "I shall employ the utmost severity of the law." The former version, which comes from the men themselves, is the more characteristic, and is probably true. It is believed in Germany that a compromise will be reached, the men practically confining themselves to shorter hours ; but up to Friday morning the end had not been reached, and the masters were contending that any concession must be preceded by a return to work. The men, it is to be noted, did not give the fortnight's notice contracted for, and are therefore legally in the wrong.
