Mr. Bromley, in fact, ordered a strike in order to
try tai settle -matters which were outside- the reference to the Wages Tribunal. The companies made an offer that if the policy of a strike were abandoned they would confer with the two railwaymen's unions in order to find a remedy for the cases- of special hardship which had been mentioned by Mr. Bromley. They also promised that there should .be. no dismissals It was on these cases of special. hardship that Mr. Bromley. founded most of his speeches. We are quite prepared to believe that many of them could be substantiated, but if that be so the offer of the companies- was reasonable and removed all justifi- cation for a strike. Mr. Bromley has done an injury, not only to the community, but to his own political party, whose earnest counsels .of moderation and reason have been _stubbornly rejected. The public has jumped to the conclusion, and as a result is naturally in a very angry mood, that it has been sacrificed either to the personal rivalry between Mr. J. H. Thomas, of the N.U.R., and Mr. Bromley, of the A.S.L.E. and F., or at all events, to the rivalry. between these two unions. It is believed that if the railwaymen were organized as the miners are organized, there would have been no strike. This is, of . caurse, not the whole of the truth, but it is a considerable part of it.
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