On Wednesday Mr. Lloyd George made a statement in the
Commons on the threatened railway strike. He said the duty of the Government to the public was perfectly clear. They would have to protect the railways, whatever the coat might be, as the whole food supply of the community depended on them. They would also do their best to protect the workmen and see that they got fair play in the matter of conciliation. He greatly regretted their threat to strike in 24, hours, as it was quite impossible for anyone to be able to negotiate with any sort of satisfaction in so short a time, and appealed to the men to put themselves right by complying with the general sense of the community and seeing that every method of conciliation was vain before resorting to other weapons. The Chancellor of the Exchequer also deprecated rash and premature charges against the military and police, who were reluctantly engaged in discharging a very obnoxious duty. Mr. Churchill read, with strong commendation, the report of the Chief Constable of Liverpool on Sunday's riot, and reaffirmed what Mr. Lloyd George had said as to the duty of the Government. In the Lords Lord Haldane referred to Tuesday's riots in Liverpool, and said that if violence of that kind—utterly unreasonable, turbulent violence—were repeated, the policy of the Government was to put it down and use all the force necessary for the purpose.
Previous page
