LABOUR IN AUSTRALIA.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."I
Sin,—In connexion with the Industrial Courts Bill, the follow- ing letter from an Australian business man may .be of interest. I may say that this gentleman has been a consistent supporter of the Labour Party in Australia. He writes:— " We have now got rid of the influenza. All restrictions officially ended last week and emergency hospitals closed. But if we get rid of one trouble, another soon looms up. Strikes are of almost weekly occurrence, notwithstanding our Arbitra- tion Courts, which were specially instituted to deal with labour disputes, but which are simply ignored by the Trade Unions. Direct action is now the weapon; they make their demands, and, if these are not acceded to, down tools' is the result, and the other Unions support the strikers by sym- pathetic and practical help. At the present moment all the baking employees are 'out,' and the master bakers are fighting their hardest to meet the public demand for bread by doing the baking themselves. They have not yet been able to turn out sufficient loaves each day, but they are now very nearly doing so. Meanwhile every morning there are queues of people outside the bakers' shops clamouring for loaves, and many of them prepared to pay a premium to the lucky recipients. Chad and confusion still reign in many industries. I feel sorry we have still to buy much of our supplies from the United States and from Japan. I should like to see Britain again our stand-by for goods; but there are yet no signs of that coming about, for prices with you are at present soaring higher than ever. We have a Labour Party in power here, but the Labour Party seems to be completely mad."
—I am, Sir, &a., ROBERT M. WILSON.
Tillicoultry House, Tilliconftru.
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