The Ulster Railway Strike The railwaymen of Northern Ireland, who
struck on Monday rather than agree to the reduction of wages de- termined by the Wages Board, have set the two Irish Governments a pretty problem. For the Great Northern Railway, the principal line affected, connects Belfast and Dublin, and 3,000 out of its 8,000 employees live in the Free State. Mr. de Valera has made a temporary grant to the employees of the Great Southern Railway, which is wholly within the Free State, so that for some months they will not be affected by the Wages Board's decision. But he has done nothing as yet for the Free State men of the Great Northern Railway, and the Government of Northern Ireland shows no anxiety to co-operate with Mr. de Valera in a railway subsidy or anything else. Trade depression, accentuated by the Free State's high tariff policy, and the increase of road traffic have landed all the Irish railways in grave diffi- culties, and it is hard to see how even a reduction of the modest wages now paid can bring them much relief. Unhappily the stoppage has already been marked by one dastardly outrage. * *
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