We trust, if the men go back to work, that
the memory of the strike will not be allowed to die away, and the old system to be resumed. Whether the Dock Companies do the work, or a combination of, wharfingers, or a Syndicate of Shipowners, which seems to us the most reasonable project, casual labour should be done away with, or reduced to the narrowest dimen- sions. It is intolerable that the trade of this great city should be dependant on the content of thousands of casual labourers, under no discipline, wretchedly paid, taken on without refer- ence to character, and perpetually irritated by the waste of their only capital, their strength, involved in long daily wait- ing for work. A system under which vast crowds may spend half their time in expecting a chance of working during the other half is preposterously wasteful both of energy and temper, and must produce a class dangerous to commerce and the community. If the docks cannot pay retain- ing fees to their labourers, charges should be raised till they can, casual labour being in fact savage labour. It should not be forgotten .that if trade flies from London to Liverpool, Southampton, or Cardiff, the nation loses
nothing. Indeed, it may gain, for London grows unmanage- ably large, and attracts too large a number of the labourer% out of work.
