Series 01 Part 02: Hughes family correspondence, 3 April 1917-22 September 1918 - Page 179

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[Page 179]

5.

himself by appealing to Walter Long, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, after the way Long had condemned him unheard, at the instigation of Holman behind Strickland's back.

This reminds me that Holman is reported to be in the next American mailboat, now on his way to Sydney, & everyone is hoping that he won't come before the last remnants of the General Strike are dealt with by George Fuller. It is a curious thing that now every Nationalist appears to regret that Holman is coming back at all. A more tremendous smashing of the Labour Unions has never been known in Australia, & now the militant labour people are as meek as lambs, & are working alongside free labourers in mines & wharves, & everywhere else, & preference to unionists is for the time an empty cry.

Some of the wharf labourers are still on strike, but as for the rest, – tram guards, railway men, gas men, seamen, carters, & all the other dozens of classes who came out on stike – they are all meekly resuming work, & the trouble is nearly over. Of course it will spring up fiercely when the next election draws near, but that is two years off, & we are going to have something like two years' peace. The cry is now that the women & children of many of the 

 

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