2110-2-11-4

Editorial Department

Transvaal Leader, Harrison Street, Johannesburg, Jan 16th 1914

My dear John

This distressful country is once more in the throes of a strike which seems to be creating some excitement in England. I suppose it is the biggest thing of the kind in the syndicated line yet attempted. Practically every trade went on strike simultaneously. It is now practically over, thanks to the energetic measures taken by the Govt.. I suppose they thought that, having muddled the last one so badly, it was up to them to show that they could handle this one successfully. And they did it thoroughly too. The mobilisation of the Defence Force was a record for speed and efficiency, and our Syndicalist friends got the biggest surprise of their lives. They are now all safely locked up and not likely to

trouble the country again for some time to come. One must admit that when it comes to action this Botha government is marvellously efficient. It is in administration and legislation that they are so hopeless. This should teach them a lesson however

I was present at the dramatic scene at the Trades Hall yesterday when they captured the Federation leaders and their bodyguard. It was wonderfully stage managed. The most picturesque feature was the company of burghers under General de la Rey. They looked as if they had come straight in from the veldt with their dirty old patched trousers and shaggy beards. The irate Scotchman who was standing close by said to me in a broad south country accent - "They're a dirty lot o' buggers thae burghers

Just fancy them comin' in to put down us Britishers". For a time I thought that there would be trouble. There was no response from those inside to the first demand to surrender and a six-pounder gun was trained on to the first floor window, the Troops standing by with their rifles at full cock. Then just a few minutes before the time limit they filed out and were immediately surrounded and marched off to Marshall Square. This broke the back of the strike and to day both on the mines and the railways they are tumbling over each other to get back to work. Our men came back today looking very dejected; and most of them have been taken back. The first night they went out we thought we were done for but we raised a scratch team composed of the works manager the foreman

and two apprentices and got out a four page rag which however contained the principal news. The Mail did not risk it. Last night we did the same and tonight we have the full complement working. The advantage of martial law is that no comments are allowed so I am saved the trouble of writing leaders. I expect the whole thing will be over by tomorrow. It is a fine example of how a strong government, backed by the public can crush any Syndicalist movement however widespread with consummate ease. Had the same measures been adopted last time we would have been saved a lot of trouble. I only hope the Govt. will not overdo it. The burghers seem to have run amuck at Germiston last night when they swept the town and arrested 800 quite

innocent people some of them members of the Provincial Council. They were of course promptly released on orders from Pretoria, but it has raised a lot of public feeling and it would not do to repeat the blunder. They must have captured all the hooligans in Johannesburg for there were no less than 200 up at the Magistrates Courts this morning for being out at night without passes, and 200 miners were roped in at Benoni last night - the same crowd that made the place a hell in July last. Dynamite explosions are of nightly occurrence most of them due to the anxiety of those who are in possession of dynamite to get rid of it as quickly as possible. The death penalty by military tribunal is a wonderful incentive.

You would see that our friend Maitland Park got his knighthood