The employees of the Madras Tramways Company, about six-hundred in number, struck work this morning [August 28] and the cars have therefore not been running since then. Elsewhere [in this issue] will be found such particulars of the strike and the antecedent circumstances as our reporters have been able to obtain; it will be seen that the strikers have not been without just grievance in the matter of their work and emoluments. The stopping of the traffic has caused throughout the City considerable annoyance and inconvenience to the very large class of people using the tramcars, and higher, sometimes extortionate fares, are demanded by rickshah-wallahs, jutkawallahs and owners of hackney carriages. Mr. Powell, Manager of the company, appears to express surprise at the strike in the notice he has issued. This is extraordinary for during the last few days rumours of the impending trouble had been rife in the City and that Mr. Powell should not have heard of them seems to us to be unaccountable. It is regrettable that matters should have been pushed to the extreme and that a via media should not have been attempted by the authorities concerned. There has been undoubtedly keen discontent among the employees which it was the business of the company to have taken into timely consideration, and from all that we have ascertained, it was possible with due care and foresight to have prevented the present development. We trust that in view of the grave public inconvenience caused by the tramcars ceasing to run, the situation will be taken on hand at once and suitable measures, inspired by sympathy and insight, would be promptly taken. When a similar situation arose recently in Bombay, in the G.I.P. Workshop strike, H.E. Lord Willingdon intervened and brought about an amicable arrangement. Now that His Excellency Lord Pentland happens to be in the city, we hope that it will be possible for him to bring the strike to a speedy close to the satisfaction of all parties concerned.
