I had no time on the Saturday or Sunday to do any correspondence. On Saturday I had my County Council work to attend to, and on my return home I had my week's accounts to make up with my assistant, and on the Sunday I attended to my religious work, for I never neglected that for anything. But on the 16th inst. I wrote the following letter to the employers on behalf of the men:—

Dear Sir,

I am directed by the men in your employ who are members of the Labourers' Union to ask if you will consent to raise your men 1s. per week. Further, if you would be willing to so arrange the hours of work as to make it possible for their working week to finish at one o'clock on Saturday. They would also be glad if this arrangement could be made in time to commence on Saturday May 28th. I would be glad to receive a reply from you at the earliest possible moment.

Trusting that you will be willing to accede to the men's request, and, further, we would be glad to meet a number of the employers and discuss this matter and come to some reasonable arrangement, and thus prevent any dispute arising between you and your men with all the suffering and inconvenience that must inevitably follow.

Yours faithfully,
(Signed) George Edwards,
General Secretary.

I also wrote to the President of the Union, Mr. George Nicholls, M.P., also to Mr. Winfrey, M.P., the Treasurer, telling them I was sure some very serious trouble was taking place and that, although Mr. Day did not think so, I was strongly of opinion that the whole Executive ought to meet and deal with the matter at once. Unfortunately, Mr. Nicholls was not at home and the letter did not reach him in time to reply before May 20th. Mr. Winfrey after a day or two did reply and said he thought we on the spot could deal with the matter, and there was no doubt we should have to support the men. I received no reply from the employers.

On May 20th the special meeting of the branch was held at the King's Head, St. Faith's. The large club room was packed to overflowing. Unfortunately, only Mr. Day and myself turned up. My other two colleagues did not attend. Mr. George E. Hewitt again presided, and I reported that I had received no reply from the employers. The men at once became indignant at what they termed a great insult to them. I saw at once that all hopes for peace were over. I could not but confess that the employers had treated the men with scant courtesy. A very angry discussion arose and in the end the following resolution was passed:—

That we ask the committee for permission to give the employers a week's notice, and that, unless our demands are granted, we shall cease work on Friday.

Mr. Day and myself retired, and I again told him that I felt very strongly that the whole committee ought to be called together, as I felt this was too big a responsibility for us. He again objected and said I must not call the committee together, especially after the Treasurer had written and said the committee did not want to meet. I therefore decided to face the situation bravely, and we went back into the meeting and informed them we had decided to give them permission to hand their notices in. I then addressed the men and urged upon them to enter into this contest thoughtfully and seriously. Their claims were just and reasonable, and I was sure if they acted soberly and orderly they would have the public with them.

The question then arose as to what form the notice should take. I advised them to draw up what is known as a round robin and each man sign it. This was done and a notice was drawn up for each employer. It read thus:—

We the undersigned workmen of yours hereby give you notice that unless we receive 1s. per week rise of wage upon our present ordinary rate of wage on next pay day, also an agreement come to whereby our hours of labour be so arranged that our working week finish at one o'clock on Saturday, this notice will terminate on Friday May 28th.

Each man signed it and a notice was handed in to each employer on the Saturday morning May 21st. The employers received the notice as far as I could learn without comment and very little was said during the week. I at once took steps to grapple with the situation. I got a strike committee formed and got proper pay-sheets printed, which every man would be asked to sign at nine o'clock every morning at the club house. At the same time I intended to explore every avenue during the next few days before the final crash came to secure peace. On Monday morning May 23rd I received the following letter from Mr. J. T. Willis, Secretary of the Farmers' Federation.