146 LABOUR IN MADRAS Tram-using public of Madras. It is surprising to me that for three weeks there has been a strike of such & character as we have witnessed, and that there has been practically no agitation from the public. The President has rightly said that in three days' time in England such a thing would be brought to an end by Government interference. Yes, because the Government knows that things will be made hot for them by the public if they do not interfere. It is surprising that for three weeks the people have gone on. I have many a time asked friends a question which I would like to ask this assembly : Is the Tramway Service an essential thing for the City of Madras or not? It seems to me it is not essential. For if it was essential, there would have been a strong agitation compelling the Tramway Company to take steps and to give some kind of service to the city, if they could not come to reasonable arrangements with their men. If you want the Tramway then you ought to speak out, or if in the interests of the city we find that we can go on without the Tramway service, then let us say so. Now I do not think in this 20th Century a town like Madras could afford to be without a Tramway service. Why should we, the public of Madras, put up with this kind of scandalous ineffici. ency on the part of the Tramway Company, this criminal lethargy on the part of the Corporation and the Government. If we have to blame the Government, if we have to blame the Corporation, to a certain extent I feel we have to blame ourselves. For I do not see that any great agitation is taking place either on the point of inconvenience to the public or on the point of suffering to the Tramwaymen.
