NEWS AND VIEWS
Maoriland Worker, Volume 8, Issue 325, 16 May 1917, Page 1
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NEWS AND VIEWS
The following comparison of British fevod prices is of interest. The steadily rising tendency will be noted: For-first For earn© For. week of v.eek Jan 18, war. 191 G. 1917. s. d. 6. d. s. d. Flour 1 7 ... 2 9 ... 3 0 iJutter , 1 7 ... 2 0 ... 2 .4 Potatoes ... 5 0 - 10 0 ••• 15 9 Cheeso 0 10 ... 1 2| ... 1 6 l.>c a 12 0 ... 21 0 ... 23 i Sugar 0 21... 0 5j ... 0 5} LJaoou , 1 01 - 10-10 Lard 0 '•> - 1 0 ... 1 2 The above prices are taken from tho carefully compiled report of a Co-operative manager in the Manchester district. Aylmer Rose, ex-Organising Secretary of the N.-C.F., Editor of the "Tribunal," and Assistant-Editor of tho "Ploughshare," was court-martialled at Guildlord in January. In the course of his statement he emphasised an aspect of the C.O.s relation to the authorities. Ho said: "I am to-day in some sort the accuser. I have stated in many ways at at many times that war, which is your profession, is in my view a crime against humanity and God, and I am being tried for so accusing you. . . I must endure in silence whatever sentence this court elects to inflict upon mc, in accordance with the laws and regulations governing such cases, bu'j it "will remain for somo higher revising tribunal of posterity to determine whether the gospel of peace, human brotherhood, and religious liberty is not a truer one than Ifliat of destruction, compulsion and brute force." Roderick Clarke, a prominent Croydon Quaker, was courtmartialled in
January. lie pleaded as a Christian ho could hot reconcile participation in i wiir with the teaching and example of I ClirLst. . . . nor could ho accept so; called work of national importance under the Pclham Committee, because I he could not feel it right at this crisis to abandon several committees , upon which he was in a, position of j responsibility. To Jo to would bo a; botirayal not only of the 3,000 C.O/s ! in prison, but also of the cause for which Pacifists stand. "When we see, i as we believe, all Europe in conflag, ration and all the • nations pouring oil on the flames, we cannot stand aside. Any conscience worthy of the name must be not merely a negative veto, but a positive enjoining action/ Speaking at Waterford, in January, : Mr. T. Richardson, M.P., said: "The British pah-ous of peace by negociation ; had been told that they had not offered j any criticism against German barbarij ties. They ware as much opposed to I Prussiauism and militarisjn as any sec] tion of the community," he said, "and, i further, they were just as determined i to figh-t them in their own country as- J. in Germany/ ■'.'• ■''■ •'.: :';. Speaking- in Dublin not long ago, Rev. Father Kelleher preached the doctrine ; of class-consciousness to an audience of j men. He said, inter alia: "I should be the last in the world to recommend you k> organise as a class IP OTHER CLASSES WERE NOT ALREADY OR! UANISED AGAINST YOU, and if it were otherwise possible for you to attain to your rightful position as citizens. But as things are, I believe you would be arrant fools not to do so. It is not your fault that the community is run on blatantly individualistic lines.
That ha 3 been settled by thoso who regard themselves as your superiors, and who are vow co ready to turn up their'eyes iv holy horror because you do not seem inclined to sink all your interests for the public good whilo they devote themselves to appropriating as much of that public good as ever thoy can." Father Kelleher further urged that since the atmosphere of tho modern Parliament! is poisonous to , tho devotion, self-sacrifice, and single-mindedncss that are essential to a successful Labor Party, tho working men should take good care to control their jwlitical representatives instead of allowing the politicians to control them. It is not yot clear io us what thi3 marvellous National Service minimum wage of 255. in egriciitire means. Nor does it appear to bo clear to Director- General Chamberlain himself, as was apparent from the way he answered a question put io him at bis Glasgow meeting. Does 'the 25a, include board and lodging, or doeslt not. To-day farm laborers are hiring themselves, not at 255., but at from 325. to 41s. plus-board and lodging. Mr. Chamberlain retorts that there is to lw a separation allowance of 17s. 6d. Yes, but this separation allowance is to cover the living expenses of the wifo and family at homo (which, by tho way, it won't do!), and the question is si ill unanswered: Does the 255. wage include board and lodging-? Sir Robert Winfrey seems con' vincod that the board and- lodging have to be deducted from Uhe 25s.—Glasgow "Forward." One H. D. Armstrong, of Stonehead or some other old place up Auckland way, writes to the Wellington "Dominion" to suggest that, since "fines and imprisonments are failures," etc., an Act should be passed providing for tho deportation of the president,/ secretary, and treasurer every time a union went on strike. The enactment of a provision of that kind would mean an epidemic of strikes and a wild rush for the official vacancies as' often as they occurred.
