LABOUR AND COMMUNISM.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 232, 1 October 1925, Page 6

LABOUR AND COMMUNISM.

So far as the counting of heads is conclusive, the British Communists have sustained an overwhelming defeat at the Liverpool- conference of the Labour party. By a majority of more than five to one, in a total of over 3,000,000 votes, the conference refused to admit Communists, and defeated all attempts to get the question reconsidered. No doubt this is the most crushing reverse that the

'•Reds" have yet.sustained at Home, and in our opinion the country and the Labour party are both to be congratulated upon it. Not less satisfactory is the definite repudiation of violent revolutionary 'theories' and practices for which the chairman of the conference and some of the most distinguished Labour leaders present were responsible. As the "Daily Herald" has said, the conference reaffirmed its belief in the capacity of Democracy to achieve its economic ends by orderly, peaceful, and constitutional methods; and this decision, endorsed so emphatically by all the most influential personalities in the Labour movement, has at least the effect of letting the people of England and the world at large see plainly where British Labour now stands.

Yet while all this is eminently satisfactory, there is still room for apprehension and anxiety in regard to the insidious and subterranean activities of the Communists. Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, with characteristic acumen, went to the root of the matter when.he challenged the "Reds" to come into the open and propagate their opinions honestly outside the trade unions. But this would not suit the Communists. They know well that they are numerically a small minority without any large resources or powerful organisations to help them, and their best chance lies in the policy of working their way into the unions and spreading their doctrines and undermining the influence and authority of the moderates from within. This is the method recommended to revolutionary Communists throughout the world by

Trotsky and Zinovieff and other leading Bolsheviks, and it is being followed up just as assiduously in Britain as in Australia, where the "white-anting" of the unions by the "Rods" is now a plainly accomplished fact. And even if tho British unions succeed in keeping ihe Communists at arm's length so far as actual membership of the unions is concerned, there is always to be considered the danger involved in "class consciousness" and the sympathy that workers everywhere are inclined to feel, and display toward other wage-earners, no matter how much they may differ in the objects they aim at and the methods they employ. In Australia, and more especially in New South Wales, we havo recently seen the Labour party, while openly repudiating the "Reds." practically submitting to their guidance and lending itself to the revolutionary purposes that the "left-wingers'' always keep in view. Mr. Kiornan, a Victorian Labour leader, has just told London and the Empire that Australian- Labour i* sound and sane, and that Australian workers "have no time for the extremists." How, then, does it come about that Australian Labour allows itself to be dragged at the heels of Messrs Walsh and Johnson and Garden without protest -or complaint? In spite ot the Labour Conference, and a110w!,,----loc differences in circumstances, the same sort of question might be asked in Britain as well.

Reserved judgment was delivered by Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this morning in the case in which A. M. Bryden (Mr. Ennor) proceeded against C. J. Hastings (Mr. Goulding), claiming £35 as commission on the sale of a business. The magistrate said the question was not a difficult one. He thought the plaintiit had much to justify him in bringing the action but-it-seemed to him that plaintiff had to prove that an arrangement had been made. That had not been done, and he would therefore be nonsuited.

Heavy rain fell at Auckland yesterday afternoon and cargo work on the wharves was disorganised. As a result of the delay the Union steamer Kaiwarra was unable to sail for Newcastle and her departure was postponed until three o'clock this afternoon- The Whangape was also delayed and cannot now be dispatched for Newcastle before Saturday. A number of other vessels in port were also affected and their departures have been postponed. Heavy easterly weather on the coast has delayed shipping arid a number of small steamers and auxiliary vessels are behind schedule. The total rainfall yesterday afternoon amounted to .35 inches and the total fall for .the month ended midnight, amounted to 4.C0 inches. This figure is just one inch above the September average.

An accident happened yesterday afternoon at Onehunga. Mr. Ed. Brown was driving a two-seater motor car down Queen Street and was attempting to pass a stationary lorry on his left hand when he pulled out on to the tram line. It was raining at the time and the slippery condition of the tram rails caused his car to skid and run back, colliding with the motor lorry in the rear. The impact smashed the radiator of the motor car, broke the wind screen and the mud guard. Mr. Brown was cut about the face and was taken by Constable W. E. CPoll to a chemist's shop, where his injuries were dressed. Mr. Brown was able to take his car away afterwards.

Motor cyclists who proceed at high speed along streets in Christchurch making "hideous noises" came in for severe condemnation at the last meeting of the City Council. Councillor C. T. Aschman moved that tbe By-laws Committee be instructed to take steps to have the by-law relating to motor cycles strictly enforced. He said there were a number of high-powered motor cycles which were ridden along the streets at night making hideous noises. It was quite time the council took some action to deal with thes-; people. Councillor A. D. Ford, who seconded the motion, suggested that the inspectors should visit the garages and prosecute the owners of motor eye'es winch were not fitted with silencers. The motion was carried.

The centenary has just been celebrated at Vancouver City, Washington, of the establishment by' Dr. John McLoughlin of the first sawmill of the Pacific Greater West Country. In 1841 twenty men were employed at this mill, and a shipment of boards was sent on the brig Wave to the Sandwich Islands. Such was the beginning of the big lumber industry on the Pacific Coast. It was Dr. McLoughlin who named the Douglas Fir timber Oregon pine. He also had sent from his home in Canada in 1825 a bushel of spring wheat, a bushel of oats, a bushel of barley, a bushel of maize, and a quart of seed of Timothy grass, hi 1828 tho crop of wheat was large enough to stop the importation of flour. Dr. McLoughlin also introduced the first cattle, sheep, and pigs. He also built the first house in Oregon City.

Many tales of wonderment have been written about the extraordinary "homing" instinct of the domestic cat, and a Dunedin resident relates one that certainly shows that puss possesses a very remarkable facility of finding its way back to its human friends even after the lapse of many months. About fifteen months ago the cat was placed on board a steamer at Bluff, but, evidently finding life on the ocean wave not to its liking, it "deserted' the ship in Dunedin a few days afterwards. Nothing more was heard of the cat until a week ago, when, to the astonishment of a local household, which had shifted to Dunedin from Bluff throe months ago. the animal, with feline casualness, wandered back and was found stretched out on its favourite '«""' '", st deigning to bestow a few "mews" of welcome upon various members of the family.

Births registered in Auckland during last month numbered 2SS, exactly the same number as in September. 1024 ■ deaths were- 106, compared with 140• and marriages numbered 154, compared with IGS. The figures for the nine months of ]!)2.->. however, show a slight improvement when compared with the 1024 figures. From January to September this year the births have numbered 2543. an increase of 52 compared with the 1024 figures; deaths were 1316 an increase of 84; and marriages were 1522. an increase of 4. Tho siij-erintendpnt of the Klthain Fire Brigade confessed at. a meetino- of the board that he was in a quandary In the course of his business ns painter and decorator he had found matters which were dangerous from a fire point of view and contrary to the requirements of insurance companies. Should he report them? It he did ho was likely to become unpopular in connection with his business. All the comfort the board could givo was an assurance of its «vmpathy. Eight hundred tramoars wore brought to a standstill for half an hour at the rush-hour in Manchester one evening in August, by the failure of the electric current from Barton °-en- i orating station, and most of the normal business activity of tho city was also 1 paralysed. Electric light failed, and! many firms without private supply i power had their machinery stopped. Tramcars were affected on all routes,: and thousands of people were delayed in getting home from business. Many decided to walk. The Taranaki Rugby football team started from New Plymouth for Auckland by motor on Tuesday, but their ! car had a breakdown near Otorohanga ! in the afternoon and the players had to walk eight miles to catch tho .Main Trunk express in order that thoy might . reach Auckland in time to catch "the 1 train for Whangarei on Wednesday. ' To-day the team is playing North j Auckland, and it will return to play Auckland on Saturday. A witness in the Magistrate's Court j thi-s morning was rather obscure in her manner of explaining an accident, and | counsel, after a lengthy examination, i stated that that scorned as near as he I eouid get. The magistrate: That is so, but it's not very near. Those little automatic stamp-issuing machines which are to be found at the fieneral and Shortland Street Post Ofliees must have been working overtime during the time the fleet was at Auck- ' land. A tally of the pennies collected from the machines during the month shows the number to be 40,080, or £167. I