THOMAS ON MR. COOK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 26, 1 February 1926, Page 7

THOMAS ON MR. COOK.

COOK ON MR. THOMAS. SHARP "WORDS AS WEAPONS. lIXMATTNERED SCHOOLBOYS. (Bγ Cable.—Press Association.— Copyright.) LONDON", January 31. Mr. J. H. Thomas. M.P., president of the National Union of Raihvaymen, in a pungent letter published in the "DailyHerald," severely criticises the general secretary of the Miners' Federation, Mr. A. J. Cook. Mr. Thomas says: "'Like the majority of the members of the Labour movement I have long- ceased to treat Mr. Cook seriously. My only regret is that a great organisation like the Miners' Federation should, day by day, have its case ruined by his childish outbursts. "When Mr. Cook presumes to advise other unions to criticise the actions of the Railway-men's conference, he should remember that the great mass of trades unionists do not judge their leaders by frothy orations, but by the way they 'deliver the goods.' "I am quite content to allow a comparison to be made of my services to the raihvaymen with his services to the miners.'' SARCASM. Mr. Cook, in replying to Mr. Thomas' letter, says: '"I cannot claim to be an after-dinner speaker like Mr. Thomas. At the functions which he attends he is not a leader of fashion, but he does flaim to be a class-conscious fighter for the worker?. I shall accept instructions only from the class I represent. ' : The chief ambition of Mr. Thomas apparently is to be a leader of fashion at dinners jriven by the enemies of the working classes. That is not my ambition, and I thank Heaven I have made no speeches which would look well in the comic papers. ''I leave the miner?, not Mr. Thomas, to judge whether I am a fit and proper person to lead them. Mr. Thomas says I am no longer taken seriously by the majority of the mpn in the Labour movement. I am afraid he is out of touch with the movement.

"Mr. Thomas, together with the dukes and other noble lords, has long wished mc in a warm place. I hope I shall not gO X here. Mr. Thomas, commenting on Mr. Cook's letter in thp "Sunday Express," -ays: "My lettpr gave my opinion of Mr. Cook's qualities a? a leader. Mr. Cook's statements about ine do not matter." EDUCATED (7) A party of undergraduates vainly attpmptod to rush the Corn Exchange sit Oxford, in which Mr. Cook was making a ppppfh on the situation in the coal industry. They threw stones on the roof, smashed the windows, exploded fireworks and sang the National Anthem. Inside the building Mr. Cook said: '"Our miners could sing better than that lot. I am trying to prevent a crisis. \\> do not want the mines for the miiiprs. but for the nation. "The Government says it will form a strike-breaking organisation, but bayonet* cannot cut coal." While a decoy taxi-cab outside the door was surrounded by the undergraduates Mr. Cook left the hall by another exit. He crossed the road and I passed through a private house. There the chief constable joined him at the back door with another taxi-cab in which Mr. Cook was driven to the station unmolested.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.)