The Press. Monday, November 13, 1916. Helping the Enemy.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15746, 13 November 1916, Page 6

The Press. Monday, November 13, 1916. Helping the Enemy.

In another column wo .print a letter sent by the secretary of the United Federation of Labour to the Hon. Colonel Allen. asking "on of organised labour in New Zealand," that before the provisions of tho Military Service Act aro put into operation a ballot shall be taken ''for tho purpose of ascertain-, '■ ing whether the electors aro in favour " of the conscription of the manhood of " tho Dominion." Tho impudence of Mr Hiram Hunter speaking on behalf of "organised labour in Xew Zealand" is only surpassed by his fellow-obstruc-tionist, Mr McCombs, comparing himself (by implication) with President Lincoln. On a par with it is tho unblushing audacity of this demand on the part of a mere handful of citizens, and others who have done nothing to help tho Empire, that a ballot should bo taken before an Act of Parliament, earned with tho almost unanimous consent of both branches of Legislature, is brought into force. "Wo can a!;o say, without hesitation, that no action of "the Legislature lias mot with more gentral approval on the part of the people,

who in effect forced the Government to move in the matter.

Of course this letter is merely a device on the part of the ' Red Feds" to interpose delay in the supply of men at the time they are most urgently required, and if possible to introduce dissension among a people happily conspicuous for their united patriotism. T nder the original Constitution of the Federation of Labour, as was pointed out in "The Press" at the time, tho Executive was rrquired to report to "the International Secretariat at "Berlin. ' Wo presume that paragraph in the Constitution has now been deleted, but wo have no hesitation in saying that these obstructive tactics on tho part of the existing "Red Feds" will be as cordially approved at Berlin as they will be resented and condemned by every patriotic and law-abiding Britisher.

Such attempts to throw grit in the wheels of patriotic impulse are particularly open to reasurc at a time like the present, and especially in view of the cable messages printed in another part of this issue. What docs Mr Hiram Hunter think of the "conscription" which is now going oil in Belgium ?— of working men. aye, and working women, being forcibly deported to Germany to be put to slave labour there, because they will not do military work for the Germans in Belgium, even with starvation facing them as an alternative ? What does he say to their being shot down in the streets, or electrocuted as they attempt to escape across the frontier? What does he say to tho fiendish atrocities being perpetrated in Serbia and elsewhere —of healthy prisoners being deliberately mixed with diseased, and otljer steps taken with a view to exterminating those who will not submit to tho domination of tho Huns?

Our cable messages to-day also make it abundantly clcar that never "was the need of men more pressing than at tho present moment, if we are to win this war. Telegrams from the Western front show that the Germans arc making most desperate efforts for a final stand, and "now or never" must be our motto if we arc to crush them. The Mother Country has adopted conscription, and by a careful "combing-out" of all industries, shows her determination to put in tho field every fit man of fighting ago. Our gallant 2s ew Zcalanders in the trcnches have covered themselves with glory, but if they are not properly reinforced, they will simply bo wiped out. in tho wastago of war. And it is at such a moment as this that patriots of the Hiram Hunter and McOombs typo falsely pretend to be the mouthpieces of the working men of New Zealand, and bring forward any plarf which seems likely to cause delay in theso necessary reinforcements being enrolled. Wo tell them frankly that they and their pernicious activities are not wanted in New Zealand. They had better betake themselves to some more congenial company.