THE DENSHAWI INCIDENT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 82, 31 December 1907, Page 6

THE DENSHAWI INCIDENT.

■ ■ Sir,;-Sqmo. two • months sincej when we were informed by cablegram. that ■ Lord Cole•Hdge,. Dr. Clifford, and others, demanded the release (immediately) of' the 'prisoners connected -with" tlie'Deiishawi' incident, I ; wrote to j'ou.. That, letter' you not'.publish or extend the usual, literary-courtesy of acknowledging its. receipt. At. the. time-1 thought that, tor' policy sake, arid 1 ;for fear of raising V''newspaper controversy "fori- th'e' ; ; \s'core ' of •"patriotism-"—that ..magic l ''.frard' that sent Dreyfus to the " Isle de/Didble.'.' and .rushed. u'si jiito an' unjustifiable,'wa;r : '-'with -South Africa—you : might 'decline :to •''publish it. And howy in Saturday's issue,' December 23, you publish a garbled-Statement from Otaki signed "Anglo-Egyptian-." ' The stateraonts as given by him are totally at variance with the evidence given at the Coroner's inquest, and .presided over by an Englishman .as Coroner—evidence on oath, tendered-by- both:-Europeans., and natives— the result being that the verdict returned was. apoplexy,'-, accelerated- by sunstroke. That verdict did not satisfy the-military authorities' in Egypt, and a court-martial was instituted, and .the . wholo.. of the prUonbi s_«oro-foiin<l-guilty ;-fourwei 6 -'-seritonced to bo hanged, eight sentenced to the cat-o'-nine-tails: and. flogged under- the gallows, whilst above them their countrymen were dangling in the throes of death. The rest were sentenced to 20 years and life. And all for what? To.establish British military despotism in Africa., .;:--. If tho statements of.your Otaki correspondent are correct, it is strange it should have drawn forth in the House of Commons language of .horror,and indignation, aud that . tho. most eminent men in' England should ' have condemned tho: EgyptiaT'autharitios-.in the'-strongest possiblo language.—l.am,'etc.,' A. DRURY. Dannevirke, December 30/1907. i fOur correspondent should'really wake up. The salient part of his letter—as far-as it could be deciph,ered—\vas .published ■ on-De-comber. 26, in/conjunction':.' with' ; ;tho-.'.first cablegram .which wo. haW. received dealing with;the Dehsliawi" incident:' since his letter reached us. The-Otaki' le'tt.et.'iie.'refers to', was:, in. fact,, a "reply .'t'o; tiisv owp' : ' letter. -. \)'6 publish his present letteif.in ;'f nil—thougti.it in part repeats his. first, oner^as'showiug-how easily a false cbargo mayaHse,]A ;..Y: -.','..,. ; THE, AND JrrsIPOLICY. '■' Si.r.—Thoro.will be-air,enthusiastio"'ring".of: gratitude to -our:' Labour ileade'rs -far 'the statesmanlike policy' enunciated ■: at'-'Ctirjst-clnirch. recently, and "EatilJ.-tn 1 .-.will be suffering ■ intonse- anguish, : if -i not indcccl- in 'a state of collapse, after-considering-tho'prac-tical, and. intelligent knowledge.ftf the social and .'economic condition's' of the: Dominion displayed by the • valiant champions of'- the Labour Lcagiio at their- annual conference. It .will come as a. happy 'relief to a population at present working overtime to know that the Labour- League, is- dosirous'<Sf increasing ,tho avenues- of- employment by theestablishment- of State' employment will bo found ior all.-Unfortii-natoly, the original proposition .'was- amended by deleting "close- to"industrial centres'.-'-This'alteration may prove fatal:'to the, success of the-scheme, are'fairly fully employed during the day: it wouM lid necessary to work the. farm at overtime rates, during the.night, and a location near'largo centres of population would ; assist towards this desirable result* -Mr. JTregear might also be asked to suppress :th'e of-lato Iroouontly reiterated deuwiul for workmen. .Ho is supposed to be not jiinkindly disposed towards the "cause," and-sorely he will not bo so lacking in its leaders as. to perform, his .official duties and call for h.bour when. it is the duty of every true Labour Leaguer to seo visions, of. tho unemployed—as distinguishable from'- tho unemployable. It is true somotof'us have bad knowledge of unemployed;.;difficulties: But ' these 1 , were not the genuine all wool Labour League unemployed. In the-cases within the writer's knowledgo all .have been settled by the Government's offer; of; decent hard graft under better conditions I .'than, wore offered to myself in a day. of'distress. This settled the: difficulty, • and. mostly.' all soon found something easier. However, this is too simple a sclieme for an; august .body like tho Labour League. Another . proposal .which -will. commend itself,, on broad reflection,, as n marvel of statesmanlike ingenuity is tho suggestion to incroase the powers of the Arbitration in tho -direction of regulating rent, interest, and profit. It is the peculiarly, subtle, wisdom of our Labour .-leaders ttfono which could seo the advisability .of enormously in-: creasing tho powors of a Court, in • which,' by the tone of the debate, it has no confidence. Of course, the constitutional, .aspect of the question was-not" considered;; such a small matter being comparatively... unimportant. It will readily bo conceded, that .the people of tho colony as- n whole will have no objection, to handing many of, the-functions and-, the most important powers; of general government over, to three gehtlemep who intheir elective capacity represent about onr> tenth, if that proportion, of our population. It would be in keeping'.with the.democratic ideas of, government' frequently. oKhibited by a few of the self-styled Wellington Labour, leaders.:'if w& ■wcr.Oi to., break down the bulwarks of-civil and .political liberty,- the fruit'of' centuries of endeavours and experience, and adopt the system of; control-so', well and truly modelled by. tho Wellington Trades CouncU, as. exemplified in its frequent up? nnnrancp.l' ia .'. ■''. \. .i . ;...-,.

..Generally spunking; the* latest outburst of conference seems to have set. itself out'-to" be a novelty show of'no'iin'comriion order,, and has'achiove.d its-objeot-with ca'sp.>. It js>srifch regret: .that many., of/tliose; noil-progressive Labour-men who cannot accept political dogmas; whether labelled Capitalism or Socialism, , will .find .their, practical 'interests' overlooked..- Great satisfaction,-however, will rip doubt be experienced by'■those present iii.t-b's-*i knowledge that 'some'of their proposals may bo seriously considered by. thqgeneraFbody of the. public'about a century hcii'ce or thereabouts.— I am, etc., ■ ■ LABOUR. FOLLOWER,. December 3D, .1907.