AMERICAN STRUGGLES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 260, 27 July 1908, Page 2

AMERICAN STRUGGLES.

. Sir,—ln the'-acco.unt.of/the iParliameutary debate published'-,in.The,Cominion of July •17, Mr. Laurenson,' M;P. for : Lyttelton,' is reported to have stated that .'"another reason for sympathy with America ivas her. struggle With problems of. colour, not wholly dissimilar from our own. She 'had a civil .War to' liberate the negroes, and her treatment of the Red Indians was as considerate as our treatment of the Maoris," and the. .ihove colossal inaccuracy ,was greeted with "hear, hear." After this remarkable declamation,.is further evidence necessary-that it is imperative that 'an Act be put-'" on the Statute Book" to provide for an education test'for aspirants to' Parliamentary honours? • There were certainly struggles in- America in connection with the colour problem, as Mr. Laurenson stated, and these struggles continue even now, witness the lynchings and burnings at the stake, likewise, the hunting by bloodhounds of negroes, and it; is .tho coloured person who does the struggling. But this is, not what the erudite Sir. Laurenson meant. As for . the Red Indian,', hardly any of him has been left to make a struggle;, for. Yankee "lead" has acounted for.f nearly, all of this, colour, who have .not crossed into Canada , for protection.; To ,'conipare -our treatment of , the' Maoris, .with that? of-the Americans of ■ their coloured people is outrageous, for is it not only recently that .President . Roosevelt caused great indignation throughout his country by inviting the Rev'.. Washington Booker, a coloured clergyman, to lunch. Such an outrageous thing had never been known before in the land of freedom but the.world knows how America treats the_ nigger.' .'; . . . Your educated readers will agree with. Mr. W ilford, ■ M.P., regarding 'the comiiig Americh.h. visit-that the reception is being ■ over-; done. The love that thfi- Americans have for our notion. crops - up-' cVery Presidential elecT tion,' when.' the partj;' Who';;- 11 twists -the lion's- tail," i.e.,'' insults' . the ■! great nation • from • - whence / 'the' ' 1 best - ' .of tjiem sprung is' sure' of >cflid_ support :V iii consequence. From, a' .business;level, L; " 110 doubt, the' visit of'the fleet 1 , will be a v pro'iitablo'ohe to Auckland,; and 'the'side-shows at Rotorua, but ..to make,,a '"mafficking' 1 of it will ",be very .undignified^;'.'^'-'Wq; should treat such a visit, as' 'merely, T .an ; exchange; of courtesies between'.twb gr^at'[i>eopl^—l am, ': July 17. •^,.;f:^; i gdVSLOWLY.