Evening Post. THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1911. SIX AND HALF-A-DOZEN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 92, 20 April 1911, Page 6

Evening Post. THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1911. SIX AND HALF-A-DOZEN.

"That the Government be requested to bring down a Minimum Wage Bill, euch minimum to be le 3d an hour/ is one of the resolutions adopted by the Trades Councils' Conference at Chrietchurch. This is a fair sample of the crop, which contains more than an average quantity of sorrel and ragwort this year Ignoianoe of rudimentary economics in general' and the monetary system in particular, and the blind enthusiaem. which sees no obstacle to bread and games without the suspicion of sweat of brow, have emanated in generous measure from Christchurch. "The "capitalistic Press Association" has been ii conscientious recorder. The telega'ams have run to length, and it is not the association's fault that most of the matter has neither depth nor breadth. Really the full reporting is more a cruelty than a kindness to the utterers" of absurd crudities, though the association's representative -obviously worked faithfully to give the conference a fair hearing. The conference has put iteelf quite out of court as an assembly with any title to have some of ite principal decisions seriously criticised. We are glad for the sake of New Zealand Labour, as distinct from ■ tho protean, shadowy New Zealand Labour Party, that the conference is not thoroughly representative of the general body of Labour. The unionists represented at . Christchurch are not 1 a majority of this country's workers. ] Probably much of the nonsense from Christchurch amuses sensible workers as much as employers. The orders paper contained remits that concerned unionists' welfare on reasonable lines,, but instead of giving the best of ite energy to sound work on things practicable the delegates have preferred to dally with vain and vapid ideals. It is email wonder that the groat majority of New Zealand's workers stand aloof from the Trades Councils. Some of the alleged leaders talking at Christchurch sadly need a course of the continuation classes which they are advising for apprentices. Long years ago a Trades- Council Conference was a gathering of men of com-mon-sense, who busied themselves with plain things of the workaday world instead of lurid visions of an elusive El Dorado. The 'standard of intelligence 1 at these assemblies has palpably deteriorated. This can be regretted for the sake of all New Zealandere as well as the workers,' ( If it was worth the space we could go through the debates from the beginning and plainly indicate the heavy proportion of futility and stupidity. However, on the principle that good wine needs no bush, we leave our readers to take their own merrymaking* draughts from the reports. It is sufficient today to point to Mr. W. T. Young's 1 protest against "a string of inconsequential objects of a wishy-washy cha- , racter." Mr. foung is not a Tory in disguise. He is not a secret supporter of the Lords' power of veto. When , his turn comes Mr. Young can do his 1 fair share at the handle of the millennium mangle, but even Mr. Young's capacity for the ordering of miracles has its limitations. With the prospect of another conference vritJi the straight-out-ultra-Socialist Federation of Labour (the Semple brand — "none genuine without the signature") the Trades Coun- I cillors were in. a mood to do a reverential march past the Red flag. One- remit urged the old formula, "Socialisation of the means ot production, distribution, and exchange." Mr. D. M'Laren substituted the same thing, under a slightly different name, as an amendment, which, was carried by 12 votes to 6. The essence of the amendment is "public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange." Mr. M'Laren and his friends disingenuously think that "public ownership" doesnot scare so much as "socialisation." The only difference is that "public ownership" is better English, than the truly ugly "socialisation,". The mean-

ing is the same, from the Trades Councils' viewpoint. The delegates who agreed to that amendment and others of the same dreamy character are just as Red in their Socialism as any of Mr. Semple's followers, but are either too subtle or too timid to openly wear the crimson badge. The conference stands naked by the Red flag, and it needs only Mt. Semplo's hands to enfold the convert in the ruby bunting.