TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 86, 11 April 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Ministers and ex-Minieters of the Crown had honeyed words for Labour's Labour at a social gathLove Lost? ering last night, and the end of it all was that Professor Milk, organiser 'of the "Unity scheme," gently treated the distinguished visitors to a few sips of vinegar. He declared that a liberalLabour party was not possible, and that the workers were determined to have a United Labour party (a n<iw name coined since the favourable reception of the Unity, proposals at the large conference here). Mr. M'Laren and other leaders of the party have been persistently urging that Labour* hone in the political sphere lies in independence, . and for better or worse the party seems resolved to struggle for a supremacy which must involve the opposition of moderate Liberal* if Labour adheres to ita present programme. The United Labour party hopes to win the support of the " middle class," which is now firmly hostile to such extremists as figure in the oocialiat Federation of Labour. The federation's president, Mr. Webb, remarked yesterday, after denouncing the Arbitration Act, that " no freedom would cope to the workers by toadying to the middle class. '. . . The middle class, as a class, had never taken the side of the workers. . . . Organising for any other purpose than Socialism was of no use, and it was waste of time worrying as to whether it was revolutionary or not." Mr. Webb's reference to the " middle class" i 6 nob justified by history. The sympathetic support of the " middle class" has largely helped Labour to advance to a position of strength. By present signs tho United Labour party, which has the good fortune to possess a number of thoughtful, cautious headmen, will not be leagued with the Federation of Labour. The contemplation of the forces revolving in the political and industrial fields at present can well give a giddiness to the public. The country is distinctly in for a period of party-making, marking the beginning of a new cycle in politics. Attacks which various unionists have bitterly made on Mr. Malignant Juotice Sim, President Foolishness, of the Arbitration Court, culminated in a Canterbury remit moved at the Trades Conference yesterday. The language of the motion was such an offence against fairness and good tasto that The Post did not' print it verbatim. In effect, the Judge was awiue-ed of deliberate,, cold-blooded cruelty to Labour advocates. We are glad that the maligned Judge found some stalwart defenders at the conference, and the hob-nailed motion from Canterbury was defeated on the chairman's caeting-vote. By this act tho chairman just warded the conference off a course which would have brought it into disgrace with all fair-minded sections of the public. If a Labour union or a group of unions has a grievance against a, Judge, who is debarred from replying in public, that union or group should at least have tho fairness to pufc its complaint in temperate language. Wild attacks on the judiciary by disappointed litigants can cerve no good purpose. It 10 vain for unionist* to hope

to gain the sympathy of the public by a blatant, vulgar condemnation of a Judge, whose difficult duties place him in an unenviable position. Somo of the critics of Mr. Justice Sim wish to leave him no alternative in Labour disputes. Either he must sum up in favour of tho uuionist*. , regardless of the evidence concerning the state of an industry, or he must bo prepared for a campaign of gross abuse. There are two 6id<?» to every case, and ari impartial Judge must consider both. According to some unionists, there is only one side to a case, and that is Labour's eid'e. If the dcmand_s are not granted in full, or nearly in full, this is proof positive of " maladministration. 1 ' It may well be hoped, for Labour's own sake, that the wiiser members of the party will exert themselves to clear the vision and restrain the language of those whose biased outbursts injuro the whole party.