TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 56, 7 March 1914, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Hot in their haste which brings them to confusion, the Red Federals are occasion' ally " coo) " in their colossal effrontery.' If they have not th^ world's wealth for the world's strikers it is not ifor lack of orders to "stand .and deliver." The New Zealand "Revolutionists" may be Red Federals from one viewpoint and Social Democrats from another ; each organisation is a leg of the same Red body, but as the legs are not of the same length the body is at some disadvantage. The heads i have always scowled at "Evolutionists" such as those of the United Labour Party, and the ultra- ' Socialists have been lavish with contemptuous aspersions on the nonrevolutionists, at intervals. The assailants pause now and then to try the trickery of cajolery, and return to the abusive method when the soft speech has failed. The latest outburst against the United Labour Party was in the Reds' official organ last week. It was provoked by a manifesto which condemned the rough-and'tumble strike policy ot the Red Federation. "Of course," stated the official mouthpiece of the Social Democrats and the Red federals, " they (members of the United Labour Party's Executive} joined with every M'Snivelling Stiggins that came along to say his piece against Labour struggling to be free. Every black-hearted traitor to Labour was against the strikers. Every white-livered coward wa» against the strikers. And, in addition, every Tragic Comedian was against the strikers. . . . And, of course, the traitors, the cowards, and the Tragic Comedians rejoiced and were exceeding glad when their own foul work succeeded in various quarters, and some unionists were unwise enough to remain obediently at work— sorry enough to scab on their fellows. . . . The worst form of scatbery is the organised form. A stupendous responsibility rests on the shoulders of those who schemed and planned to perpe*iate it. True, they earned the eulogiums of the Employers' Federation. But what of the brand of Cain? " After this pleasant tribute to United Labour, the Reds (who have their own candidate) opened up a parley with that party about the Mayoral election. But the " Evolutionists," who were put into a very awkward position by th* "Revolutionists" before the July Congress of last year, are not now so easily lured on to slippery ground by the guileful strategists^ Once the Reds scoffed at compromise, but their heavy defeats in the big strikes of 1912 and 1913 have forced them to revise their estimates of their prowess. When they approached the /Labour Party this time the extreme Socialists suffered a solid set-back, thus : "Our party stands for a sane, constitutional Labour policy. We repudiate absolutely the visionary policy and destructive mpthods, both political and industrial, of your party, and any agree* ment _ between us is therefore out of the question." This was the answer which tiie sane leaders of Labour should have given four years ago. They lost much by vain visions of alliance between Evolution and Revolution, The effort of the operative butchers to starve out the Syd* ney public has evidently failed. It is the employees, and not the consumer, who feel the pinch most, and they have agreed to resume with a half-hour gain in the week's work, leaving other variations of the award to the adjudication of a Bftard of Appeal. There is also a promise not to strike again; and, on the other hand, it may be taken for granted that- the breach of the arbitration law will again go unpunished. Mr. Holman's eulogy of compulsory arbitration apparently does not go to the length of seeking out offenders and prosecuting them. It is much easier, when a. strikelias run its course, and a settlement has been reached by process of exhaustion, to let sleeping dogs lie. That attitude, however, only encourages all the other dogs to wake up and fight, Liko the ironworkers, the painters aa > e < making Mr. Justice Heydoii's new living wage, £2 8s a week, a ground for further demands, and the alternative mentioned is a strike. Prospect of finality to such disputes is small indeed. In yesterday's issue mention was made of the fact that the cheese export has now exceeded that of butter in quantity but not in value. Figures since obtainable— through the courtesy of the Director of the Dairy Produce Division of the Department of Agriculture — show that for the year ended 31st March last, the total value of cheese exported was very little below that of butter. The butter exported was 375,471cwt _ (18,773 tons), valued at £2,196,505, an increase over the preceding year of 9^ per cent, in quantity and of £140,257 in value. Cheese exported totalled 650,001cwt (32,500 tons), valued at £2,112.503, an increase of no loss than 26 (jer cent, in quantity and £351,779. in value. A yeur

The Reds and United Labour.

Cheese Catching up to Butter.

that saw an increase of 52,?65e\\t in butter ami 135,908c\vl in checso hau been followed by another good spring anil summer, and estimates made in the trade suggest that when the present season is complete cheese will lead in value as well as weight, and the total value of dairy ptoduce exported will bo in the neighbourhood of five millions sterling. Twenty years ago it was £366,483.