TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 82, 7 April 1914, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Though many people have helped promptly to build up The Hutt a fund to maintain Relief Fund. dependents of men killed by the explosion at Upper Hutt, the sum subscribed is said to bo much below the figure needed for investment. The kindness of the people of Wellington and district in tho past is an assurance that, generosity will not now fall below reasonable expectation. Probably many citizens are reserving their intended gifts till something like a definite plan of relief is drawn up. It is known that four of the seven victims of the disaster were State servants, and that their dependents will be aided by certain public kinds. Will this State aid be enough in these cases. What is, approximately, the scope for private assistance? What is the basis of the estimate for £5000 for a fund? It was decided at a public meeting yesterday that an official report should be published, giving the number of dependents and the extent of the aid required from the general public. This information should bo available to the press as soon as possible. We feel sure that the rate of the giving will be increased when the people know how much will be needed to supplement the allowances due from the State to certain families and any additional amounts which the Government may grant on behalf of the general public of New Zealand. Though the New South Walee engineers, as stated in the Press Duty of Association cablegram, Engineers in voted to expel the New Strike Time. Zealand branch from the Australasian Institute of Marine Engineers, the total vote for Australasia, (including New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and New Zealand itself) works out in a substantial majority (1163-742) against expulsion. Of the 742 votes for expulsion, 721 seem to havo been cast m New South Wales, so that the wrath of Australia- against the New Zealanders may be said to be concentrated in Sydney. The charge was that members of the New Zealand branch broke rule 87 of the Institute, which requires marine engineers not to manually assist in raising steam of to do anything in labour disturbances that is inconsistent with a neutral attitude. Though extra engineers were' carried on some New Zealand steamers during the 1913 strike, the New Zealand branch affirms that their work was to act in an instructional relationship to the temporary firemen, and denies that the rule was broken. This defence has been accepted everywhere except in New South Wales, and the fact' seems to emphasise the warmth of the industrial tempevatuic among the engineers in that State. it also proves that the' Australasian marine engineers generally, though federated, can take widely divergent views. The ballot, while preserving the form of federation, says little for the spirit of it, and New Zealand engineers will no doubt not feel any excess of gratitude towards the overwhelming majority of New South Welshmen who wish to kick thorn out for what they aay they did not do. Men who favour evolutionary Syndicalism are more dangerous to Is it the general public than syndicalism? those who run to revolutionary Syndicalism. Ihe "direct actionists" of last year were their own enemies, and they utterly discredited the crude, wild kind of warfare. Wiser advocates of despotic "solidarity" are hoping to achieve their ideal by less alarmist methods. Thus a cable message from Sydney yesterday mentioned that preparations were in progress for a huge federation of labour to ensure "united action." It is estimated that the organisation will include 150,000 unionists, "who will refrain from striking without first consulting the allied bodies." It is possible that Mr. W. M. Hughes, who presided, at the big conference, will say that it is a plan to safeguard tho community against sudden strikes. It is true that the leaders of such a league may be against petty strikes, but what will happen when the 'executive of the "One. Big Union" decides that the demands of a particular section are to be backed by "united action?" Is there not a latent threat of a general strike in such a case if employers resist tho demands? Even the Labour Party in New Zealand, which claims to be evolutionary, has stipulated for the strike "as a last resort,!' and this mood seems to be widespread. Arbitration Courts are acceptable provided that the judgments more or less please the unions of workers, but if the awards do not come near Labour's hope, then the Courts are condemned as biased, prejudiced institutions. For some time men have been busy on each side of the Tasman Sea with schemes of Australasian reciprocity during industrial disputes, and something has been done, though the results are still far short of the ambitious organisers' aspirations.