TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 132, 1 December 1914, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Up to the time of the Mayoral eleotion of laet year numbers of Mr. M'Laren Liberal-minded citizens and of. Wellington had helpThe Post. Ed Mr. D. M'Laren to occupy public position«. because they believed that he was not obsessed by bias, and that he had a, respect for the principles of fairneae. But the Mayoral contest of 1913 revealed * very different Mr. M'Laren to the public. The candidate stooped to ignoble procedure in his effort to work up a sympathy" vote. He created a woebegone figure of himself, and held it up for the people's pity- an alleged victim 1 I- , P re i udi ce" and "deplorable class bias. He drew on his imagination for charges against The Post, and could not accept the challenge to show warrant for his allegations. He ignored the possibility that people could prefer Air. Luke, as a man of superior merit. In Mr. M'Laren'a view, as expressed in print, there could be only one reason for a vote in favour of Mr. Luke—tho reason of "daas prejudice" against Mr. M Laren. tn his attempts to bolster up his peculiar caae, Mr. M'Laren garbled passages of The Post, and he persisted m this unjust perversion of the actual text despite the repeated exposures of his sinister methods. Apparently he is again putting his trust in wilful misrepresentation. Referring last night to The Fost, he remarked : "The paper states that if a man succeeds to a public position, such as the chairmanship of the Harbour Board, and any trouble arises, such as the strike, he should definitely join one party. That is a vicious statement. A man is elected, by the people to do service for the people, not to take sidee with one section or another." The i^osts article mentioned the Mayor's courageous, impartial devotion to duty and then stated : "As adminiatrative head of the Harbour Board, which is a large employer of waterside labour, Mr Fletcher was brought into the arena, but he was not a helpful factor in rebuHmg the. revolutionary Red Federals. Mr. Fletcher seemed to be mindful of the old proverb about 'the golden mean/ and he essayed a middle course, which 2 "£i ?V* t0 di6COU ' a S<> Rede." Mi. Fletcher was not concerned with tereetpd public body; he was concerned as the administrative head -practically general manager-of an organisation wh.ch « tin largest employer of labour on the waterfront. In his twisting of The Post'e text; Mr. M'Laren ignored the important fact of the Harbour Hoard s direct connection with the case as an employer. It was Mr. Fletcher's plain duty to the public- to co-operate kVw\£ th « /""ployera in helping to rebuff the Red Federals. On 21st October (the eve of the strike) Mr. Fletcher said : It seems futile to hope for any assistance from the men that they will carry out their obligations and promises." On 23rd October he remarked : "The agreement has ceased to exist, and so has ceased to have ahy force. As I said bo fore it has long been a one-sided agreeni jj- ,. If the agreement was "one. eided (m favour of the Red Federal unionists), it was Mr. Kletcher'e duty to the public to make an effort to change that unevenness. and The Post's contention ib that his methods "did not serve to discourage tho Reds." The reprint of a document in yesterday's m, . . _ , Post had this What is the Colour interesting line of the L.R.C.? for people who . , , have not forgotten last year s strike nor the incendiary harangues of the soap-box and cart-tail": — VV. T. Young, chairman Executive Com., L.R.C." The Labour Representation Committee purports to act for moderate Labour (the so-called "United" Labour Party) in arranging for the se,lection of Labour candidates. Why, then, has the "L.R.C." appointed as chairman Mr. W. T Young, who was president of tho Red Federation during last year's strike? This is the Mr. loung who declared in the Basin Reservo on Sunday, 26th October (four days after the strike had begun) :— "lf this case can be settled only by setting the country on fire industrially, that 16 going to be done. I am not playing a game of bluff. ... If they put on 'scabs' to discharge cargo, there will not bo a ship leave port, and if they peisist there will be no wharf for 'scabs' to work on." On the same day Mr. Young also uttered his notorious threat of "a march on the city of Wellington with ten or fifteen thousand armed men." Reviewing the tactics of Mr. Young and other Red Federals, the executive of the United Labour Party stated in a manifesto published on 23rd December, 1913 : — "A general survey of the situation must convince tho public and all time unionists that the United Federation of Labour's revolutionary policy is one 'of disruption in the Labour movement, and of deliberate anarchy as affecting public interests The .existence of this propaganda of irresponsible revolutionary action has destroyed many workers' unions which it took years of hard toil to create If sound tradesunionism is to live, it can only be by a straight-o»t repudiation of the doctrines and methods of insane revolutionism. 1 ' Why, then, is tho "L.R.C." associated with one who waß the head and front of "insane revolutionism" only a year ago'/ Has .Mr. Young changed his Red spots? Or is tho "L.R.C." finessing for the votes of "insane revolutionists" by a willingness to have a Red head, temporarily? The position of the "revolutionist" Mr. Young as chairman of the alleged "evolutionist" "L.R.C." gives a specially sinister significance to the following words of the Reds' official organ (an article of 4th November, headed "Shoulder to Shoulder") : — "L.R.C. supporters will help to win for the * Social Democrats in Wellington North Shoulder to shoulder, Labour's fighting forces will write victory on every red banner that is raised by Labour." It the "L.R.C." is to be judged by the colour of the company that it keeps, what is its colour ? A difficult task is engaging the Wellington Hospital Board ; A Superintendent it is endeavouring for the Public to select a suitable Hospital. successor to the retiring superintendent, Dr. Hardwick Smith, whose decision to go into private practice was keenly regretted by the board. Dr. Smith proved that he had exceptional fitness for the very important work, of which the scope has been much expanded during his term. The board will indeed be fortunate if it obtains an administrative physician and , surgeon of equal .merit. A heavy responsibility to the general public is on the board in the examination of the applicants' qualifications. There is always a danger that factors — not related to the public need — may intrude in theso cases. That element is, of course, undesirable in the case of an ordinary public appointment, but it can be specially injurious to the public interest in the selection of a superintendent of « public hospital, .where tna character

of the administration and treatment has obvwusly a direot effect on patients. The board has to remember, too, that the manifold duties of the superintendent will have additions with the progress of the system of medical inspection of school children and the development of the campaign against tuberculosis and venereal diseases. The board's part is to have a. conscientious regard for one word— fitness.