LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND

Evening Star, Issue 15481, 1 May 1914, Page 5

LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND

PAINTING THE COUNTRY ''RED"

WITH A VENGEANCE

An individual, whose name has not been dierlosed, ■ ha* \rritten from the Waikato to Mr Keir Hardie, M.P., and professes to tell that legislator the "true storv" of th« industrial troubles of last year." The 'Daily Citizen' (Labor), in transferring the letter to its columns, refers to "the lurid accounts" that have been appearing in the capitalistic pa]>er» in justification of the ruthless methods bv which it -was sought to '-beat the workers back to serfdom;'* and "how the Industrial Arbitration Acta have been construed into an instrument of tyranny." Here are a few extracts from this veracious chronicler's "storv" :

Victimisation here had become so acute it was absolutely unbearable, especially at the mines where I have been working, <dso on Ihe waterfronts. The men have tried every means possible by deputation, ako appeals to the Arbitration Courts, but all to no purpose. At this place more than 60 men have had to go in 12 months. Any man who became prominent in trade union circles received notice to quit. The company were asked time and again for a reason, and the insulting answer received was that "there wore more to follow." Eventually, three months ago, we decided to strike. The same thing had been going on in the docks, so the men there came out too. Within a month nearly every harbor -was tied up; also, all the coal miners were out.

Six thousand special police were recruited from among the farmer* and their laborer?. These opened up the wharves at Wellington <md Auckland. Men, women, and children were batoned in the streets by these hired Cossacks. When this happened the seamen ame out, but the shipowners were allowed to suspend the Shipping Acts and to send boats to sea not only undermanned, but with men who knew nothing of the work. Trade unionists who until then had not a stain ou their characters were sent to prison on the evidence of special constables, who themselves had suffered imprisonment for alt kinds of crimes from drunkenness to theft. For sis weeks it was positively dangerous to the streets. Men weiw arrested, and in some cases whole committees too, on the most frivolous charges. Many other unions which had grievances of their own and could not get them rectirkd in the Arbitration Courts decided to strike too. Of such dimensions was the strike, and into such disgrace havo the Arbitration Acts fallen, that at onetime, in the city of Auckland, 17 unions were on strike out of 19 registered under the Acts.

It some of those at Home who are shouting for Arbitration Courts would study a little what happens here, it would .do them good. Insult© are burled at the worker each time he approaches the Judge for an increase of wages. Among the questions asked him are the following!:— ■•* What family have you? What do you live on? How often do you buy clothes? What do you pay for tbem? Would not cheaper clothing or food do? Would not a cheaper house suffice?

There are thousands of men vnemployed here. Colliery companies are suffering a decreased output to hunt, men out of the country, and ut the same time the public within 20 miles from here are paying 8s per cwt for coat. I have seen many conditions in England that ought not to obtain, but nothing compared to this country. Thousands of people are coming here every year, but the newspapers state that every month for the past year more people ha% r e left these shores than have entered. We have here a country more than three times the size of England, a beautiful climate, minerals of all descriptions in abundance. The Governme.it arespending about £50,000 per year on assisted passages, and yet for the past 10 years the population has been at a standstill. The reason is because the conditions under which the people have to work are absolutely intolerable, and do not obtain in any other country in the world outside Russia.