WHO IS LYONS?

Grey River Argus, 30 June 1925, Page 7

WHO IS LYONS?

MAN WHO FOUGHT IN WAR. TO BE DEPORTED. Writing in the x z Woi . k(;l . A[r 1. Bntlei reveals that the man whom lhe Government has decided to deport fought in the war as a mere boy. He s.ivs. —1 Ip. conditions existing on the ships in and around the New Zealand coast are gradually becoming worse The hours, wages, and living accommodation on these ships, though never at any time, what they should he, were bettered and some reforms instituted (luring the latter part of the war. When the slump came, th,. shipping combines all over the seven seas cut down the wages and conditions of the eistwhile versified heroes, in order that their oWn vas( proflts a[l(] ()ivL dends should remain as before. 1 hey commciieed on the weaker and ■‘moderation” unions (sic) in America end England and on the Continent, 'he nohtant unions they approaelmd With more caution, and, bit bv bit and hy one, they sneaked and filched away the conditions of the men. In Now Zealand they were ably assisted l>v their bailiff th,, |_ ( ._ x , (ef (Arbitration). The men on the s.s. Manuka put ~p 11 hold front to those hawks, and sue. eceded in forcing from the Union Co. (Lord Inchcape) a decent bill-of.fare, which included the item Imm and eggs twice a week. This menu was looked upon by fhi* > Co. and kept, press as a proclan,at,on of Red Revolution, and the Item ‘‘han, and eggs” caused more consternation amongst the noodles in big biz than the Dictatorship of the Proletariat! Something had to bo done if the Em. pire was to be saved. The “N.Z. ’limes,” a journal of the master, commenced a howl for blood, it scented the red hand of <’ominun:sm and the “murderous" I.W.W. in this affair, and proceeded to hunt them out. Its keen eyes soon fell on a fireman, Noel Lyons, and pointed him out as a possible destroyer of the Empire, and ('ailed upon the Government to deport nun. The accommodating Govern, ment, nothing loath, issued a deporta, lion order against him; and so that New Zealand may be safe for democracy Lyons has been told to go. Lyons, in the meantime, has been the subject of editorial abuse from the kept press, each one trying to outdo lhe other in vilification. Hx* has been called till kinds of names, and been fairly drowned in quarts of printers’ ink. The “Tinies” in an editorial stated that perhaphs if Lyons heard a popgun go off that he would faint! This is -wordy nonsense from a wordy editor. If Lyons was such a coward, and if he was such a danger to the Empire, why did the patriots allow him to be shipped to France when he was 14 (fourteen) years of age to kill Germans? Why did not some sensational editor or shipping manager take his [dace in the tiring line? The newspapers have tried to tell lhe people that Lyons is being deported because he is a member of tlx* I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World ). It is nothing of the sort. It is because the crew of tin* Alanuka cried “Halt!” Io the inroads the Union Co. were making on their conditions. / They are scared lest the crews on the other ships should waken up. An example would have to be made on someone, so they picked the ‘foreigner” Lyons, who had fought for them on the bloody fields of Flanders, but whom they would not permit to fight for better conditions for himself and follows on lhe hellish industrial held of this outpost of Empire.