MR HAVELOCK WILSON.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 1 October 1925, Page 4

MR HAVELOCK WILSON.

We are indebted to The Times (London) for an informative review of the first volume of “My Stormy Voyage Through Life,” being the autobiography of Mr.. J. Havelock Wilson, C.H., C.8.E., whose very name is calculated to disturb Mr Tom Walsh and other interfering gentlemen who are behind the present revolt of British seamen. It may. be some weeks yet before the book makes its appearance on New Zealand counters, but the main character is so prominently in the public eye at present that we feel justified in passing on some, of the details of Mr Wilson’s life and work which the world’s leading newspaper has thought worthy of notice. Havelock Wilson ran away to sea when he was twelve years old—andi he ran against some hard knocks. Possibly, if some of the present-day agitators could make a voyage in one of the ships of Mr Wilson’s earlier experience, their views on the inhumanity of twentieth century ship-masters might be somewhat modified. The conditions of life aboard ocean-going vessels in the days of which Mr Wilson writes could not have been much worse. Food, water and accommodation were all bad and insufficient. One owner flew into a perfect rage when asked to give his men milk in their tea. It is. a matter for conjecture what would have been his attitude to anyone who had suggested an hotel menu for breakfast. The book traces the history of the National Sailors’ and Firemen’s Union —practically Mr Wilson’s creation—from its formation in 1887 to itsi foundation on a new basis in 1894, so that there is no mention of modern disputes, which may be expected in a second volume. “What emerges very clearly,” observes The Times, “is the fact that Mr Wilson is a trade union leader of the ‘old-fashioned’ kind. To his mind the object of a trade union is to better the working conditions of its members, not to attempt political reforms or to change the social organisation of the country. He is not a Socialist or a Revolutionist of any kind. In certain very important respects, therefore, he is in disagreement with many other Labour leaders, and' we believe it to be a fact that Mr Wilson is not greatly liked by the extremists. His general policy is very much the same as that of the late Mr Samuel Gompers, the American Labour leader, who also was regarded as too conservative. Mr Wilson, as he says repeatedly, believes in advancing inch by inch, firmly consolidating tliei position each time before making the next step forward. Part of liis object in writing this book is to impress this policy upon liis colleagues. But we think the book will benefit employers as well as labour men. Most employers would be only too pleased if all Labour leaders had the sane ideals of Mr Wilson. They will wonder, when they reflect on the modern phase of the struggle between Labour and Capital, that so very reasonable a reformer should have encountered such fierce opposition. The policy of withholding reasonable concessions leads inevitably to the demand for unreasonable concessions.”