CORRESPONDENCE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 22 May 1919, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

THE BOLSHEVIK MENACE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I have no desire to enter into a iutue controversy witn P. J. xrowav as He has necessarily hxed ideas on some matters from which, neither facts noargument would make Aim deviate it is, however, just as well ror us to Knownow he, as a member or tne community who exercises a Jarge amount of influence over an important section of that community, stands m regard to Bolshevism and tne public weal, i have been a toiler all through my career, and have possioiy been" subjected to as many nardsiiiips and reverses as your correspondent. My sympathies have therefore always been with the toilers m their endeavor to obtain redi-ess for then- grievances in a legitimate and reasonable manner. Tn e trouble at the present time is that agitators iti some branches of the toilers are not content with tne many concessions they have obtained, but want to run things according to their own sweet will, no matter what iHniconveniencej and loss they cause to others, whether friendly to the toilers' aspirations or otherwise. I hold no brief for unscrupulous capital--1 ists, but as tiie magistrate said in Wellington recently wnen dealing with a ■ case against the editor and puolisher of ; the Maoriland Worker, political action ' instead of direct action, is the iegiti- ' mate procedure. There i^ not the slightest ..doubt that the toilers could carry almost everything at the polls if they were true to. themselves. There- '_ tore why not wait for ,the general election, which is now not very far away. There was neither fair play nor respect tor well-ordered government in a large number of deputations which waited on Ministers recently, and things must have been pretty bad when the newspaper Truth, the champion of the proletariat, found it expedient to reprimand the waterside workers m the leading article of the last issue. It will be adj mitted that in many directions things are very bad in England, btft there is no more analogy between the condij tions existing there and in New Zealand in regard to labor thai* there i s in regard to the conditions existing in the kqudr" traffic in the two countries. I a any case it can safely be left to the people of the Old Country to obtain polrtij cal redress for all abuses in due course I when the searchlight is brought to bear ;on them. Re the attempt to disparage jMr Lloyd George. lam one of an i enormous number who regard him as one of the most important factors in bringing the war to a successful conclusion and as a man who has gone through many desperate situations brilliantly, with only one object in view— the welfare of tfhe British nation and, humanity. Lord French's encomium as read in Tuesday's Star, makes strange reading alongside your correspondent's tetter, and affords a curious commentary thereon. . Mr Lloyd George's attitude at the time of the Boer war proves that he was no friend to oppressive capitalism and in the late world war he "did things" instead of continuing a "wait and see" policy, and will probably go -Oil "domg things." No controversy, will overcome the fact that a spirit of lawlessness and disloyalty is abroad in th:s Dominion, which must be unrooted. Greed and profiteering must: also"receive a salutory lesson, and I hope will be dealt with by the mandate of the people at the next general election. ' ' In conclusion, I stand for loyalty law and order, and a square deal witli my fellow-men.—l am, etc., "63."