THE LABOURER AND HIS HIRE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15968, 29 June 1912, Page 10

THE LABOURER AND HIS HIRE.

Me Fiucd. R. Cookj:, having found us guilty of the grave misdemeanour of "lecturing our former fellowbeggars," hastens to range us in the pillory with Mr J. Robertson. M_P..

and Mr W. T. Mills, and by way of making the punishment fit tho crime he subjects us to a littlo lecture intended to put us all in our places and to induce a chastened and repentant frame of mind. The offences which bulk Largest in the e3 r os of Mr Cooke are firstly that Messrs Robertson and Mills and the editor of the " Lyttelton Times" are "wage-earners," and secondly that their emoluments exceed those of tho Waihi and Reefton miners. The first count of tho indictment might be considered by some people rather a qualification than otherwise for tho office of mentor in this case. In regard to the second, surely even Mr Cooko will agree with us that, until wo reach that desirable state of affairs when tho prescription "To each according to his necessity—from eaoh according to his ability" will be put into practice, the labourer is worthy of the. hire prescribed for him by tho laws of supply and demand. Mr Semplo and the other permanent officials of the Federation of Labour who are so energetically preaching Mr Cooke's beloved " class war" are at any rate quito of our opinion on this matter. Their remuneration is not restricted to the level of that of their followers, and their duties do not strike us as being more arduous, to say the least of it, than those of a newspaper editor or a member of Parliament. Mr Cooke, of course, wishes to draw a picture of the wealth and opulence of those who have criticised the programme of the Federation of Labour, in order to give colour to an insinuation that they are hostile to the interests of the workers. It would be asking too much of Mr Cooke, perhaps, to expect him to be sweetly reasonable. Nothing short of red revolution, civil war, and the readjustment of the economic machine by brute force will suit this extremely militant anti-militarist, and a suggestion that more peaceful and more efficient, means of remedying social injustices and inequalities m;iy be available seems to annoy him as badly a 6 a Socialist's red tie annoys a titled Tory.