TRAMWAY UNION AND BELGIAN FUND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17284, 27 September 1916, Page 10

TRAMWAY UNION AND BELGIAN FUND.

TO THE EDITOH. Sir,—-The chairman of the Belgian Fund executive, Dr Levingo, in his reply to my letter, states that it is not correct to say "that the Belgian Fund executive lost a considerable amount of money for the fund by way of Governmout'subsidy, that every possible penny has been earned by and paid up to date under the arrangement to subsidise voluntary contributions pound for pound; this tact has been made abundantly public." Ln reply to Dr Levinge's assertions, J desire to say that I do not wish to promote any misunderstanding, but the reverse, and, as many of the most prominent public men' in the city are convinced of the truth of my Btatcnient, perhaps the chairman of the executive will publish a summary of the amounts collected, and subsidy paid by the Government, with date of receipt, and thus make tho position clear. Dr Levingo admits that . the City Council refused to pav its quota to tho Belgian Fund. Ho says, "The City Council saw fit to repudiate the action of its representative at the said conference, and has never contributed its share." Why? - He ascribes it to the fact that tho City Council became dominated by the Socialist element. Let me thank him for his tribute to the power of tho Social Democrats ou tlie council, who number six out of a total of seventeen members, one of whom, the' Mayor, has two votes. At the same time, I dispute ike correctness of his deduction. Mr Charles Clark says that "no doubt the idea that everyone shall contribute in the exact proportion to his ability to do so.is a very attractive proposition, aijd very loeical, but who can deny that in many cases the act of giving voluntarily has conforred a greater blessing upon the donor than upon the receiver!"' Mr Clark has been manly enough to give publicity to the fact that he agrees' with tho principle upon which the Tramway Union took its stand, and which ho has statod so well in tho quotation I havo given from his letter. 1 have discussed this matter with hundreds of men, and have yet to meet one who disagreed, but the trouble is that, whilst agreeine;, man to man, they are afraid to <Hve publicity to their views and thus foroe the authorities to do their duty. The Belgian nation made a heroic stand, and held up the German armies until tho Allies got thoir forces together. In so doing the Belgians made a supreme .sacrifice, •ii:d rendered an incalculable service to the British Empire. ln return, vo piaine them for their valour, assure thorn of our sympathy, and take jp a collection for the iiomelcss ana starving population kith and kin of the dead heroes. Obviously it was the duty of Britain to see to it that their wants were speedily attended to as a matter of right and not of charity, and cho cost madfi a charge upon the Imperial Treat-fry. which, it is proudly boasted, is the richest in tho world, and well able to stand the strain. The people of Christchurch are ever generous: to their credit be it said, thoy havo done well. The workers have contributed mi re than their quota, including the tramway men, and these ever-recurring ar,]>< ,i!s" to workers, who have a task to make both ends meet, to make regular levies upon their wages whilst others in a better position go scot free owing to tho" ineptitude of Cabinet Ministers and their followers should not be persisted in, and those who condemn a bodv of men for daring to express their honest convictions are not upholding the traditions of the British Empire.—l am, etc., H. HUNTER, Secretary Christchurch Tramway Employees' Union. Trades Halt, September 26.