A REFRESHING CONTRAST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 65, 18 March 1908, Page 3

A REFRESHING CONTRAST.

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An..., interesting story of thrift, energy, and self-reliance was modestly told by a young farmer in the course of evidence before th& Conciliation Board at Christchurch. This mail landed in the Dominion some fire years ago, with no capital 'beyond a pair of strong arms and an industrious disposition. To-day he is farming 190 acres of land in a good farming district, he has.6o head of cattle, and -c, quantity of other live stock. His success is entirely due to his own personal efforts, and it is simply the reward of his own industry and selfsacrifice. No doubt there are many others throughout the Dominion who have done precisely the same thing; it is only by accident that this particular case has been dragged Into ih.e limelight, and investigation frf-ould soon disclose similar instances of. successful and well-to-do farmers who are purely self-made men. Still, at is refreshing to hear of experiences of-this nature. They furnish a striking contrast to the story usually iqld by the Socialist who, after watching the clock for eight hours, quits his job to mount a candlebox and preach a gospel of wealth without working for it. The Socialist is fond of insisting that there is no emancipation from existing industrial conditions by. indvidual effort; that the worker' is a downtrodden wage-slave,, fawning at the Teet ot capital, and compelled to accept ..what iavours the fat man chooses to concede. Hence, the' demand for a social revolution, which wall destroy private property, and parcel out the fruits of the earth equally amongst the inhabitants thereof The Ohoka farmer is a liv-

ing testimony to tiife utter falsity of the contention that the worker is helpless and unable to better his economic condition by his own personal exertions. Further,, he furnishes actual proof of what any ablebodied, intelligent man can, do to better his position in a few short years. Had he been a Socialist.we would not. have foxind him going to the country and taking a job at a pound a week and his keep, merely to get experience. He would have be'erT after a town billet at arbitration award wages; he' would probably have* been a prominent member of a football club, an authority of the respective merits of the product of the various city breweries, and if the maximum wage an employer was compelled to pay him for a minimum of work didn't go far enough, then he would speedily denounce capitalism for condemning him to an " economic servitude " from which there Was no deliverance except through the medium of State 'Socialism. It is a good thing for the Dominion that from the very beginning it has been peopled largely with the Ohoka farmer/ type of-settler; these are the men" who are going to prevent .the.' country, sinking into a slough of State Socialism, They will nover listen to any talk of the abolition of private property—the Socialist's, device for confiscating the hard-earned fruits of their labour, and sharing it with a crowd that only-'fcorks with its lungs. —Christchurch Truth.