Wind-Mills at Feilding.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 72, 26 July 1912, Page 14

Wind-Mills at Feilding.

THE PROFESSOR AtfD THE

APPARITION.

The truly successful pfercoivagc is the ono who Bovor arrives till he gets tihero. W. T. Mills arrived at 1 the Foresters' Hall, Feilding, Jluly *. 1912 . at 8 p.m. Ho wandered rownd and round, but never oneo got thoro. Freeman, with his sniilc, whiskers. and without a red tie, arrived two minutes before- 8 o'clock. Ho got there at 8.15. Then fair wind changed to foul woathor..- The Wind-Mill stopped turning. The Sails fluttered in tincross curronts and finally revolved like the last turns of a gramaphone. The miller lost his head. Tho machinery jumped. Tho cranky old wheels broke a dozen cogs. Twenty gleeful spectators applauded tho one-man pantomime; ' All this aroso by a shout of "Socialist" when Mills played a game of leapfrog with Truth. 'Brothers—all men aro brethren. (A woman immediately struggled violently with a fishbono fn her throat.) Let us tako the Lawyer. When I die my attorney will see my affairs aro adjusted in the spirit of equity. Tho LABOR Party of Britain admits lawyers to its ranks. Tho LABOR Party of France has a lawyer at its head. The Belgian LABOR Party ....'' —then the mighty word-twister accepted the correction of "Belgian SOCIALIST Party"—"has lawyers amongst its members." Time now dragged slowly for half an hour. Every second-sentence was a George Washington up-to-date. Presently a soft, soothing sound like unto the evening breeso (Wellington variety disqualified) gathered round. Free-man purred to tho tshafrman as' innocently as ever a kitten, purred for eow-juioo. Ho was offered a whole dairyful, and took unto himself tho contents of a factory.. Walter T. wriggled, laughed and cried. fjieorgo Washington' was respectably hurled. The prospective branch of tho United Labor Party was losing members by the dozen. Freeman's questions developed into a debate of two-minutes a-side, and lasted half an hour. Each round Walter T. side-stepped magnificently. When ho slipped up the sports laughed till their shirtfronts became- wet with tears and a shower of waistcoat buttons rattled on the floor. Here is a gem. Note the confusion of terms, the play upon words, aJid the Ananias impression of tho whole: "Tho Now Zealand Socialists proach direct action, sabotago and Syndicalism. Thero is nothing too violent for IT to adopt in ITS barbarous warfare. Tho SOCIALIST PARTY would havo tho dentists manage bhe mines, tho miners manage the wharf side work, and tho wharfside workers manage Oho watch-making industry. The Socialist Party's newspaper advocates and preaches anarchism."

Signs of dissent all round the hall. Freeman roso and in measured sentences said TO the audience and AT Walter T.: "This is a deliberate piece of lowdown misleading. Tho speaker knows all this to be untrue. He is converting his own written words into a comic opera. The N.Z. Socialist Party is a political party. It, as a consequence, must leave the industrial action to another party. Tun Maok'land AVokkeh is neither owned nor controlled by.the Socialist Party. It is the official organ of tho N.Z. Federation of Labor, lv the Federation aro Socialists and antiSocialists. According to the 'Struggle for. Existence,' it would be impossible for the Socialist Party to run the Federation of Labor. Tho two organisations are distinct and Eeparate, with no official connection between the two."

That innocent statement of fact evolvod (I am a firmer believer in tho evolution theory than ever) into the diluted lie being flashed from the North Capo to the Bluff that "a Socialist organiser at Feilding stated that the Socialist Party repudiated all connection with the Federation of Labor, responsibility for the strike at Waihi, etc., etc." To comrades that would be as Shawcsquo as a man obtaining a divorce from his sister's sweetheart. To the pure and Simple Simon trades unionists it would certainly be another reason (!) why tho brave men and women at Waihi should learn the wickedness of hating: a scab.

The climax was reached when Freeman read from the "International Socialist Review" its short indictment of Walter T. It was like the intonation of tho doxology at a burial service. Ninety folk passed to tho purer air of rtih.e street. No more than ton remained behind to form the Feilding Branch of the United Labor Party. They will no doubt prove- very "useful people" to turn Wind-Mills, leaving the Miller to collect the flour.

Nest day a shopkeeper approached mc and said: "I always thought you Socialists wcro a mad-headed lot of fools. Anyhow, you are a long way better than that 'little circus' at the Forester's Hall last night." I smiled the smilo contented, and hummed "The Red Flag." Just now I am wondering whoro 1 havo read something .like, this !, : ''.Whateyor else awaito you, make .your Socialism 'the chief bitsincßS of your daily lifo."'

Did somoone '-anticipate Mills? — SAMMY BUTTEBCTJP.