HUNTLY

Maoriland Worker, Volume 4, Issue 147, 26 November 1913, Page 5

HUNTLY

By VOX POPULI

Huntly ie still going as strong as ■ (»ver, enthusiasm never seems to wane, and we are nob yet by any means tired of our holiday. On Wednesday last the Sports Committee inaugurated "•ports for the school children. A proeassion was formed at the Post Office, men ,women, and children faking part, and headed by the local brass band, paraded the principal streets, ending tip at the recreation ground, where all ■ kind* of gamee were indulged in by people of all ages and both sexes. If a stranger had entered the field while so many hundreds of people were enjoying themselves under the beautiful sunshine, heard the laughter that went up, and seen so many faces wreathed in smiles he ■ would have thought the townspeople ha<J simply N taken a half-holiday for the purpose of fraternising together, and not that we are- engaged, in a struggle that means so nancb hr the people of this dominion yet, if he had taken a few of these men aside and spoken to them of the ol;iss war we are now waging he would have seen intermingled with their smiles, n look of grim determination. On the faces of the women a look that told trim that they recognise this fight as their fight too; .they know that only by their suffering end self sacrifice -can they hope tONmako things better, brighter, and easier for the children who will fill their places when a few short years are gone . In the evening a public meeting wks held in the, Miners' Hall, Comrade Purtell and Mclrose, of Auckland, being the speakers About 600 men and women attended, and as each of the speakers reviewed the trouble from its commencement and told, us of the determination of pur comrades in other parts of the Dominion not to give in until a settlement was arrived at that would be honorable and national, round after round of applause greeted their •utterances. A few days ago the employees Association published in the .Auckland "Herald" a stateme/it that the local Strike Committee had mot Mr. Harle Giles in conference and were an a fair way for settling the grievance here when the TJ.F.L. stepped in and gave a list of proposals which they stated the Commissioner had submitted to us. Needless k> say these proposals bad never been heard of until published in tho "Herald," neither did the U.F.L. know this -man had been ihere- nntiJ informed by cm . Strike Committee. Thy letter was promptly contradicted by pur secretary; since then wo have nob 'heard of tho Employers' Association. Speaking of newspapers, owing to the conduct of thr "Herald" during this dispute, we have seen fit to boycott the same. The lifts and mental prostitution that goes on in the ordinary papers during • industrial disputes emould convince the workers of the necessity of a Labor daily. The press is the most powerful institution in every land, but is always run in tho interests of tho bloodsuckers. No lie is too mean, and no action it too despicable for them to r'.sort to on purpose to defeat the ends of the workers, but with ell their lies, wjth all their boast thajb thinpfi arft reeurojing their normal conditions we know this is only one of their devices to get division in our ranks; this gane is worn out, the worker has seen this same .twaddje trotted out bofor-e, and is not taking any. A spirit of brotherhood and humanity is running through the ranks of the workers to-day that the capitalist, with all tho powerful weapons he possesses cannot drive out. We are. fighting to-. day against victimisation. When this is won, we must make our ranks so solid with organisation that there will not be one worker outside, acd in the final. struggle which will come ere long we must march up boldly and capture the citadel of capitalism. When Greek meets Greek, then conies the tug of war, and when in the final struggle Labor and capital engage in death grips, a struggle that will not be for a mere pittance, but will bs for the world's wealth for the world's workers, ccc to it, comrades that there is not a weak point in our ranks, l<4■ the struggle be sharp and quick, let our army have a knowledge that it is-fight-ing for something nrwe #rand and noble than anything wo have yet enjoyed, and victory will be assured