Abstracts and Brief Chronicles

Maoriland Worker, Volume 10, Issue 448, 8 October 1919, Page 1

Abstracts and Brief Chronicles

They are tlie abskact and brief coTO-lcle. of the time, —Hamlet. Labor must welcome the discussion at the Dominion Farmers' Union Executive regarding the effort to be made to clear up the misunderstandings between them and the wage-earners. The farmer sees a host of middlemen between him and the consumer; he looks for salvation to Labor to eliminate a great deal of this parasitism. Labor, on the other hand, should study tlie farmers' side of the question, and these charges of profiteering will be laid at the right door, that is, to the middleman. The middleman's only chance of escaping his just dues is the confusion of ideas between the two branches of Labor, which should be one. * * * # * "Truth" asks Sir Joseph Ward to declare himself, and put himself right with Labor. He simply cannot do this thing. Under the plea of helping to win the Avar, he joined forces with the reactionary Hassey Government. This paved the way for the unimpeded passage of some of the worst laws and cruellest "War Regulations that could have been devised. What guarantee has Labor that Ward will not do the same thing again under some other plea? It w r as "winning the war" in 1915; it may be "winning the'peace" in 1920! The farmers have a vital interest in Sir James Allen's proposed plan of "concentrating" the term, of service of youths under the new Territorial scheme. It simply means that their sons and their helpers with the farm work Avill be taken away for much longer periods than before, and every time the farmer puts in a crop, takes cream to the dairy factory, shears a, sheep, or does any of his manifold duties, he must remember that he must provide something "over and above" for the crowd of uniformed loafers masquerading as the New Zealand Staff College. The"brass-hat* has too good a thing on ever to leave ir voluntarily; it is a case of all classes of the community uniting 1o get these loafers off our backs, and, after that, we will have less cause for dissension in discussing our other affairs. They say Nauru Island is bit of a mystery. Well, there are some others. The Qther day there were a number of motor ears landed at a certain port in the Dominion. A certain politician was notified. These cars were packed in weather-worn cases, but the freight to collect was no less a sum than £275. There were four cars. They were evidently "some" cars, as they vanished in short order. What is the answer? .•. ... ... .... ~. There is far too much secrecy about this Empire Federation scheme that is being hatched in .the British Parliament. From time to time vague hints are thrown out, but the Dominions are not being consulted, or, if they are, the heads of the various Governments are negotiating behind the people's backs. Here in New Zealand, .if i either Massey or Ward power,--/*!, will be good-bye to ielf-government: Massey, apparently, has pledged us already to buying a fleet of obsolete vessels, and (in another branch of defence) there are a number of aeroplanes already in the country, which obviously are intended to form the nucleus of an air squadron. It Avill be noted that the plea that these machines can be used for postal purposes is invalid, because the machines already here are doAvnright fighling planes. % ... ~. Writes "Internationalist" in "Foreign Affairs"—l had an interesting talk with a New Zealander the other day. He had just returned from the Rhine and declared that the occupation was the best kind of Peace propaganda he had yet witnessed. I asked him what had struck him. and his mates more particularly in the Rhineland toAA-ns. He said promptly: "The housing accommodation of the working classes, which is far superior to anything I have seen in England or France; the cleanliness and sobriety of the people." Dr. Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet and man of letters, has asked the Viceroy to relieve him of his knighthood. This is as a protest against the insults and sufferings his fellow-countrymen have -Lchirou a!, tbo hind_ of ih. ibrhrbb official.■;. "I, for my part," says Dr. Tagore, "wish to stand shorn of all special distinctions by the side of my countrymen who for their so-called insignificance are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings." In any case the Indian philosopher and poet is far too big a man to be cheapened by the addition of "Sir" to his name. Sounds as absurd as Sir William Shakespeare or Sir Robert Burns would sound. Tagore, like these men, holds his patent of nobility direct from Almighty God