RED FEDS. AND THE CITY COUNCIL.

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 867, 16 February 1917, Page 6

RED FEDS. AND THE CITY COUNCIL.

A Menace to the Citizens.. inSTHAT, we would ask, is being * ™- done, or is to be done to prevent the packing of the City Council (at the municipal elections which take place in April next) with a small host of "Labour" candidates, representing the extreme Socialist section of the local Labour Party, who always seem to put their selfish interests before their patriotism? . Already there are eight "Labour" candidates in the field, most of them , men notoriously connected with organisations whose influences and interests are diametrically opposed to those of the genuine ratepayers. They are not all (nominally at least) tarred with the same Red Fed. brush, but a man is generally known by the company he keeps, and when we remind

our readers that this precious "Labour" ticket includes Messrs. Holland, Glover, and Kennedy, they can have a prettygood idea of what the others must be like. It is of the highest importance that our City Council should be; composed of gentlemen whom the citizens can trust to Respect and support the laws of the landsmen with a solid stake in. the city; men whose interests are those of the great majority of the ratepayers, and not merely representatives of the Red Federation, which has, as its first cousin, the 1.W.W.- * .■.-*' '■*..' * Men who are mixed up with those who preach anarchical doctrines and make mischief by endeavouring to set class against class, are not, however personally honest they may be in their convictions on matters of political and ;' industrial reform, to be considered safe men to sit upon the governing body of a great and wealthy city such as .Wellington. What should s now be done, and that without delay, is for a meeting of influential citizens to-, be held, and a Citizens': Ticket chosen, to be composed of men who have been members of this community for some years, ; men with' some commercial jand" social men who are not, mere, car-pet-baggers and blatherskites. It would be a grave mistake to treat this "La- ■ bour" -ticket too lightly. We may depend upon it that the whole of the Red Fed. forces will be behind it, and that everything - which organisation can do will be done to secure the election of the Red Fed. "Eight," Unless the citizens of Wellington, put their heads, together and . make up their minds to combat the extreme Socialist element, it may become -a very real ; menace to the; welfare- of the city: I*fo time, therefore should be lost in selecting a Citizen Ticket. '