THE New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1891.

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 9277, 24 April 1891, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY).

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1891.

With which are incorporated the Wellington independent, established 18-15, and the New Zealander.

Is it revolution ? We have all beard of the papers seized by the police during the riots at Barcaldine, and wo ware all prepared for revelations. When we see the papers we find that the completeness of the Unionist design is nevertheless very astonishing. They show that there are some men at the head of affairs on the Unionist side whose object is something far beyond a settlement of the questions at issue ; if it can be said that there are any questions at all be-

tween the parties. The dangerous wildness of these men is writ large in the papers. “Have you or your agents,’’ it is written, “ got any answers from the military? Would they in large numbers hold their hands while your crowd surrounded and secured the lot?”—the arrested men comprise “ the lot,’’ evidently. “ Remember the Commune, and see if the thing is possible in Clermont.” These are the words of the. Secretary of the Australian Labour Federation, Barcaldine ; and they are addressed to a gentleman named Taylor, who figures as “ C.D.C. Organiser” at Clermont. Another letter from a gentleman of the Italian patronymic of “ Murphy ” takes a different tone. In that document Mr Taylor is pressingly advised to dodge the police, not to waste time in attempting conciliation. All the “ rouseabouts,’’ says Mr Murphy, who writes from Roma, are afraid to join because they think the police strong enough to smash up the Union, about the true character of the leaders of which the aforesaid “ rouseabouts ” probably bad very shrewd ideas. “Divide your force” is the advice of Mr Murphy. Instead of concentrating his men in one place. Mr Taylor ought, he urges, to scatter them in parties of 150, each party making havoc at some named centre, until the general cry for Police protection could not possibly be satisfied. The police thus scattered into little lots and powerless, the Union might strike a blow. “If you wanted a camp there at any time,” insinuates the descendant ot the Irish Kings, “You could send mounted messengers round and have all your forces concentrated, at a given point away from the railways, if possible. And, if we force the running by a little more Devil in the fight, what chance would the police or the defence force have against bushmen when in their own element—the heart of the bush? They would have no trains to cart them and their Gatling guns, cannon, and Nordenfelts about.” Mr Ryan's extensive and very clever programme stands revealed.

Another writer urges that “ the men here (Clermont) are very anxious to be at work —what work I leave you to imagine.’’ A third, referring io the threatened disarmament of the Unionists, declares that “ the fun will then commence,” for ‘'New South Wales is ripe for a revolution by all accounts, aud it is more than probable that things will hum soon.” A fourth intimates that “ most of our men are grumbling at our inactivity, and trying to find some sort of work to do, provided employers do not find it for them.” A fifth opines that “ the only certain method for working the men to get justice is by becoming expert in the use of Winchester rifles, or, what is better still, the Gifford gun, as it leaves no smoke behind and is noiseless." These are choice specimens of rhetoric. To complete the picture we have the arrest of a “ field drill instructor” in the Unionist camp at Barcaldine.

Idle threats and empty words, it will be said. Very possibly there is some truth in the saying. The shearers themselves have an idea that it may be so. The idea of a “ Eepublic of the Back Blocks,” which is set afloat among them, is too exquisitely absurd, even in their eyes. Therefore they are talking about going off in a body to Argentina. At one of the meetings in Barcaldine the project of emigration to the country of revolution, free land, and depressed currency, was set forth at great length, and it was announced solemnly that a great scheme was afoot and supported with considerable funds. All this is very well. But those sealed papers are nevertheless good evidence. The passing of a resolution of sympathy by the Labour Congress at Ballarat gives them a prominence absolutely startling. While the politicians of the Continent are talking with eftuaion about Federating together under the Crown, Labour is arranging practice with Winchesters, writing secretly about the Paris Commune, burning country, and provoking the police by putting more “ Devil into the fight,” in the hope expressed in writing by the leaders, one to another, that the rest of the proletariat of Australia may be driven by the first shot into open rebellion against the Queen’s authority. The well known fact that the feeling between the classes in Australia is extremely and almost irreconcileably bitter deepens the uncertainty of the situation. It is well, on the whole, that Federation has lost immediate interest for New Zealand. Before it re-acquires that interest these disloyal, dishonest vapourers will have to be studied very much more closely than they have been hitherto. New Zealand cannot Federate in order to be handed over bound hand and foot to the tender mercies of Eyan and Co , with their Winchesters, their “ Commune,” and their “ work,” which need not bo referred to too particularly.