NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8182, 25 July 1912, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

“But why all this unrest?’’ asked a newspaper man of Mr W. E. Harvey, M. 8.. the miners’ agent. “I have watched it coming step by step,” he replied. “It is the outcome of the Education Act and- a larger conception ,of life. Men realise that there is wealth in this country, that - tfiey are • producing it, and that wages have not been commensurate with the increased wealth produced. The house that was good enough for ' the miner twenty-five years ago is not good enough to-day. They want better clothing, better opportunities. There has been a greater uplifting of the miner than is believed by those who have not seen it, and his claim to-day is reason,nble. and his terms can. and might and ought to be accepted.”

You must either open up further opportunities for all the workers or close the school houses the world over.

The effort to train the workers for better service has worked so well that they are even discovering that it is .not an impossible thing to do to serve themselves.

The universal education of Germany made her armies invincible as against France. But the same education has overcrowded the ranks of tho so-called Learned Professions, and in so doing has trained the leaders of the working class. The labor movement in Germany has a larger proportion of highly trained men than in any other country. I

Open up the opportunities or close up the schools. The schools must not be closed.

The Waiti "Telegraph” reports an address in Waihi by Mr Carlese, of Ngaruawahia. He spoke in the Miners' Union Hall on “Labor Eights and How to Obtain Them.” He seems to have been supporting the positions of the United Labor Party. It is quite possible that ho was doing this without a knowledge of our position, but the minors seem to have been greatly interested, and more meetings of the same sort would lie good for Waihi and for every other industrial centre in uno country.

One "tiling is very certain; the Waihi miners are not opposed to the positions of the United Labor Party. The United Labor Party has no war with these miners; it believes they have acted on unwise ■ advice. It holds that their organisation is defective in most important particulars; but 'these errors can be remedied. The organisation’s destitution can be amended. The miners everywhere on earth are amongst the most progressive and aggressive of trade unionists. The miners of New Zealand will be found like the miners everywhere, battling for the interests of labor. The United Labor Party offers a welcome and asks their co-operation, with the sole condition that the ill-advised tactics of the present must be definitely abandoned.

Here comes another man, asking why employer and employee should both belong to the United Labor Party. It will help to make our answer clear by asking this' question; Why should both employers and employees live in New Zealand? Is it not because so long as labor depends upon private undertakings to provide employment the private employer is indispensable?

Both live in New Zealand because their relations to each other are of such a nature that if they are go:ns to work together on a New Zealand job New Zealand is the place for them. • • • • •

But why should they both be in the same trades union as is provided in the United Labor Party? There is no way by which any employer can become a member of any trades union organised among his employees, and in any way connected with the United Labor Party. L'he trade organisations are created prim arilv for the purpose of collective bargaining with their employes. It would be absurd to create an organisation to make bargains with the employer and then have the employer himself in the organisation. No euch arrangement is possible in the United Labor Party, but the statement is constantly being made.

c.»fc because there are employers in the l.iited Labor Party, but because there are chose who employ very little co £ l ' icienco in making statements about .the *ta.ted Labor Party. • • « • •

Another question, however, is of importance. iJoc-s sx trades union exist tor .nothing but for making bargains with the employer? What aoout Xaoor leg ls ' llution ? Aro not the unions concerned. What about the monopolies which rob aako the employers and the employees Snail not employers and employees alike unite to deal with an enemy common to tnem*Dofii? And, if so, where shall they unite?' The Labor Party has provided for that union where their interests are in common, but has carefully shielded Lie seoarate interests of each where their interests arc opposed and not in common. If that is not a square deal, tell us how to fix it.

Wages aro all the time increasing. The cost of living is all the time increasing faster than wages. But the ’Unimproved land values aro all the time tncreasmg faster than either. La'bor has been fighting tho employer but overlooking the monopoly which alone can keep down wages and push up prices. f Xhe employer has been fighting labor but overlooking the monopoly which all the time robs both the worker and the employer. But the landlord overlooks noihing. and is all the time exploiting all the rest. - « * • •

RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUE, At Otautau (near Invercargill) on the 13th inst., were taken on the proposals to borrow cfclOOO to complete ami furnish the Coronation Hall; to borrow JHOOO to bring in a high pressure water supply; and to determine whether the system of rating should bo on the unimproved value. Considerable interest was manifested in the issues. A poll of 10 per cent, ot the ratepayers in the Otautau town distr.ct was recorded, ilach ot the proposals was carried as per ngures which follow: (1) To borrow .£IOOO to complete and furnish the Coronation Hall: l''or 60, against 19. Majority for 41. (9) To burrow A4OOO to *fcgag in a high pressure water supply: lor 52, against 27. Majority for 25. (3) Tnut rating shall be on the unimproved value: Tor 4V, agaist 32. Majority for 15.

That fino specimen of stinking-fish purveyor* tuc( x'aounaii&lV iuueiy roportou mat a uanquot was tciiuorea at ciii’c, wno was leaving for Argentina, dirt, in rospouuxng, saia : “lie liana iuigo amount of money available, uut coma not no idle investment in. lairing up more laua xu Australia, wnoro 00 per cent, went to pay taxes or vaiious lauds, so ho was going to South America, where laud taxation was unknown*" Uniorcunateiy tne "Jiteviow ' waaaered or was puonea into tile omco ox me iruenos n.uv<> “.Daily .ueraia," ami that paper cuiaiy lemariica upon Cuffs “hiiooiui iguurance, -xnoie is, -I '' it autieU, ” ouen a tax in as contnuumon urritoriai, ua&ea un tun eSoimatcu vaiao Oi cue noiainyo, uua it x& a jiu>t tax." nut wnen Uiutiiwr mut uau got over mu t»nocn ui mm, it pi unuo^u, mm iiu«. n«--woUitL * nave noLnuiy woioo lO lace' than urougnt—\wucn nc is uuuuu-m usvu tv —auu ioCUafa, WUxCil XIC UlUj yet to llav in time." suii tnvie is sumo uuuot no to tnat beiaa* mo extent oi me curves anead of luui, lor tne *'xicram" was uvit uay icuu.uww uy n coricopouuent that it Jiaa iornotcen to tell mr vAut oi the tax time .■uitiiuna will collect whoa ho lo marlrec hid elouK a little tax' of two uoiiars per’ bmiock anti 10U per sneep muoro me beasts ail even allowed to travel out of tneir oiamot. it looics as though, aiter an, Clift may yet wish himself back in the country which, if it does drive out capital, doem t, any now, wait on the diover with a gun in one hand and a large collection plate in tue other. * * * * •

Tom Mann’s daughter Efflo was playing and singing tun title role in '"l'lie Merry Widow” at the Pavilion, a London East-End theatre, what time pa was being tried and sentenced lor inciting soldiers to mutiny. She has been touring tne part for some time with considerable success, and is described as a ■'clever and accomplished girl” who is credited with the unfilial statement, ‘L detest strikes.”