WRLD OF WORK

NZ Truth, Issue 509, 20 March 1915, Page 2

WRLD OF WORK

for Proletarian Plugs — . / .;;■ ' .By " honestas." — —

1 ' leanis^ from a Christctmrch printf thJjft^t£the annual ■ m eet•Siijf oJ;:thelO^n^bulF>. Hotel and Res- , taura^t last week Mikii-vwKyX^&iStiil "buddie," now krib^n;^:GW?6ttg'^Sfithe Hon. John Barr, was presented with a fully charged sovereign. caße as a slight token of appreciation of tl^e services he had rendered to hotel workers. Ah t weel, gif-'gaf male's quid freens! The' hotel workers evidently knew what would i make an acceptable gift to a Scotsman, especially a. "Seestu" callant* The Hon John may have performed some slight services for (the hotel workers and the stone masons also, which latter craft he used to follow before he found out that sprulk'injg in 'Parliament paid bettor than punching ithe unsympathetic stone, but he has served John Barr beat of all. - The* Christchurch scribe ventured the remark that the sovereign oase ,was. "suitably inscribed." If it was, the Hon Ja.ck, when he has extracted, the #pl den googies therefrom enn have that jcaae < melted, down. - - ■ - ■■•■ • .•• \ ' • * • #, Since the outbreak of the .European' war, there has been much mention m tbenoosepapere of the Parisian revolution of .1871, commonly called the Paris Commune, the anniversary of which occurred this week, And the names of many of the leading, actors m the events of that altirrlng time, are being recalled.. The other^dayVHoneatas" * saw m a contemporary! the < name of Leo Mllleit, one of the,. Prjoyoat of; Paris during the commune; and again he was a barefooted boy ,Ott»»the : b.anks of the Mollindinar.^t».was^,the autumn of 1871, the month October., It was <the»"Fast Day" and he had, gone fishing for "baggies"' m the.burn.' }:He wandered on behind' the i cathedral; of-. hJs< native city and there he was approaohed by a little foreign-looking man/ queerly dressed, who had evidently^ slept out all night by.tlje burnside. The man asked m brok-, «n English what day it was, and the boy a; little scared, . replied "Thursday." Then he < sought, to Know the meaning of .the ."ringing; feejls-" and it was explained, to. -him: that the bells were churoh bells palling the people !to Diving service... Said; the boy, "It's the FastJDay v .an'> Sunday's the Sacrement." The lfittle man laughed and said, "I tot I sleejt till Zunday;' 1 The little man was,. Leo MlllJeV ex -Provost of Paris. Frqm.the fail i of* the Commune he had be«tt m hiding- /until, stowing, away on a Dunkirk boat boynd for Glasgow, he haji lande4 aa.fely.-in the latter city. It was- late on. a;- Wednesday night whon he- -arrived.- He... wandered the city ■treeto unltll dog, tired, he lay down by<JthTalde oftheMollindinar and fell fast, aaleep. . When, ho awoke the sun was shining brightly, church bells were olaoging,, and <wey,; pressed people .were - hurrying, intp.'jthe^arious churches thai clustered, and still cluster, round that part of ithe clty...,.He. at once concluded that it was Sunday and that he had Hlept four nlgMs, and three days. Leo Mllllet found work for a time m Glasgow and after aUit^vent as a teacher of Freiioty , M to f .^Edinburgh University, where he remained' until he was, after aeveral unsuccessful attempts, returnod as ff Socialist !to- the' Parliament of his native country, holding his seat therein until his death. l Years after that first meeting. "Htpnestas" heard the cxPrpvost -lecture on 'the French CommUrte to a-class -of, Edinburgh students. He told the t»tory 'of his supposedly long sleep behind the Glasgow Cathedral and of the scared look oh the boy's faci, whom he had interrogated, v.',heri he faughe'd^" 'and'.' 'said, "1 tot I ■leept .tiU .Zunday.^.. The boy afte/tyards shook hs^nda, with the ex-Provost, then known as Professor Milllet, and respected and ' honored by workers of Scotland m general and of Edinburgh m particular. Scarcely half a century has passed since he took his place «s a communard m Paris, and again the Prussians are thundering outside his native city, but good old Leo Milllot

is no more; the burn behind the Cathedral, on the verdant banks of which he slept dh his first night on land after his escape* from France, is no more a limpfd ptfeam, but has been converted into a common' sewer bearing the filth of the great city through 'its subter-. ranean channel to, the famous river Clyde. "-. Well has.old.Hajl Abdu JEI Tezdi said: *" We meet ito 1 part; --.yet ; asks my sprite: . . Part we to meet? Ah! is it so? Man's fancy-made Omniscience knows, who made Omniscience nought can know." Their fame hath filled the Seven Climes,, ■ t^ey.rjose and re 'ighed, they foughtj and fail,- ' ' '" " i As swells' and swoons across the wold the tinkling of the Camel's bell. Awards Inspector Bailey keeps a well skinned eye on Christchurch employ-' ers who are Inclined to Hickeylse industrial agreements, an<l-can- be properly described as the right man m tthe right place. Last week, m the Christchurch S.M's Court he proceeded against ten business flrms/ the^charges m •- most •cases being on account of Early.Closing Act breaches. It reflects a g^lon •or two of credit on Inspector Bailey, •that, 'contrary Ito the experience of his' •brother inspectors m the Windy City, he secured a. conviction .m each of his cases, notwithstanding that »in' several, instances • the . commercial' contract, crackers ... employed "Costs" . men, to -..look- after itheir interests.. • The fines secured by- the battling Bailey'amount-. Ed \o a tenner. This las.t is the only unsatisfactory .thing .about the. cpnvictlons — ;the penalties m most qascs ought to have been much heavier. ... . . , ■ ,' "Ehoa," a Maori shearer, writing from Tuparoa,. tells of the troubles and hardships inflicted on the just (unionists) m that 'district. A fortnight ago "Honestas" treating of the non-unionist Maori shearer, shed-hand and general farm laborers told of full grown men who worked year m and year out for ten shillings a week. "Honestas" added, "but let me be just, these ten shilling men get tucker m addition to that wage." If seems he was- more than jus.t. "Ehoa" tells of a case, and gives the name of the guilty squatter (which , has been passed on to the Labor Department) who agreed to pay his shed hands ten shillings a week and tucker. When the shearing was finished he gave each df the roustabouts a cheque equivalent to the wage agreed upon, but refused to meet the tucker bill. ' This mean hound told the boys they' 'could take him before, the Court, he was prepared to stand tho consequences. Thi* sanie Wool-grower had some troublo with' his shearers. One .day while thSy were cutting out a mob it 'rained heavily for some time. Before' they cut out night fell and the farmer,' de 1 -' spite the wet,- ordered the sheep to<be penned {> vvhioh ..is.. contrary to the Act. Next day he, prdegfcd. ..the. men to shear. the Wet'sheep.'and on,. their r^fysal. he had them! expelled ' from ' th'e . shed. "Ehoa" says : ( . „ v , Many of thes.e squatters ■ think they 'are at large -and can do as they like, but we'll havo to get the dog's collar on -to them as soon as possible. • • He tells of numerous other breaches, particulars of which have all been forwarded to the Labor Department; "Ehoa" is anxious to have the district he toils m brought fully under the influence of the- union, and urges the appointing of several extra organisers. Now that the shearers have decided to amalgamate with the Farm Laborer's Union, this last should be. easy of accomplishment. It Is recognised by all that the Maori shearer has come to stay, so the sooner he is made a good unionist the better. ' , ■ ••• • ■ Mr. Ashfor'd, Minister of Agriculture m the. Holman Government across tho Tasman, resigns that position to become Minister of Lands In succession to the late Mr. J. L. Trfifle, Mr. George Black, Labor member for Namoi, has been raised to Cabinet rank In order to fill .the vacancy caused by the death Qt Minister of Lands Treflo. Mr. Black will take Mr.Ashford's discarded portfolio of Agriculture. Jordle Black is a. Scot,' somewhat over sixty years of ago, more than forty years of which he has spent, ln Australia. After arriving m Australia he tackled anything offering, finally drifting Into Journal ism. He was for some time sub-editor of the Sydney "Bulletin,", has been editor of the Sydney "Worker," and the "Barrier Dally Truth," ana is~ the author of the "History of the Labor Party In New South Wales," a work he was well qualified to write, not only from his literary ability, but because of the fact that he has been a member of tho party since Us Inception, .hayfng been one. of the first batch of Labor members returned, to the New South Wales Parliament after, the big maritime strike. Jordlo is, also tho author of a book on Burns, vigorously defending tho Ayrshire Bard from the calumnies of his traducers, m which, however, it must be confessed, the exiled Scot shows more zeal for, than knowledge of, his subject. Mr. Black sat m Parliament from 1891 till 1898 when he was defeated by twenty votes. For tho next dozen years ho eschewed active participation m politics and dovoted himself to journalism as already statod. In 1910, however, he was prevailed upon to again enter the wordy arena, and was returned for the seat ho N still represents. Jordle was tho author of. the famous phrase, "support In return for concessions," made In i notable speeoh m hja first Parliament, when ho defined the then attitude of the Labon Party to other- partios, and m which ho prodloted tho Labor rjse to power. His election to the Ministry was very favorably received throughout the Labor- movement. ,