THE JUGO-SLAVS

NZ Truth, Issue 683, 20 July 1918, Page 5

THE JUGO-SLAVS

AtTIY DESIRABLE AMNS?

Aa Opinion from 1 Hie North of Auckland

Is New Zealand Adopting the Right Attitude Towards These Men?

Dear "Truth," — Recently the papers have been eloquent on 'the difficulties experienced m dealing- with the Slavs m our midst. The officials are plainly discomfited, and no doubt the general public will be vastly astonished to read of these^ men on strike, and of their "demands, discontent, threats, hostility and Inso- ( lenoe." But those of us who have long known them oh <the gumflelds are not m any way surprised. We know they have never been anything; else but hostile to the British. We Unew t too, when our Government hafltaned to pour out oblations at ..;■ •-■■. ! pif^iim, pnrvii-aoE and palavkr beforo the upstart josa of Jugoalavism, they were but lending themselves to one of the most damnable impostures It Sis possible to conceive. < Previous to the war these men presented themselves to the matter-of-fact, eye simply as a horde of marauding aliens bent on digging' a fortune out of this country and making? off to spend ft dri -their own. We did not trouble to speculate precisely an to where this latter might be. Our geographical interest was sufficiently satisfied by referring to them as the "Chinkees of Europe." (For this we now feel an apology Is due ..to our Celestial Allies. Offered herewith). We observed that the Slavs rarely became settlers. They only took out naturalisation papers the better, to plunder the . Grown reserves without let or hindrance. Prom field to 3 field they moved like an invading rabble, leaving behind them such a' hideous desolation as no one shall find heart to settle on for the next fifty, years. The only comforting feature about them ■ was that they cleared out when they had made their pile, but this was counterpoised by the incursion of neiy hordes mora rapacious- than tho othora. Suddenly the war! These allona had always been content to pass for "bloom-, ing Austrhvns." The flag of Austria "protected them, and the Austrian Consulate wa.s the repository of all their • griefs and pains. JJut m the first breath of war they suddenly blossomed forth as Jugo Slavs. They proceeded to burn the Austrian flag, and m the words of the Government official, became profuse m THEIR PROTESTATIONS OF LOYALTY and offers to assist the Government m every possible way. On the strength of this astute and inexpensive stage manr oeuyre they were officially' acclaimed as. noble feiip\ys and granted renewal liberty and license to carry on with the plunder. To realise the deep injury tljus mr flicted on our own people, it is necessary to live m a gumflelds settlement! From here all the fit young men enlisted at the outbreak of war. They went off not without misgivings, for they - sa\y left behind a swarm of treacherous cnenjy aliens 'who would profit by their absence to dig up the .livelihood of themselves and their kindred. Thi3 was bitter indeed. They could only hope that so outrageous an injustice could not continue. 'This, hops was cruelly betrayed; During the four tragio years that have p^ssecj nothing has been done. An uncommon number of the men from here have been killed and their families plunged into mourning. But the Slavs have dope very well, thank you 4 . They prosper, and m the growing sunlight of their privileged position their mark of devotion to the Allies has faded considerably. Of late, they have felt secure enough to dispense with lip loyalty. They exult openly at disaster to the Italians, and though Tthey frame hypocritical words qf regret with their mouth ' they cannot keep the evil joy out of their eyes when speaking of our own defeats. Try to imagine the feelings of those whose sons and brothers have fallen, and of those who have returned rnalihed In body pr broken m health! To the mildest man m these circumstances the psychology of the i^ynch law and kindred' violences ceases to be the. reptt&na'nt mystery it was. Nothing- could be more eloquent of the high ethical plane New Zealanders have reached than the fact that these odious people have l>eo.n perntitted to carry on provoe;it!ngly for foiir years without molestation of any kind. In any of the old lands AN AFFRONTED POPULACE would long since h*ive raged their shanties and driven them into internment, not as a penalty, but as a haven of refuge. Yet anything A'iler than tho Slavs's ingratitude would be impossible to conceive. Actually, from their tone they appear to think that it is we who should feel grateful because they have refrained from open acts of hostility. The faot sjmply is that, apart from their, repuls.iye gr§£d of g«m, these creatures have no fixed principle of devotion to apythinjf, For instance, they trot gut' an ignorant myth of from "20 to GO thousand British workmen who are. settled m Bosnia alone, and if they (the Slavs here) are interfered with, my word, we will soon see what Austria will do"— the Austria they have reviled and in«u!t6A, and whose sacred embi<?m they burned when, it suited their Interest so to do. Could any attitude be more unimaginably vile? Clearly is would be grotesque for Mr; John Cullen or anybody else to look for a British standard of honor among a tribe of this kind. „ The Commissioner reports that though many have shirked, qther.s have responded fairly weil m the- main- From -absolutely none of these, however, njay be argued a .spirit of loyalty or a desire to serve. Mr. Cullen possibly does not know that the call to employment at 11s a day coincided with a closing of the gum market, and the advent of the rain season when it 'tis impossible to earn anything, like 11s a day at gum-digging. Given the circumstances THE BITTEREST GERMAN ENEMY we have would hail with dellprht this new avenue for exploiting o\ir quixotic eoun- < t.r-y. Why. to many of cmr own pponle : il 'would bft a pod -wnrt: therefore, absolutely no alien ran 1)l> oreiMtea with an '• uiiselflvh nvjiivft- m accepting the work. }m every capo whera jterson.;;! gain or ( comfort would suKjjcst it they 3eek exemption, and I wililfive you tjypical instances, of tho sort of card Wig*., takes a trick with t,h,e authorities. Close by there i.s a tract of land owned by two , brothers. One is naturalised, but the j other never trpubled about that formality, j They hsive never sought to improve their land m any. way, their aim beir^g to Plunder its treasures of gum, and leave ; such a waste as shopks and sickens! the • soul of every patriot. These two. men I I (single), Tyere among those most "proin 'promises," but when the call c^nie j for service they developed a. sudden 'pas? sion for farming; shifted to another block ' they own twelve miles away, and sought ( exemption m order to plc-ugfr sonic of it. ! The trick is transparent, for they would ! never have thought of Improving the land ' m any way but for the call to redeem ( thejr promise to cjo" Government work. £ The next instance Is the Slav store- c keeper. The gu,ni trade being practically • defunct, neither he nor his store fulfils ) a Py useful function whatever; but t observe lie has turned over a sod or two c , m his back yard, and on. the strength of this feat of agriculture, I understand, he j; is to apply for exemption as "the last ; man pn trie farm.' N Is it not top cynical? * .For h)s brother (single), also, he appeals for exemption. What they really desire is to retain their grip on the gumflelds at all costs. ' y The third example is probably the n MOST OUTRAGEOUS OF ALL. It is a general rule for gumdlggers to sort F and sell their gum at least once a month, C but some of the Slavs conceived it would li be a fine idea to dlff up all they could fi while our man wore a\ tho front. So they 6 juHt piled it In huge hlllooka about the fr held?- They would take time to sort and ti sell it when our men returned and were ji seeking a livelihood by digging over the js Ausuians' leavings. When the call cams a

to do Government work they were given exemption to sort and dispose : of their enormous piles of gum, but as there is no one to check their actions, do you know what they are doing? Why, merely adding to their hoard by digging every day. Such treachery, almost excels belief, and yet these revolting frauds are perpetrated before the eyes of people who have suffered cruelly by the war, and who live m daily anxiety for their kindred at the front. It Is little wonder, however, that these upstaitf Serf» grew Insolent, tot they hay* bo«n no pfiviUeftd and pw pefail ftb(>v» em? own p«opl« thit tK«y have aqme to Tne&rd thAma«iv«s an som« rar^ and exolusiva national tr«aat»r« whlqh the Gpyernmen^t jyljl do anything, rather ■"than'r part with. Mo^ ove r, they feel thjßy Jaaye us pn the b!jp," If obliged to do Government work, eajn they not by slacking .and sabotage achieve more Injury than service? Internment?" Why, they desire nothing better. In theif fine, free fling of four yeara, have they not caved somewhat? And noyr that tha gum trade Is bad what prospect mora enchanting: than to live m comfort till the end of the war at the country's expense, and when peace comes, emerge refreshed, to resume the dishonored parable of their lives where they left it off? There is only one just solution to this prob!em, and it should have been applied four years ago: Ship these men to Salonika to serve with the Serbs at Serbian rates of pay. Let everything they have exploited from New Zealand be retained here to be confiscated the morftent they deviate from the path of, dfcty which the rest of us have had to treid so painfully. Let us see them perfornt their barbarous rite of burning the flag of Austria -m the presence of our enemies. . For nearly four, years the Government have professed to find completo satisfaction m the words and outward froth of loyalty of these men, but they know now that from the moment they sought tg give thi3 pretence a form of effective reality, the Slavs have' given nothing but a progressive revelatfoh of their inward baseness and treachery. We Who know these people ask: How "many more strikes, threats, insults, and like hostilities will be necessary to convince the Government they are' dealing not with friends, but with the most Insidious and. certainly the most contemptible pf all our enemies. — Yours, etc., "BLAGK WATCH." North Auckland. •