MR KEIR- HARDIE M.P., "AT HOME."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9565, 22 October 1892, Page 5 (Supplement)

MR KEIR- HARDIE M.P., "AT HOME."

The World made Mr Ifcir Hardie, M P it , "Celebrity at Homo" one week in aWm Hardio lives at Lochuorris, Camuocic. 'The towas of Ayrshire are IW o«rbial^r picture^ wsam expwsmij- , n( l S |, ei . o is ,om»s*.Jin S, SS furnished study, if you except a B ikeHiffil3 prevailing at Lochnprris House ; but Mr d°e Dims, as well as the wooden sabots and minerllamp ho brought back from Belgium On th" mantelpiece stands out prominently a finalr! and a portrait group of "had restores "W< h Henry George as thecenfcral figure Two sidet of the modest room (for tho «'<'eu At r,,Ph norr* only measure, 12ft by 12 J"re c,S mcd. witt bookshelf, on" whii The S prominent place is occupied by a iJn* ,^ "= liaidie bj the Ayrshire miner.?. la his ch«iV.> m coin. D g coafliebs. Both sides of ever^con the smllmg shocker "within his K ate 3Ho impetuously to tell his father aU about his lessons as he comes back from school .i 6!! n^ rf !e is ™T fond of his Scotch ho-ne and its picturesque sarrouudings. His fruih garden runs right down to the rtfer, and above the deserted mil!, on the opposite bank the hills stretch upwards till theY serm to touch the clouds in the far distance. It is notilifiWlfc to understand why your host most heartily detests a. city life, and prefers to ever»H,ini which London can offer him the breezy grdm used by his three children as a playground the eafy arch beneath which he sits and s nokS his evening p, P e, and the primitive Ayrshire town, with its congenial memories of tho" Covenanters, the Chartists, and «Robb™" Burns. He has given to 'his ho r n, by tL Lugar the name of the colliery village,- 10 miles from Glasgow, where he was bTn 3S years ago. His father, a ship's carpal h* since taken to mining. K 'eir Hardic n4er went to school but taught himself writing? and even Ghorthaud ' down in the pit, by the a.'d of c E m:t!-, sU f e nud The eldest o a family of seven, he began to work for h.s bread when only sereil) carryillg an , sharpen;^ fcoob in a Glasgow shipyanl, and performing the varied duties which fall to a nipper. In due time he became a "rivetheater," but a fatal accident, in which tiro boys pensaed, indaeed his mother to remove him to tne pits of his native place, where he remained tiU he was 24, when his employers Dismissed him for over-activity in the matter of trade.i uaions. The Lanarkshire _.miners made him saoretary of their association, and he became at the same time the manager and sub-editor of the local newspaper at Cumuock. In 1886 he went in svrongly for mining organisation, and two yeais la.er he stood as the first Labour candin* h 6w! ! leard, of iQ Scotland for Mid-Lanark. Both -Whig and Tory opposed him tooth and nail, and he polled less than 1000 votes Fiv years ago he began to attend trade union congresses, Mr Broadhurst and other chiefs of theold scnool of working men's candidatss bcincthen all-powerful. Mr Broadhurst had no sympathy for the eight-hour "movement, of which Mr Hardie was the ardent pioneer, and has m consequence failed to obtain re-elecuiou. He was invited to accept the Labour candidature for South-Wesb ham, and carried the seat by a large majority notwithstanding- the fierce resistance of official Liberalism. lie is a "life abstainer," bub smokes persistently when reading or thinking and even when foregathering with Mr John Bums and Mr Burleigh at the Democratic Uubin Essex street, where he hopes you will have a full exposition of his views in the winter.

Strolling down the garden path towards the iiugar, the conversation drifts away to booVs and literature. Mr Hardie pleads guilty to being a voracious reader, but hs only masters juso enough of the daily newspapers to keep himself m touch with current events. His only real ally in the House of Commons is Mr John Bums He belongs tone faction, and firmly declines to treat politics as a same. His aim is to found a party which will concern its-lf evclusively with what Carlyle called "the coilduion of the people question." '«The artificial ire of to-day, which has its reflex in current luerature, says the member for South-West Ham, as he leans, pip 3 in hand, against the creeper-covered trellis-work, "is largely tb» production of the harum-scarum industrial system, wnsre every man is concerned about getting on m the world irrespective of his iellcws To remedy this we propose th,t competition should be restrained, and that the State should acknowledge its responsibilities towards the poorer classes by organising industry on a co-operative basis. At the present moment two millions of persons aro on the verge of starvation owing to the bread winner bsuiff out of employment. Two years heneo the number will be increased fourfold, and we claim that the first duty of the politician is to meet the wants of the people. It can be done m a variety of ways, but, one way or another, it must bo dene. Shorter hours of labour, better homes for the toilers, and opportunities for thu development of a more healthy stste of existence, arc matters of iniiuitelr greats'importance than mere political reforms* or the discussion of abstrast theories. Be sure of 011 c thing—wo mean to make om- voices heard and our grievances known, at all costs. The problem is one of actuality and emergency. Its solution brooks no delay, and Sir Gladstone dare not my longer postpone its consideration." Mr ITardie goes back to his desk, and while biddiiv you good-bye with a hearty shake of the hand expresses a hope that your interest in the working man may not be lessened by your pilgrimage to Cumnock, which he hopes may terminate in visit to Sandy l'edeu's grave the tombs of the Covenanters, and the snr>ts rendered memorable by their association with ttoberfc Burns,