GAGGING THE CIVIL SERVICE. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11113, 14 May 1898, Page 3

GAGGING THE CIVIL SERVICE. TO THE EDITOR.

!. Sis, —In " Wellington News Notes " conj.tainedin this, morning's Daily Times, "Your Own " seems guilty of an attempt to gag the officials of tha Labour department. ' He states that at a meeting of those interested in the formation of a, domestic servants' union in Wellington,' "the laay in charge of the meet-. j ing was a .Government officer in the Labour j department," and that the "Government by its [officers appear to'be organising a propagandist!! among .domestic servants, the objeat being to create and Becare a class vote of a domestic servant character for use at the general olec- ! fcion." I To the-,wLola of your correspondent's state-: ! ments I give a point blank denial. There is j not a shred of truth in bis statements. j The facts ace as follow.: —The secretary i of the New Zealand Socialist League convened I and took charge of the meeting of domestic I servants, the movement being initiated and j conducted at the instance and the expense of i She Women's Committee of the Socialist League. ! This statement can be proven by a reference to -■ a report of the meetings, which appeared in' j.yoar contemporary the Evening Post. j Now the constitution of the Socialist League s contains the following : —" The league shall not affiliate with ... any political party not avowedly Socialistic " ; and Premier Seddon has distinctly and publicly repudiated any such thing in politics as Socialism! The officer of the Labour department spoken of by " Your Own " was invited to the meeting by a mutual friend, and was there in her private capacity, as a, friend; and would "Your Own " deny servants of the State the right to 1 attend any meeting—ia their owe time—to show their sympathy with their fellows by assisting—if they think prope.r—ia any social or Economic reform movement ? j In hio desire for a ".shot" at the Government ■ " Your Own" has overshot the mark and simply made an unprovoked attack upon one whom the rules of the service debar from replying to newspaper scribes. What value can we place upon " Yom Own's " dismal wail about the " reign of terror " amoagai the civil servants? Is he not attempting to " g»g " and terrorise the civil servants now ?— j I sm, &c, W. D. M.

The two-year-old son of W. L. Fnrgason, of Bolton, Miss., had whooping cough. "After several physicians had prescribed for him, without giving relief," writes Mr Ftsrgason, " I persuaded my wife to try a 25-cent bottle of Chamberlain's Cough Remedy. The first dose had the desired effect, and hi forty-eight hours he was entirely free from all cough. I consider your remedy the beat in the market, especially for children, and recommend it at all times. For sale by all leading Chemists.