AUCKLAND EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 87

AUCKLAND EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION.

« 4 THE SOCIALIST "OCTOPUS.-' % AUCKLAND, August 19.- ! In submitting its annual report to thS Employers' Association meeting this afternoon, the Executive Committee stated thafc tli3 aggressive attitude of the extreme Socialistic Labour party was becoming so' pronounced as to demand the most careful attention of all thinking people, and the time had now arrived when ihe Employers' Federation niust seriously consider^ ways and means of checking the growth! of this "octopus," i£ the - best, interests; ( of the inhabitants of the Dominion as 4( whole were to be considered. In the course of the report, the,Execu<?i tive Committee drew (Special attentioni to the deplorable and utter disregard, ofl law and order which had teen so 'much.' in evidence of late amongst several sec* tions of workers throughout the Dominions l No less than 18 strikes had taken place? in as many months. These strikes and/ the action of the Government in regard,' thereto proved beyond all doubt that the' Arbitration Act in its present form.; could neither prevent strikes nor effec-' , tually deal with law-breakers who left their employers in the lurch at a moment's* notice- In speaking on the subject, thef president (Mr Goldie) said there was an? evident reluctance on the part of the? Government to offend those ivho would!, carry the largest voting powers at elec-* tions. Organised Labour, under thei leadership of professional agitators, wasf, doing its best to ruin the industries of th^ Dominion. The employers must become' an aggressive force, or else one by onej, their rights would be niched away, ancl, that spirit of enterprise and earnest en- Ithusiasm M'hich tended to make a country great and glorious would have departed from their midst. The residents of peaceful Maanua one cfew last week stood aghast on their doorsteps &i> the sight of a one-leg#ed man 'on crutches passing alonpr the road, says the Eketahunai Express. He had walked from New Pljr* mouth, and had been 11 days doing the* journey. The longest diefcamce- covered inj on© day was 16 miles, bufc this had beerf rather too much for him. It was a longp way to Wellington, but he would eventually ' get there, though he feared the Rimutaka? hill would tax his physical strength. Hqj was getting old, and his destination was the Old Men's Home, where he looked to speouJ the rest of his life.