PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 80

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

THE BRITISH STRIKE. In one of the New Zealand Labour papers recently there was an article on the strike, written, I think, by Professor .Mills, who recently lectured in Dunedin on Socialism and unity of action. When he was in Wales, 18 months ago, he was permitted to attend a strike meeting, when the miners voted not to take the advice of their leaders. This is what the Professor has to say on the meeting, and what it heralded : "\\ ifch more than a year of study of the British Labour movement, I saw nothing more charaotcristic of British trades unionism than was this meeting. Its proceedings was carried cm in an open held. There were 10,000 men and boys, who were minors as well as minors. No one was admitted to the grounds except those who wore members of the union. 1 was the special guavt of the local union, and as huoh was given a place among them. There was no excitement, no abu.se of anyone, no calling- of names. Even the men whose advice was spoken against, were given credit for long years of service. The speaking was solely on the merits of the advice offered 1 , and consisted almost entirely in the statement of tho situation. leaving the men to draw thek own conclusions. " The meeting lasted for two hours, and not. onoo was tho proceedings inter nip ted with piotesi.fi or with cheers. Even the British " Hear, hoar " was not once heard. All were standing. The reading was done from an elevation, and when the motion was finally put 10. CO 0 , pairs of arms were lifted in support of the motion, and not a single hand went up the other way. They had been .standing for two hours. Tho issues were of the gravost importance, and yet even ait the end there was no cheering; they simply turned about, locking grimly at each other, broke into little knots of friends, and quietly walked away. '" Ten thousand working men had voted to stand by 80 working men demanding the very tilling which tho British Governniient itself has finally inteifercd to insist ii|K>n —i.e., tho minimum wage. The strike in already victorious. The national ownership of the mines its Inevitable. The British railways will follow. The utter destruction of the Osborne judgment is sure to come. Responsible local self-government under Home Rule. Women suffrage and for all adults. One man one vote and of equal value; the re-distrioriug of the electorates. All these arc in the situation. This strike is not a substitute for political action. .Tho miners alone have 15 men in Parliament. It, is tho act of the whole Labour movement, in Parliament and out. It, is a strike when; the whole of Labour, both its working power and its voting power, are jointly brought to boar in a great, and in what must be a winning, conflict on Ik;half of Labour."

In the last paragraph four points are referred to which 1 have touched upon in my Chats. Let me briefly allude to them again. The Osborne judgment, if I remember rightly, was a legal decision that trade unionists cannot use their funds to pay M.P.'s with. The Suffragettes at Home are not seeking voting power for all women, and that is one reason why many trade unions are against the movement —the unionists thinking that if the vote is given to a limited number of women belonging to the wealthier classes it will mean that unionists will be leas likely to get reforms through Parliament. At present, many voters can vote perhaps five or six times in separate places, while others have no vote at all ; hence the cry for one man one vote, and all votes of equal value, as with us, for instance. My Chat a fortnight ago showed that British electoral districts do not contain approximately the same number of voters, so the call for equal electoral districts is understandable and reasonable. SOME STARTLING FIGURES. From the same or another issue of the same Labour journal I take the following figures. ■ They are worth reading and thinking over, seeing that it is quite possible that in the near future we may have another election in New Zealand :

Do figures tiro you'.' Well, here are some that will make you so surprised that you will not know that you are tired. Many very startling things have come to light. recently in connection with New Zealand politics. None so remarkable as the following figures, tiho accuracy of which are vouched for by those in whom I have the greatest confidence. Get your pencil and do some figuring on your own account. Tito total number of votes cast in the recewt election was -184,91!) The total number of men and women above '2l to bo found in Nlew Zealand on the census' returns waa 587,000 Tho total number of names on the electoral roli was 590.01-2 No alien, not resident in New Zealand for five years, nor any person in prison or montai hospital could bo on the electoral rolls, while large numbers of men who would be entitled to bo there do not take tho trouble to enroll, a total which in all probability altogether of those- counted in the census but ' not enrolled, or not entitled to be on the rolls 50 000 None of these figures are very startling. It i.-, in the comparison of them thai trouble arise-.. Try to compare them ; and Mien tr\ to defend New Zealand politics and the calm assumption of its political spokesmen that there is no corruption in the politics of this country. Notice if you do either, you cannot possibly do the other one. Follow 11:is:—If you deduct the whole number of all the adults—2l years or over—from the whole number of registered names on the rolls, the figures stand this way: 590.042 o.i th-e rolls, loss 587,000 in the country, gives 3042 more votes than there are people. Would it not Ive an interesting thing to learn the politics of those 3042 voters of New Zealand who do not even exist in New Zealand? Here is u. worse one yet. The census report includes the criminal in prison, the patient in the mental hospital, th-e alien with no vote, and tho resident too independent to secure enrolment. This last is a verv numerous quantity. I met the man who is not on tiie roll during tho Last cam-

paign. He is here in New Zealand. Ho is not on the roll, but he is in the census — and just deduct the 50,000 of these people from the census number of 587.000 and there are loft only 537.000 people from which to get the 590,042 names on the electoral rolls. - This makes 53,042 names on the rolls with no one to fit tlie names. These figures do not work out well. They look as if they had over-worked in the processes which are supposed to protect the country from criminal voting, and yet leave results like these. Waive for a moment the total number of votes actually cast, which were oast on behalf of mythical voters whose right to vote was entirely mythical, and count them all as given in the returns. Total enrolment, 590,042; total votes polled, 484.949. After the voting was all done there were still 106,893 opportunities to put in more votes by anyone acting under the guidance of a scoundrel who knew the roll, just so the new voter did not eon<=cientiously object to voting in many places during the same day. A. great opportunity for men of thai sort, and for politics of the sort so uncomfortably prevalent in the recent campaign. Here were some great business opportunities for men who could gather from the rolls (lie names of the absent, the insane, the tlead. t.h.e negligent, and handle groups of repeaters who could be voted under a new name as often as an unused name could bo found and a purchasable substitute be produced for the ocoasion.