The Truth about Paraguay.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume II, Issue 134, 11 April 1894, Page 2

The Truth about Paraguay.

Lecture by Mr McNaught.

There was a good attendance at the j Town Hall on Monday evening to hear r Mr McNaught lecture on the above , subject:— Mr A. Stewart, the Chairman, introduced Mr McNaught. Mr McNaught apologised for being late. He opened by relating their side of the matter anent the late trouble in Paraguay , as stated by tho cablegrams. Tho evidence of apostates was generally not lfablo, and , should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. The Association had published the fact of the trouble long before anything was known of it any where else. They had had cables from the Chairman stating that a body of men had violated the constitution, with respect to contravening a resolution, notably in respect to total abstinence; also of the resolution by going ashore at Monte Video. Another man had retained possession of .£’soo and taken it with him, thus violating another rule. The violation of the rule prohibiting drinking had been the first cause of the trouble, several of the men getting drunk at Monte Video. Brit- : tlebank, an apostate, had his X'fiO paid I for him, and proved himself to be one of I the dissatisfied ones. He had developed a craze for writing to the Australian . papers and he gave himself away every time. The Association agreed to obey the laws of any country they settled in. They were not allowed to import articlos into Paraguay for baiter, joi Brittlebank acknowledged that he had bartered goods away to tho natives for drink. The constitution of the Association had been agieed to in Australia, yet some of those in Paraguay had tried to upset it. This had been forseen and articles of Association had been made to provide that the articles should obtain in full force for two years, or until 500 men had been landed in Paraguay. The endeavor to upset tho j constitution had been defeated by Lane, j who was thereupon characterised by these ! apostates as a dictator. They were indeed poor men, who endeavoured to turn others \ from joinigg, an association which had pro- | vided them with work and a home. As i j forth© nonsense about pianos and ploughs, ! what would be the use of taking ploughs i to such a country a* this. Now as to the I reasons ' , '*deh had led to the formation of New Australia. w <we discontented men, but they were good company for all the best men of all time i had been discontented men. Thero was j more discontent now than there had ever been ; whore there was smoke there must | bo fire, and where there was general dis- j content there must be some cause. They were discontented because they had to take I off their hat to a fellow to ask for leave to j toil. The unemployed question was the j cause of tho starting of tho association. \ Why had man the power to make his fellows mourn ? That question would have 1 to be answered before discontent would 1 vanish. The hardest work they had was j the getting of the work to do it, and that j was why they were discontented. And what was the cause of that ? Because they were a landless community. Because they wore brought into tho world landless. Carl Marx said tho economic structure of society must be the foundation on which everything must rest. A little political economy the later day political economy —would explain the raison d'etre of the ' association. There were three factors in

ooonomioftl wionM —Oia laborer, capital, and land . iaMlao they were told by political « mwiniaU. They ware than told that these Hire© warn lo ha brought together to prudoca the result—wealthA There waa a big • win die worked on tha pooplu of the earth by the old aconoyu. In talking of tin projucuoa of wealth it was one active an i two paaaiva factors - labor, a man, and capital and land things. Dealing with the dm -ion of wealth it was no longer one active aud two pateiv factors. Later day economists and com moil sense to d them that as only ona active factor produce! wealth. the other two had uo right to ha brought in, in tha division of wealth, as active factors. The attempt to make labor capital and land also was at the bottom of their dm coment. In the old Look they were told there was no need for a landlord. Yet I there lived millions who had no chance of ever getting land, but always nad to pay the other fallow for leave to exist on the land which tha commandment said '•The Lord thy God giveth thee. Said Emerson : “ Your title to the laud is vitiated so long as there is a single land \ ! less being in the world. ' Their mataehip was simply to see whether it was not possible to live by land and capital jointly and work in common. The x would organise industry not in th| way it waa carried on at present, bif* rather on the old style. They would or ganise industry by appointing a director democratically, then subdivide their industries into all the various branches of occupation and give every man the choice of his own occupation. That dona, they would elect officer# to do the necessary work of organisation, and then elect the foremen of the various industries. An executive would be required for the super vision of the whole lot. Tin foreman and the directors would form the ministry, with the director as the head of the Industrial . commonwealth. Governm nt was a three ) fold thing -legislative, « xeoutive, and supreme court. On similar lines they would carry ou in Paraguay, wi h one cx caption. They would make thoir own laws an elect and executive to idministc'x them. As to a judicial system they would make very fovv laws. The present judge and jury system was simply trial by combat, only the weapons now were tho ton ml tin longest | .■ ■ ft longest tongue. The judge simple loosed s on and maintained tho rules of game. They proposed to allow disputants to elect then own judge who would not be hampered by laws, but would decide on the equitable position of the dispute. Men in their abilities to produce wealth differed no more than in their height or girth. Therefore tho principle of aharo and share alike was a just one. It took thousands of men to satisfy each man s wants, an 1 llm experience t'lint ;tge K*ve equalised ihe advantage of phyncal power. A, to tho brain workers it wu not the tliinga who called Ihcniseiveu the brain workers who urn the brain workers. The real bn.il workers nev, r naked for reward in poll# shillings and pence. Tliev bad it in the know-led : o tiiat they were doin K their work, and in the estimation in wliieb they were held bv tlieir fellow men. • Honour to whom honour is due" was the principle on whieh these men worked. Vs lor those who called themselves brain workers, there was not uiueli bruin work required to buy a corner lot, or to . airy out the ordinary duties of mercantile ife. Trace any article of wealth right through, and it would puzzle them to know who was the urongest link in the chain of produce. The brain workers were the schoolmasters, computers, and hi si's” they communism' was 'a right and equitable principle. As to the lazy men there was a natural law winch said "if a man won’t work neither tv ill he eat.” Hut really there wore verv feW lazy men. lor fair, henest work there It was always “the other fellow” win was tho lazy man. in which they recat. tho mention of tho Pharisee’s prayer. Was it not an insult to them to bo stig matis«.‘d as lazy, loafing men He remain bered John Rallance 11 years ago m • when public ineu would be allowed to call workers lazv, loafing men because they could not get work to do. The ©onten.pl of ono's fellows was harder to bear than hard work, and rather than hay© ths finger of scorn pointed at him a man would work his hardest. Under tho system proposed in New Australia they woulJ share and share alike. The laborer sus tained the credit of the world, not tip capitalist. 'l'hey had to produce th»r, wages ; having done that they produce tho result and pooled it and took they required on the principle of sin » and share alike. The production of the wealth, not the division, was what wouM engage them. And that seemed to h. very simple to a tool-using people like the English. An overplus of product: n would enable them to purchase the goods of other countries if they desired n. These were all matters of detail. The principle required only common sente. They believed in the method of livir, tiiat oxporieuce had taught them c living in cottages, not palaces. The * fore they believed in the cottage system of socialism, and it was the cottage life as opposed to the palace life that they aimed at. They would do with a* lit 1 « lawmaking as possible between then, selves, and the laws they did make w lid be to protect nun not projjtrty, >1 n * would be held to he the everything and property the nothing. Mr MeNaupit closed by reciting I.urns’ impassion* l lines : “ A man’s a man for a’ that In reply to a question the speaker said I that in two and a half months at the seif lenient over 20 acres were under crop, and 40 more were cleared. Three miles f fence had been built, aud all hands wt re housed. That was not so bad for the time in spite of all quarrelling supposed to have been going on. The last batch of the Royal Tar’s passengers knew all about the row’s, but all insisted on going, and were quite satisfied. They had over 2000 members in Australia now. and these had full confidence in the executive. Th» * had full confidence iu their idea of the brotherhood of humanitv. Mr A. Reese asked if Mr McNaugl.t would explain the causes whieh led to t: • secession of numbers. This Mr McNaught did. touching on tho violation of the pledges concerning int eating liquor. They were determined to prevent liquor getting a hold in their colony. Mr G. Marley asked what protect < i they would have against the Paraguayan tribe*. Mr McNaught replied that tho inb tants were inoffensive and hospitm There folk were well received by the we population. In Paraguay proper the wore no wild tribes. There was no harm ' to be apprehended from this source, rue Paraguyan constitution was one of the boat aad moat democratic in the world Mr J.Orr inquired about the ciimat< in reply to which Mi McNaught «* that the encyclopaedia gave it as m.ld and salubrious, the thermometer rsi._s-.ru-be tween 40 and 100 degrees. i Mr T. Keohan moved That the ihJun* of the meeting be tendered tr> Mi Me Naught for his able and lucid address. j Seconded by Mr Henry and carried b>| acclamation. On the motion of Mr McNaught a v< te of thank* was conveyed to the Chairman.