THE PELORUS GUARDIAN and Miners' Advocate. TUESDAY, 21st NOVEMBER, 1911. CURRENT TOPICS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 90, 21 November 1911, Page 4

THE PELORUS GUARDIAN and Miners' Advocate. TUESDAY, 21st NOVEMBER, 1911. CURRENT TOPICS.

IiABOCB unrest is being manifested in many directions. The area of industrial disturbance seems to be continually widening, until it is now an actual fact that there is no sphere of business activity that is free from this disturbing influence. The demand for higher wages and improved conditions naturally extends, for no one is likely to be content with the impression that he is receiving all he is worth. In some cases this expectation is justified, and employers must be prepared to make the concessions which will be insisted upon. The laws upon which the Unions can rely in any . emergency are varied and comprehensive, and employers have only one effective weapon —that of their establishments, bat this in turn involves serious injury ijo the particular industries affected/ There are so many opportunities now available for the amicable adjustment of differences that the intrusion of a strike is quite unnecessary and always a matter for regret. Surely it is better that work should continue while negotiations are in progress than that there should he.au entire cessation of operations, which not only inflicts loss on the employer —the strikers’ quid pro quo—bat deprives the men and their families of the necessaries of life. A contrast is supplied in the case of the difference of opinion between employers and Ithe seamen and engineers, on vessels trading to and pn the coast of New Zealand, on the one hand, and in the case of the Mount Lyell miners on the other. In the latter casie the mine is shut up, the men are dependent on outside assistance, and important business arrangements are wantonly disturbed. In the case of the seamen all trouble and inconvenience are avoided by the men continuing work while their representatives and the employers talk the matt ec over amicably, the result being «t satisfactory adjustment of what might t easily have been a most disastrous ic idustrial disturbance. The paid agitator sees in this desire for pacific overtures a menace to his profession, .and is doing his best to discountenance -the practice, but the more enlightened workers are beginning to realise that. ..there is no need to use a sledge-haium* ir to kill a mosquito. A bitter oompla int of bad leadership is made in the sta, tement of a Labour man that, “ Where as in the last half of the nineteenth cei itury we bad progress, we have had in the twentieth century, so far, retrogression of a pronounced character. Aft or two generations of wiser laws, rising \ vages, increasing power of trade uuioi nism, reduced accidents in mine and sh< op, a growth of industrial humanisationwe

have now entered a new dispensation in which par laws are foolish; in which our trade unionism is being weakened by bad leadership, by indiscipline, and by the incubus of politics ; in which more, of our workers are being lamed, maimed and killed; in which, in a word, industrialism is being brutal** ised."

The throe candidates for the Wairau seat have more or less explicitly explained their views on political and other subjects, and the electors have about three weeks in which to mentally digest the complicated theories and beliefs put before them. Judging by the attendance at his meeting and by the hearty reception of the proposal of thanks and confidence, Mr Duncan's candidature is favoured by a very big majority in this district;. and a great number of them are residents who for years were stalwart supporters of the Hou. G. H. Mills. If this does not prove that “ party ” polities, so far as the actual issues between the parties are concerned, are non-existent in the minds of the electors as a rule, it must surely indicate that the personal element enters largely into the contests. But there is little doubt that i both contentions are to a great extent true. Some of the converts to Mr Duncan’s side will tell you that they are dissatisfied with the actions and aspirations of the present head of the Government, and will vote for anyone who will prove a factor in ousting him; others declare that a change of Government is good for any country, and so they will support a candidate whose election will assist to' bring about a change. Can the who have proved themselves irritatingly weak and vacillating on many important public questions, blame the public for becoming unstable in their political convictions and restless for a change ? On his showing on Saturday night, Mr Duncan’s three years! experience of Parliament have ripened his judgment on leading political and economic questions, ahd enabled him to accurately gauge the possibilities of election pledges being fulfilled—knowledge of the greatest value to a Member of Parliament.' With , his platform as a whole we have little fault to find—it is the platform of a candidate who recognises the limitations of a member of the " outs,’’ and we believe that, given the opportunity, our Member will display an organising and administrative ability quite equal to the best traditions of Ministerial office. There is, however, one plank in bis platform to which wo strongly object, and that is his conviction that it would be ah act of justice to concede to Grown tenants the freehold at the orignial value. This we have consistently maintained is nothing less than exploitation of the public purse, and a gross injustice to the thousands of settlers who, through ill-luck at the ballot, have failed to secure a section of land. The areas were taken up on specific conditions, and if the tehants now desire to vary them the obviously fair method is to again submit, the 1 sections to ballot, weighted, of course, with the improvements effected. Mr MoGallum roundly condemns the proposal, and Mr Wiffen is a staunch advocate of leasehold tenure. But the election is not being fought on the land question. If there is anything that stands out prominently as an incentive to electors to vote tor Mr Duncan it is the shameful waste and extravagance of the present Govern*, ment and the alarming increase in our. national debt. |