South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1883.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3107, 17 March 1883, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1883.

We were very sorry the other day to find that an impression bad got abroad among some sections of the public that the Committee of the Industrial Association was a clique. At first, we attached no importance to the rumour, believing it to be merely the idle talk of a few. But as it seems to have been repeated freely, we feel bound to notice it. In doing so, we have only to say that the impression is entirely a false one. There is no clique—the Association stands on its merits alone. It is no money-making scheme at all. It is just what it professed to be—an association for the promotion of local industry. The grievance seems to be that the Committee is composed of persons who are not “ working men ” in the usual acceptation of the term. In reply to this objection, we have only to say that at the opening meeting it was competent for every one present to nominate the man he considered best suited for the work, and if working men were not chosen it was the fault of the meeting itself. The fact is, the best possible committee was chosen. No better selection for the office of President could have been made than the gentleman who holds that office; the vice-presidents are men of business experience, the late hon. sec.’s name is a synonym for energy and courage, and the committee are men who mostly work hard for a living in their various departments. It is no capitalist ring, and the working man ought therefore to have confidence in it. It is quite a mistake to suppose that the working classes consist only of laborers and artisans. Business and professional men are just as deeply interested in the prosperity of working men as they can possibly be themselves, and are as hardworking as the most industrious laborer. They are all interested in finding employment for working men. In men of such position we have, and all should have, the utmost confidence. There is, indeed, a ring that sits apart, a ring of independent capitalists, each of whom has scraped and scraped his little heap together, and now sits brooding over it and holding out a hand for more. He gathers it in with a scoop, but he gives it out with a snap, a very little at a time. He would do little for local industries, unless it had to do with mortgages and 12 per cent. These are the people whose indifference to the prosperity of the inhabitants of the place where they have made their money is so discreditably conspicuous, and as the working men have nothing to hope for from these, though a good deal to fear, it behoves him to bestir himself to see what labor, pure and simple, can do for itself. We observe that the Committee have set about their work in a most energetic manner, and from what took place at last meeting we augur the best results. Before the winter sets in, we trust some steps will have been taken to give employment to some at least of our industrial population. There are two acts of the committee we do not agree with, however. The first is the payment of a secretary at such an early stage of the association’s existence, and the second is proposing to pay a sum not exceeding £25 per year for a room in which to hold their meetings. In connection with jockey clubs, athletic * sports, mechanics’ institutes, school committees, and numerous other institutions, honorary secretaries can be found, and surely there is enough public spirit in people interested in local industries to bring out an honorary secretary for the first year of the association’s existence at least. As to hiring a room —we have been assured by the best possible authority that if the Industrial Association apply to the Borough Council they will give them tree use of a large room in the Council Chambers in which to bold their meetings, and it is more than probable they will not even be charged for the gas used. Fifty pounds per annum for hire of a room and Secretary’s salary, at once swallows up the subscriptions of 200 members, and when the charges for printing, stationery, &c., are added, how is the Association to carry 0* financially ? We are afraid t>made two financial blm 1 ' 3 have -uers already.

The v l , .ji/reets of Paris have once wore oegun to resound with revolutionary cries, the lowest classes of the Parisian people have been fired by the dangerous doctrine of Socialism, and are with difficulty held down. We fear the Eepublic will find it impossible to repress these unquiet and unreclaimable spirits. A despot alone appears equal to the situation. And the worst feature of the case is that

the Parisians of the classes we refer to are as stationary as the Chinese were, their condition and habits are no better than they were a century ago. It is not the same in London. The lowest strata of the population have been partially reclaimed, and have participated somewhat in the moral and material progress of the age. Of course horrible contrasts exist there between wealth and poverty, a great gulf still yawns between classes, and the inequalities of condition are still painful to behold. But those who have observed London life very closely assure us that a marked improvement has come over all classes; old haunts of infamy and misery, fever dens and other “ dark places,” where crime, poverty and ignorance reigned supreme, have gradually disappeared, new conditions of life have come into being, and the appearance of things generally is hopeful, however faintly so. But in Paris there is still a class which does not change. In the cabarets of the obscure streets the same ferocious vaporing is heard. These men seem possessed of political demons ; they ought to be industrious workmen, they are political theorists, dreamers of liberty, licentious, excitable, haters of authority, and only happy in scenes of bloodshed and disturbance. They live apart, and are entirely distinct from the artisan class. The Parisian artisan is really one of the most frugal, orderly, domesticated creatures in the world—these persons have nothing whatever in common with the malcontents. They live apart; no one tries to reclaim them, no one cares to do so, and they are at war with the whole fabric of society. Unless the government of the Republic is prepared with a military organisation to enforce its authority,it will have more trouble with these arabs of the city among whom Socialistic.ideas will take speedy root and produce deadly fruit.