The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8th 1882.

Southland Times, Issue 4497, 8 December 1882, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, DECEMBER Bth 1882.

We can almost forgive the vehemence of our contemporary in his reply to our la6t article. He feels that the role of exclusive champion of the working men is fast slipping from his grasp, and he is making a desperate effort to retain it. He will have none of our liberalism. He knows that it is better than his own, because it is practical, while hi? ..is chimerical and Utopian. We must be made out to be Tories at all hazards, whether the name have any meaning or not, and whether the thing called Toryism can breathe the breath of life in this colony or not. We once asked a leading Radical here what remained to make a separation between ourselves and him, and he answered — "nothing." This is the common sense viejy of the situation, but it does not suit the News, which must make it appear that the interests of the two classes that exist in every country, and will exist to the end of time, are antagonistic — that there is tyrarinjr on one side and slavery oh the other, and that the normal condition of the two is hatred, distrust, and jealousy. We repeat that this is an abominable doctrine, a doctrine unjustified by the nature of things, or by any political fact, or fact in the constitution of society. Wben the News writes such frightful rubbish as that abDUt men here " bending their necks to the yoke, ior- «•« getting their manhood* agcepiiing the "position of unreasoning- ibeiigls pf "' burden, and bearing insult and pprea- ." sion meekly and humbly as part of the "inevitable," the choice lies -between cpnvicjting it> ejftuer. of wkkeHness ) q£ stupidity. ; Tliere Ss f.not & #?sing r m*4 tin this country that cannot hold h)a h^aj|> as high as the biggest landholder it con> ; tarns, and he that suggests the p«saibi4 lii.y of the working man bein£ made bow hi* neck to the yoke and forget |JB>. manhood is tha person that otfefs hiixiv ■ tlie u -inost „;stupid insal^ 'Mpafelf. >M being framed. JE vfirybody of any 'iftfcfe. ligence' knowß that if, there are really any p;oiitical maet^rs in this county they^are these; very worlfiugnifl» in auch* s dansr i>f v \Wotf;'ss&p

JSsp<lb not inteß&to iriypte V j^ ■ snlie; 1 |^Wft,B|^pj of ftwl'lwd^^lse, bifiitiwe^ow i|hati : fi^yjof t^^jg|B||inen |]i^heiMlitici»^iidt|(wi. of cith|ln|! §f tWKle^Mrr, Mb with, what scorn ihoutd attempt, for selfish ends, to make i sach a people stand in doubt of their tq-^o.|arthey Ja F n\aking concessions M I I.rie^ikifa|sclafeae4 { conceeiions only in the direction;of:spoliawould contradict ;^a|iinc3JieV|6f , economical science and the maxims that hold th^ bod^^i^^^^^^^oVkin|; -clases are as much " 'coney rniM in the observance of those principle ;aß^any^ l other 1 claßsy;f<?E;no^.'only .;doi they .maintain. ihei workers in wages, btit the yrtirU&tp^of*tb^- ! day are'^h^ji&JM^i^ Inß|tead, f o|^slfcernhg ''pefpetaal in- ! dtem^it' to discontotriWitb^itih^jioHi-vi ! tion, and to insulting^raputationg ontheir independence, the wQyJking Tnen should hayefrthe manliness itouadmit- that they ivarel as free as, it is possible |tir;^fea^^ Inapßh'l|f l tt) make ! them; ; s anj|[;^^it,^iie;' impertinence, ■dtc&i '-T^fiove all : let them bewaretof trad^ ing! politicians, whose occupation would be gone if they could not keep society in i. averment, and YrhosHdea of liberty is -Red Republicaniam^nji th,e T Qom.ttivine. Our conterriporary hasbeenpaVticul^rly jUnhappy in his second attempubjustify an attitude of contumacy on the part of theI railway employes, and to prove that railSway administration cannot be fairly conducied without interference, from ; the outside... i Does he mean his canons to: apply to the Post Office, to the Telegraph UflSce, to the Survey Department and the Customs'? If he does, he must see that by this application, chaos would instantly ensue. -If he does not, why should the Railway Department be an exception to all the rest? The News would seem' to assume that the Railway Department is the one branch of the Civil Service whose officers are unworthy of being trusted to deal fairly with their subordinates, and that it is, more than anything else, an organisation for trickery, supplanting and tyranny. We wonder he does not see that, if this is really its character, the way to mend matters is to cut it up root and branch and substitute something better ; for, let members of Parliament do what they will, it will otherwise remain, in spite of them, an instrument of injustice. The reasoning of the News against letting a complaint go through the immediate superior of the complainant is of the weakest description. Supposing that it were to go direct to the General Manager or the Minister of Works, what would either functionary proceed to do ? He would send it down of course to the officer under whom the complainant worked, for his defence or explanation — so that that would happen necessarily at the last which the News would think so intolerable a hardship if it happened atthe first. We repeat that it is absurd to suppose that a department like that of the Railways cannot be managed without the intervention of those holding political power. If the system cannot be administered like any great commercial organization, it is incapable of being: rightly administered at all. Political management would certainly be the worst that it could be placed under, and such a management would be incompatible with the very shadow of discipline. We are* glad to know that this is the opinion of the Department, and that it has had the firmness to act upon it. Surely the Department has within itself the means to rectify all real abuses, and to pnrge itself of those who oannot be trusted with power. To treat men justly is the way to get most out of them, and we are sure that the Railway Department knows the value of this maxim. At any rate it is cDnsistent with common sense that it must have the undivided con- i trol of its own servants. 1