THE LABOUR WORLD.

Southland Times, Issue 17060, 5 June 1912, Page 2

THE LABOUR WORLD.

PROBLEMS AND DISCUSSIONS. (By "Worker.”) Brief contributions on’ matters concerning- the Xiabour movements are invited; local items are particularly welcome. MEETINGS. Thursday—General Labourers. Friday—Society of Engineers. The local District Labour Council is now the controlling body of Labour affairs in Southland. Many of us have worked in that direction in the past, and none more so than Mr Wm. Fraser, one of the stalwarts of the Slaughtermen’s Union, who has in season and out urged that there has been an overlapping of Labour bodies. Now that the Unity scheme has been brought into effect, every man who has the Labour cause at heart is rejoicing. The Labour Council will in future be the body which will direct all the affairs of the movement locally, and the representatives on that body will, naturally, be composed of the pick of the members of the bodies which are represented. I believe that some of the men who supported the Unity scheme in the first instance did not realise its far-reaching effect: that it would mean that petty jealousies had to bo sunk, and that anyone who harboured such harmful thoughts would have to get out of the movement. In the constitution of the United Labour Party there Is absolutely no room for cliquism, and any person who is that way-inclined has to — to use a colloquialism—remove his carcase. That is the position, and many of us who have been In the ranks for more years than we care to remember; we who have fought the fight when others looked at ua ..and sneered, and laughed: we who have borne all the kicks and contumely, and were told that we were fools, Atheists, dreamers, ne’er do wells, and rogues—well It Is out turn to laugh. I am laughing heartily to myself as I pen these lines, and when I think of the old woman with the broom —Partington by name—who attempted to sweep back the onrush of the great ocean, so do I think of the puny endeavours that have been attempted In order to further personal ambitions and make the Labour cause subsidiary to theirs. It cannot be kept back. Economic conditions govern everything—religion, politics, business, or anything else that comes Into the environment of the people.

In order to make It clear, I will give a resume of the position at the present time. The Distriet Labour Councils under the United Labour Party, which have succeeded the Trades Councils, will also succeed the Representation Committees and Central Labour Party organisations a-s heretofore organised. The new District Labour Council will be an integral, part of the United Labour Party, and no Trades Union can affiliate with the District Labour Council and not be a member of the United Labour Party. Any Labour Party branches. Socialist organisations, Radical organisations, Land Reform Leagues, or any other political or social organisation may be represented on the District Labour Council, providing that any of such subscribes to the Labour Party constitution and platform. Now, is not that a clear opening for every person of progressive thought In the community? There can be no good as Labour men. You must be With us, or stop outside. Labour will win; it must win; no person who has given, the question any earnest thought will endeavour to refute, .that statement. It is not a question* of the workers enforcing their demands. which,' by the 'way, are sometimes extraordinary, but, In the evolutionary oourse which civilisation Is pursuing at lhe < present time, a co-operative must follow. Slavery and serfdom have passed away, and so must the capitalistic system.

The United Labour Party has -no association with the Federation of Labour, -and'.-I mention that fact as- some people seem to be fairly mixed on the question. .Syndicalism, revolutionary Socialism, or whatever it may be called, does not-appeal to those who belong to the United Labour Party, and. for that reason I mention the matter.

The Railway Review says:—The Invercargill branch has lost a thorough good member of the Society, Mr F. Rudd, who has been appointed sergeantmajor instructor in the Defence Force. On his resigning from the branch, he desired that our future would meet with every success.. He was not allowed to leave the service without a token of the esteem in which he was held. He was presented with a travelling bag and clothing companion. Mr W. Young, in making the presentation through the unavoidable absence of Mr D. McKlllop, referred to Fred’s popularity amongst his mates and in general. Mr Rudd feelingly thanked members for their nice presents, and said he would never forget their good comradeship and the happy times spent amongst them.

Mr Tom O’Byrne was blamed in some circles for not taking the initiative in calling a meeting of the United Labour Party. This charge was made in pure ignorance of the facts. As well blame Mrs Harrison Lee-Cowle, who is also a member of the Dominion Executive. The Labour Council, which is the representative body of organised labour was the body which was responsible, and it duly moved in the matter. All that • now remains is that all the other bodies who have been preaching solidarity will come Into the fold. If they do not, of course, they will have no say in the future direction of the Labour movement in Invercargill. I want to emphasise that the old Labour Party, in so far as directing the movement Is concerned, is as dead as Julius Caesar. Dr Johnson invited all .and sundry to ■‘survey mankind from China to Peru,” but nowadays man has rather too many of his fellows running the rule over him.

On account of ten million pounds' weight of corn being held up through the blockade of the Dardanelles by the Italian Government, a conference of corn-dealers has resolved to raise the ffuestlon of damages. It'll raise the price, too, unless we’re very bad judges. "I don’t know why I live,” said the artist who never arted, tossing back his long hair and looking pathetically into the eyes of the sweet young Invercargill girl. "Does anyone else?” she asked innocently. There are two types of lawyers. The first, small in number, have loved Justice for her own sake. The more common type of lawyer is, however, very different. This latter class of lawyers is rich and numerous. Money-making is their primary object in life. They often employ large staffs of clerks a: sweating rates of pay and are hangers-on of Fat all the time. At Hie Price of Food Commission in Xew South Wales, a witness stated that the export trade was the chief factor in keeping up the price of meat.

From Henry 111. of England to the present time is some 700 years; and for much longer than that the middleman lias been out of favour with both producer and consumer, A statute of Henry recites: "Especially be it commanded that no foreslaller bo suffered to dwell in any town.” It defines a forostaller as "a man who. seeking his own evil gain, goes to meet corn, llsh. herrings, or other articles for sale as they are being brought by land or water, carries them off, and contrives that they shall be sold at a dearer rate.” Such a man, the statute declares, "is the public enemy of the whole community and country. Ho that is convict thereof the first time shall lose all things so bought; tiie second time lie shall have judgment of the pillory; the third time he shall lie imprisoned and make fine And this judgment shall be given upon all manner of forestallers; likewise upon those who have given them counsel, help, or favour,” Hong before Henry's time it was held that to buy anything for the purpose of selling it again at a profit was essentiall\ wrong. "He who buys a thing in order to sell it, unaltered, for gain, is the merchant, driven from the Temple," wrote Chrysostom. The middleman has not only persisted, however, but flourished and increased; i

and we know of only one really important instance where the consumer, to avoid middlemen, has gone to the producer. With that exception it is hardly too much to say.

THE OPINIONS OF BUFTJS. When a man claims he’s pure an’ noble I don’t mind takin’ his word for it cs long es I can keep my hand on my pocket-book. The more I know ’bout myself the more I look on my neighbours with both 'spicJon an’ charity. Speakin' 'bout the rain falling on the just an’ the unjust, I’ve been waitin' more’n a month now fer somethin' to prove that it does. Best thing I can wish for myself is to wish that when I come to die folks ’ll carve on my tombstun the things I meant to do ’stead of them I did. It’s a sad and disturbin’ thought that, no matter how long we live, we’ll never know es much again es we did when we were 'tween It an’ 20 years old. Order Is Heaven’s first law, but you’re mistaken, Ezry, in thlnkin’ it’s the order you belong to. This is the Labour side called from the British “Labour Leader’’: —The Yellow Press has endeavoured to arouse public indignation against the miners by suggesting that they arc callously enjoying a holiday whilst the whole industry of the nation is dislocated. Have the miners no right to a holiday? Have they no right to enjoy the invigoration of fresh air and the beauty of the sea? All the year round they work, under hard and colourless conditions. They risk their lives with the heroism of a soldier, and become old before they are young in the nation’s service. It Is owing to the callousness of the coalowners and the Government in refusing to guarantee to such workers a living wage, not to the callousness of the miners, that the present dislocation of trade has occurred. The attempt to divide the ranks of organised labour by stirring up- jealousy on the part of Trade Unionists in other industries will, needless to say, fail completely. The workers realise that victory for the miners will ultimately mean the establishment of a universal living wage, and they will be willing to suffer in the common cause. Already the transport workers have shown that they are prepared to strike sympathetically with the miners if coal is imported or troops are employed to cower the men.