INANGAHUA SEAT.

Colonist, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5936, 17 October 1890, Page 3

INANGAHUA SEAT.

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sib,— l learn that Mr John Lomas having decided not to stand for the luangahua seat, the West Coast Unionists have determined to pot another candidate in the field. Now for the life of me I cannot understand why they are opposing the re-election of Mr Richard Beeves, who has always by his speeches and votes in the House, proved himself to ha a staunch friend of Labor. I say to my fellow Unionists do not fight friends, but aid in patting forward reliable oandidatea to oontest our opponents' seats. Your eto, Unionist.

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sir, — While the drapers apparently are succeeding in differing moat effeotually with the test of the tradespeople, it might not be uninteresting So afford your general readers an opportunity of perusing the following, whioh I copy from a Sydney paper of the 4th inst, showing their attitude on another question. Yours, &o. Icon. EXTRACT. " Whenever Capital and Labor are at war, and commotion is in the air, and the parochial eyobophant is in motion to uphold tua cause of ' law and order,' the Australian draper cornea to. the front. Why grovel and drapery should invariably go together is a problem which oan only be solved by deep scientific research, but experience has proved them to be inseparable elements. The ladylike he-female with the yardstiok represents the one branch of industry that never was known to strike a blow in its own defence. It is underpaid and overworked, and trodden upon, and it serves as a hamb'e target foe bad language of all sorts and descriptions, and yet it is the only worm oo record which never turns. It turns flat, and that is all. When employers and employed are at varianc •, and a great effort ie being made to elevate the status of Labor, the gilded du^fl who flies around in the libbon department always casts in the weight of his little soul with tbe cause of property. He has no property himself, nor prospect of any, tat the very name of Labor suggests perspiration and dust and brawny vulgarity, and all these influences are antagonistic to the correct bang of his pants, and the accurate adjustment of bis coat tail, and the attitude of hia collar. Therefore the draper fills the ranks of tbe speoial constables, and humps bales and boxes and unclean bags on tbe wharf at a crisis, and breaks bis back generally to prop up the cause of monopoly. He does these things, partly because it is respeotable to manifest hia antagonism to that low and offensive thing the every day toiler, and partly because he would be sacked if he refused to do them. He exhibits no resentment at this state of tbiaga for he is a being apart ; he belongs to Labour, bat be refuses to recognise the faot lt-st he should burst hia tie in doing it, and he affects to be an essential part of Capital, and is kicked in consequence. He is neither man nor woman, nor any other recognised institution — only a draper. He is the backbone of Australian " loyalty," the prop and stay of the Imperial Federation movement, and the principal supporter of the Primrose organisation, and the Social Purity Society ; also, he hollers loud and long whenever tha name of his beloved Queen cornea to the front. He is a social mystery, for nobody knows what becomes of him when he gets old, and nobody— so far as we can learn -ever saw a dead draper or attended tbe funeral of one. Probably h* is sacked when be ceases to ba young and beautiful, and then he either bursts or evaporates and fades away. No historian haß recorded that a draper ever roae to eminence or did anything for the good of his country. One of the great namea on the scroll of Fame i 3 that of the Negro flunkey who asserted the independence of San Domingo, but the weary little duda in the glove and sock department never did anything bat oil his hair and look elegant. And yet the poor, servile, stunted he-milliner ia a serious obstruction to human progress. Hia grovel is so far rcaohing and complete, and his subserviency -o illimitable, that he ia a public evil as v. :'• a a nuisance. He is incapable of elev.. ■ % himself on aoootmt of his collar, and he is filled with an arrogant longing to surpass everybody else whose collar isn't np to the mark. He shudder a when he bears that an individual in a woolen shirt and large boots has ventured to assent himself, aod his soul revolt* — at 80a a week — when he comas in oontaot with a, low. coarse person who drives a cart and ha' n't any eve glass And worst of all he ia utterly devoid of sympathy with any democratio sentiment or any progressive id*>a because unhappily he knows no better, baing only a draper."