The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1914. MR. ISITTS ADDRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 287, 7 May 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1914. MR. ISITTS ADDRESS.

New Plymouth .takes its politics very quietly as a rule, as indeed it does most other things, but a few more meetings such as Tuesday night's would undoubtedly quicken its interest, increase its activity, and widen its political knowledge. Mr. Isitt is a forceful, interesting and entertaining speaker always', and the knowledge of this fact no doubt was largely responsible for the large attendance at the Theatro Boyal. He set out to criticise the actions and administration of the Government, to expose its inconsistencies and shortcomings, .to reveal the hollowness of its pretensions to superiority and all the virtues, to rebut statements and insinuations levelled against the Leader of the Opposition and the late Government. It must be admitted that he succeeded in his task, and in a manner trenchant and at times 1 not a little diverting. He made his points very dear, and drove them home with pitiless force and logic. They had, of course, to do with matters that are more or less familiar. The Government, in its short career, has committed m*jiy .blunders, which -an alert Opposition may be trusted not to overlook or refrain from -making the most of. The Government ailso has a past record of opposition to all the progressive legislation that has largely contributed to placing New Zealand in the position she enjoys to-day. This past is difficult to live up to, or rather live down, affording as it does good targets for the shafts of Mr. Isitt and Co. Mr. Isitt's politics are more advanced in several directions than Sir Joseph WaTd's. He says he occupies a position mid-way between the Liberals and Labor-cum-Socialists. He is wihole-hearted in his sympathy with the aims and aspirations of Labor, but .this sympathy, we fear, blinds ltim somewhat to the claims of the employing class. Employers are not all monopolists and blood-suckers; indeed, the great bulk of .them have a much harder row to hoe than the men they employ and they are entitled to sympatheticconsideratiou. Mr. Isitt talks of bridging the gap between the two classes, by extending the worker's privileges and increasing his opportunities, but it appears to us that the worker in most cases has now privileges and opportunities almost greater than his employer, and, in very many instances, ho is infinitely better off. It is a striking fact that a great many employers are praying for an opportunity to get out of business and free their capital!, being content with a fair return fo-r it elsewhere, and so be clear of the hampering restrictions imposed on their operations. This is not a good sign in a young country. It shows that the pendulum is swinging unduly in the one direction. We do not wish to be misunderstood. We believo the worker is entitled to a fair return for his labor, and to just treatment in every way, but we believe that employers have also rights and claims that should not be overlooked. The employer in this country, generally speaking, is, or has been, a ImiVi worker, attaining his position by sheer industry and determination, and to restrict his operations a.ny further must, provo detrimental to the welfare of the country in general and the worker in particular. More is to be gained by facilitating, not hampering, his operations. The statement of Mr. Isitt, that a section of employers welcomed the strike in Wellington at the time it occurred, wo do not accept for a inoment. No man with a stake in the country, with the interests of the nation at heart, favors a strike in any form, for however it ends, grave economic loss must result, a loss wihicli all parties feel to a more or less extent. For evidence of this we have only to turn to present commercial conditions. They have not been so bad for years, and undoubtedly the cause as the late strike, which dislocated everything and caused devastation on all sides. No; no sane business man favors a strike; he will do much to avoid one, but he is justified in pro testing when a few hot-headed and reckless men point a pistol at his head and order him to turn out 'his pockets.