The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1890. THE COMING STRUGGLE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2095, 6 September 1890, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1890. THE COMING STRUGGLE.

Histobt 18 made up o£ Revolutions. Maey of them have failed, some have succeeded, but all resulted in the ultimate good of the masses. Hitherto Social Revolutions have been settled after much bloodshed and slaughter, but we have every hope that we shall never experience such times again. Man has now better weapons than he ever had to effect changes. He has the franchise ; he can put into Parliament representatives who will effect the desired reforms in a constitutional way, We are, without doubt, in the beginning of a Social Revolution at the present time. On? paltry tin-pot little strike in Hew Zealand though of great importance to us will prove of little consequence however it may result. We have only to note the gigantic preparations which are being made in England tp realise our own littleness. There all the ship-owners of the British Empire are federating with a capital of one hundred millions, to crush the federation of Labor. All we can say is tbst it is a mad project, A few hundred shipowners lyith all the millions of money in the Empire cannot defeat twenty millions of enfranchised electors. -jFor years we j have been pointing out that $ crisif i was at hand. Our readers will rprl

member bow frequently during the last five or six years we have told them that machinery was driving men out of employment, and that half the world could not look on in idleness while the other half were employed. We have also pointed but that the remedy was to shorten the hours of labor so as to give a larger number of people employment, and now the whole world has awakened? to it. The laborers want it, the capitalists are resisting it, and hence the trouble.

As regards our own local trouble the laborers and the friends of labor everywhere are trying to settle it, but we regret to say that the other side does not appear so anxious about it.. We sincerely, hope that wiser counsels will prevail, and that we shall soon settle down to work again. If we had sense, and do what Bishop Julius told us,' that is, respect each other, a grand opportunity offers itself. All Europe and America will, soon be involved in this struggle, and if we had sense and played a lone-hand in this colony, we would profit by the misfortunes of others. ' What we ought to do ?is begin at ones to put our house in order. We should compel both parties to the quarrel to disaffiliate with any foreign societies, and go to work amicably together at home. We should appoint a properly constituted authority to settle all labor disputes; we should see that men willing to work were provided with employment; and we should open the doors to land settlement as widely as possible. If we did this we should be able to go through the crisis in comfort, peace, and prosperity, but if we continue as a house divided against itself we shall have starvation, misery, and ruin, and in the end the capitalist will come off second best. Let employers of labor form a union, and meet the labor unions half way, and all will be well. Let us respect each other and each other’s prejudices, and talk the matter over in a calm peaceable manner. If we do this, and cultivate peace and good will we shall have the frightened capitalists of other countries coming to liye amongst us, and New , Zealand will be regarded as an earthly paradise.

BRIGHT PROSPECTS. Through the gathering gloom comes a ray of hope far the farmers. There can be very little doubt but that there will be a good price for wheat next year. The old country harvest is not good, the American supply is very much'less than usual, the revolutions in Central America, and the labor movement are calculated to diminish productions. -We have seldom been wrong in our prophecies on this subject, and we believe our words will come true this year. We hear that farmers do not care to put in wheat owing to the labor movement, but we do not believe that they can be so timid as that. The labor movement will never hurt them. A mad geologist the other day prophecied that in a few years New Zealand will sink to the bottom of the sea. They have just as much reason to be afraid of that as of the labor movement. It appears to us that there is an unnecessary amount of prominence given to it altogether, and all the noise is needless. Do people think because workmen band themselves together to obtain a fair day’spay for a fair day’swork the world is going to come to a standstill. It is all rubbish. Let farmers be not deluded by the screams of a few capitalists who have been fondly looking forward to bring, wages down to the level of the. Old Country, so that they might amass wealth. Everything finds its own level in the end, and trades-unionism will soon settle down m its proper groove. The part farmers ought to play in this is to mind their own business, and pay no attention to what such men as G. G. Stead says. He a few years ago destroyed the Australian market on them by swamping it with Californian wheat, and he would like to get them to assist him now to crush trades-unions. All we

have to say to farmers is that bright

prospects are before them this year » and we hope they will not allow them to pass. _

THE LEGISLATIVE "COUNCIL' It is evident the Legislative Council does not intend to yield one inch to the Labor party. Two or three Bills which are known as the Labor Bills passed the Lower House without amendment or scarcely any. discussion, but the Council has thrown them out bodily. One of these Bills was brought ia at the suggestion of the Sweating Commission and is called the Factories Bill, which provides for better inspection and sanitary conditions in factories. Another is the Truck BiU, pnder which employers would have to pay In cash instpad of kind, and another the Employers Liability Bill. Considering the disturbed condition of affairs to reject these Bills must be admitted as very unwise, bub the language used by many of the jiords was xyprsp still. Amongst the most violent of thp speakers was Mr Pharazyn, who has been twice convicted of personation at elections. The peit worst was Dr. Pollen, who is a pensioner in receipt of £SOO from the people of this colony. Compare their actions and the actipps of similar illbred upstarts like them, with that pf the Honorable Mr Aoland, of Mount Peel, and the Hon, Mr Beeves of the Lyttelton Times, who voted for. the Bills’. Hero wp snd the thorough English gentlemen in sympathy with the poor, and the purse-proud, seljfpjade colonist, and loafing

pensioner against them. It is things like these that drive men to extremes, because, what can the promoters of these Bills say, but that it is useless to expect anything while the Legislative Council blocks the way. The first reform which ought to be undertaken is to send these gentlemen about their business. This cannot be done only in one way, and that is by swamping them with twenty or thirty members who will reform the Council by carrying a measure which will make it elective. There is no other means of dealing with them.