LABOUR'S ANTICS.

Observer, Volume XXX, Issue 39, 11 June 1910, Page 2

LABOUR'S ANTICS.

Somersaults in City East. " ¥ ABOUR Out to Winj'—tihis is < l_f the caption of some of the advertis:nent& relative to the candidature of an alleged Labour •representative at the coming City East contest. : It proves a touching, but quite unconvincing piece of optimism ; '■' because Labour has at present -as much chance of winning the City East seat as the sea serpent has of being asked to referee at a football match. If Labour ever had any chance of victory at all, that chance has been irrevocably lost by the extraordinary antics of what must perforce be looked upon as the 'local Labour party. That the latter represents the thinking portion of the workers, we do not believe. Time and again, the local Labour party has put forth a candidate for Parliamentary honours, and just as often has that candidate been rejected by the workers themselves. W ( hich seems to pro/c conclusively that the quieter and more thoughtful working , men do not see eye to eye with their more noisy and less sensible brethren. • • • At a meeting of trade unionists in the Choral Hall, Mr George MoKnighV was chosen, it is understood, as the official candidate to -~ « 'V-.'' '/«'' i^'» V"'."' *''" ' / •' -J -.'"

: frankly and Blamelessly confess that ::^ ;>li!tc__hig^^^ i era! Section v lie stood for Parnell, and retired, from- the contest before the poll 1 place. The - Labour , Party, however, with tlhe assistance, of Mr T. E. Taylor, Mr J. A. McCul- . laugh, and certain • other Southern Labour men, apparently came to.the conclusion that Mr MoKnight was the best man to put 'forward, and he accordingly blossomed forth as the v acoredited' Labour candidate. Now, however, it- appears that Labour, with its usual cap-iciousness, has charged its mind, and has swung xound like a weathercock. It is now aniounced that Mr Gsorge Davies, and not Mr McKnight, is the official candidate of the Labour Party. Whether this is- really so or not, if is hard to say. One section of Labourite* favours the candidature of Mr McKnight, while another .will have nobody but Mr Davies ; and there is a third clique that us of opinion that neither selection is a desirable one. This, apparently, is what Labour calls organising its forces. A trembling V public were informed that, with the'assistance of Mr T. E, Taylor, and other South- .. em orators"of note, it would be im- ' possible for Labour not to scoop fhe and his fel_owk>rat6rs cameand orated, and •'the net,;:resulf of all; the .trumpet blowing and' loud talking is that the local Labour.forces are to-day in a far more condition than they have ever been since the Labour Party first oame into being, and that Labour's chance of winning the election, never one of any has been reduced to several points below zero. • ■ ,'■"'. When the, Australian Labour Party triumphantly swept that country at the recent Federal elections, Labourites over here emitted a shrill whoop of triumph, and decided. that the time was ripe to follow the example of their Australian brothers. Their prospects of ever doing so, uinder (existing jcirc -instances, are thin to the. verge of'invisibility. The fact is that the intelligent workers of the Dominion, would■•- rather piit" their trust in someone outside their own party than in their own self-oon-.stituted leaders, many of whom live on the game of labour agitation pure and simple ; and must perforce keep in the limelight at the expense of their less obstrusive brethren. The present position of Laoour in City East is one that is exciting; mirth from the North Cape to the Bluff, but it is only the -natural conser quenoe of preceding events.