FOUL BROOD.

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 12, 22 November 1919, Page 3

FOUL BROOD.

In a Decent Hive

EARLY all human quarrels are | ultimately -settled physically. 1 If a man quarrels with the law he is only argued with up to a certain point. After that his body is forcibly taken in custody. International quarrels are settled by force of arms after the wrangle of spoken words and written papers have proved ineffective. Humanity ultimately turns to the punch where it is delivered by the policeman's hand upon the shoulder, a fifteen-inch gun, a sockful of nails (after the apache style), the sneaking revolver, or the open blow with the human fist. • * * In New Zealand we are just about to undergo the usual national squabble, and to elect party politicians whose business it will be to quarrel with each other until another general election makes it necessary to begin the squabble all over again. • » * The Anarchist, the Thug, the 1.W.W., the Bolshevist, the criminal generally, whose hand is against

everybody, has depended for a very lo.nf. time on his own immunity from retaliation. He has expected to deliver the punch that will upset the equilibrium of society without bein{.c bowled over himself. Quite steadily decent society has shown that Thug methods are to be put d«..wn. There are some apposite indications in current news items. An I.W.W. person has been lynched in Aiverica, although it is the usual custom for I.W.W.'s to do the lynchiiiirs. the sabotage, and the ruin.

Even in Ireland there has been retaliation over the shooting of soldiers and constables —in the end moral suasion and hot words cease, and the retaliatory thump takes their place. In New Zealand the seditionist, the disloyalist, and his allies have had a very good innings, but there are indications that they will not much longer be tolerated, and that they will be smitten blow for blow.

In connection with the refusal of the Mayor of Te Kuiti to preside at a meeting where a candidate believing in Holland principles was to speak, it unfortunately happens that a very large class of decent working people appear to ally themselves with the wild-eyed extremists, and it is useful to again quote a paragraph printed, some months ago which caused a sensation, and indicated the type of man New Zealand will sooner or later give a stern invitation to get out of the land or under it:—

"Paddy will find when he comes out that'the boys think more of him than ever. When one thinks of those other M.P.'s who pretended to go to the war, but never got near enough to smell anything stronger than rum, one must smile at the hypocrisy of these gallant warriors. Paddy was willing to die, if need be, for his principles; that is the sort of man we can depend upon, and not the loudmouthed, flag-flapping gut-robbers who would 'rat' a dead dog for its fleas. Don't worry, Paddy, we the workers, are going to put 'paid' to one or two little accounts in the near future." * * * It is interesting to speculate exactly what is meant by the threat to put "paid" to the one or two little accounts,- and if it has any reference to the pions hope that we may have a Bolshevik Parliament after next General Election. » m ■ In the home of Bolshevism itself there has been stern retaliation against the bloodthirsty brutes who profess to work in the interests of humanity by murdering human beings. The principles enunciated by these criminals have been mouthed with admiration by people in New Zealand, who hope to control the destinies of the country. An attempt is being made at the instant to obtain greater power, and it is the business of every decent loyal citizen to get busy at election time and show by the only peaceful method in their hands that New Zealand must not be a hotbed of sedition, rapine, sabotage, and theft. * . * * If peaceful means are ineffective in any long-suffering country (and New Zealanders are the most long-suffer-ing people on earth), there must arrive a time when aggression will be met by the same retaliation that has been employed against the T.W.W.'s in America. The red-flag incident at Wanganui is a further indication that there is a distinct intention in New Zealand to arouse class hatred. The people who deliberately do this sort of # thing are playing with fire and invite retaliation.

It is for the wild-eyed fanatic to watch his step, for up to the present the sane people of New Zealand are sovereign, and desire no I.W.W. traitors to rule over them. There have been countries in which the sovereign people have ended physically a reign of fanaticism. The advocates of outrage, who in New Zealand can be counted on the fingers of two hands, should be told from every platform that New Zealand is not for them, and that hitherto unoffending people, when spurred to retaliation, can purge'any country of its foulest enemies.