A LIVELY MEETING.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue XXV, 9 August 1893, Page 4

A LIVELY MEETING.

There was a Socialist gathering lately hi Utrecht, which certainly ended in a way very different from that which the promotel's had intended. A woman who came from a distance spoke first. She complained of the hardships which' she had to undergo, saying that her husband had now been out of work for two years, and incited the audience against the possessing classes. When the applause had subsided another woman asked for permission to speak. This was Mrs Blommers, the wife of a common laborer. She denied that it was the fault of the kings or queens that the people were poor. Sho pointed out among the Socialists present men who head been imprisoned for such - offences as writing begging - letters, shop - thieving, drunkenness, and worse crimes. She did not see how people could complain about starvation, since to her knowledge more than fifty men had not yet been to the city clerk for the mouey from the relief fund which they had earned by shovelling snow. Resting her magnificent form against the platform, Mi's Blommers continued :—": — " As for poverty, I know what it means. I remember the timo when the neighbors gave food to my cat because it was so thin. But the cat died of starvation after all, because the pangs of hunger forced me to steal what had been given to it. Yet I was not foolish enough to expect that others should share their property with me, because I know that it •would not go far if it was shared all around. As for the woman who spoke just now, lam astonished at her. If she is so poor, why does she not stay at home to look after her children ? It must have cost money to come here. My hands are not as white as hers, but they serve me to keep my stockings whole, and I see big holes in hers. And I will tell you why her husband does not earn any money. He is in prison for theft." Mrs Blommers concluded by asking every loyal Hollander present to join her in the ' Wilhelmus van Orange' (the Dutch equivalent for 'God save the Queen '). The audience took up the strain enthusiastically, and, leaving the hall, marched through the city with "Orange Kar" (Mrs Blommers) at the head of the procession, singing national songs and professing their loyalty.