DUNEDIN LETTER.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 5964, 27 July 1912, Page 3

DUNEDIN LETTER.

I (Own Correspondent.) lam at on© with Jerooue K. Jerome (Jurumke Jeruim)l who, many years ago, made us all laugh over " three men in a boat," and afterwards caused as to think over " the passing lof -the third floor back" and quite recently publicly declared that he regarded the present industrial unrest as the most hopeful tiilgnof'the times. It ia a hopeful 3ign and if one could only add that in the hands of its present leaders the labour movement is .bound to become a blessing alike to the individual and the world/then the inillenium if not at hand.would, as Mr Lloyd-iGeorge has said, be at least a little nearer. Unhappily one cannot say that. The Labour party or parties, of the day are led by incompetents, torn with petty personal jealousies and dissensions, and held together by no common bond within which eaoh man is , ready to subordinate his own likes anid dislikes for the common good. Was there ever a more pitiful case in point than tho pass to which a million men, women, and children, have been brought by the criminal stupidity of men of the Gosling and Tillet stamp or, to come nearer home, what has the policy of Messrs Howard and Scrapie done for the unhappy miners of ißeefton amd Waihi'? It is 'the purest nonsense, or, rather, the moat tragic nonsense for ignorant men to parade tho country and denounce capitalists, the Tory Press and shareholders. Each of these has a place in the body politic and social, and each is entitled to fair play —that is a sort of play we are very free in talking about but of which we practice very (Title. What the labour > agitator has to leam if he wants to do any good for what he calls " his class" is Ita talk sense. Ii he cannot do this his mission'imust fail.

Lot me begin at the beginning. Last week wo had t)\vo gentlemen among us who spoke 011 Wehalf of a band of lawless and disorder provoking persons known as -the Now Zealand Federation o£ Labour. These words are well within the mark and will be disputed by 110 one save a rascally politicia/n' on the hunt lor votes. Thor record, so ifar, is as truly deplorable, on a small scale, as is thai of the British Transporters in London. They havo reduced Waihi to a solitude, they have broken up scores of once happy homes and they havo driven hundreds of taen into) the ranks of the unemployed. ;As Arthur said of the sin of iGaiimjverc " the children borne of tlheo are fire and sword, red ruin and the breaking up of law." And ior jwhat ? Improved conditions of labour ? Shorter hour? '! moro pay ? less haaardous surroundings '! I think not. However, they come alone to Duuoilin and unblurdened their mollis to l. r )0 of their conrades. The capitalistic Press, as usual, was o V| -r generous in tho spaco it devoted to their jeremiads. Ido not know whether this is altogether kind but possibly, Messrs Howard and Semple like it— Irom the earliest ages men of this stamp (well moaning but appallingly ignorant of the A.B.C. oi the facts of mankind and its history) have ever had a weakness for tile notoriety that is born of publicity. And, personally, I offer no objection. If men | and women who [have enjoyed the doubtful advantages of a free, secular, and compulsory education can say " hear' hear !" a nd "Amen'' to the teachings and history and economics of Jlr Howard of the New Zealand Moderation of Labour, then, the outlook for them and theirs is black indeed.

'Yes there are those, apparently, who revel in it, and who regard the gospel of " class war " as the true wine. Theso are tho Mjen who have -no time for church (What has the Church ever j done for me ? he asks, and, in asking it, tho poor fellow thinks he has annihilated his opponent), who have no time for those things that are beyond tho realms of time and sense but, as a man said to mo to-day. '■ knows he has a 'belly and doesn't care under what Hag 110 tills it so long as it is filled." It was one such, perhaps, who last Friday night, meeting a .clerical friend of mine in Moray Place, asked to be directed to tflto Trades Hall where Messrs Howard and Semple were to preach. My friend pointed to the windows of the itall and the man havinsr, presumably, caught sight of the clerical collar of bis informant vouchsafed by way of information " that's my church." " Good !" answered the rev. gentleman. But the inquirer had not finished and, somewhat aggressively, flung out the words " for the uplifting of 'humanity." Splendid," cheerfully replied my friend. " a fine ideal," then 'with, a V Good night " ■he went on!, his way which, alas's was down a steep place that led to the 'Otago's Dady Crimes office. So, let us go in and hear the sermon 'by Comrade Howard and the articles of a -doctrine that is to upliit humanity. Our 'brother laid down several propositions in terms a* -absolute as they are disputable. There is no'such thing a s an industrial'revolt, said he, what we have is " a class" war, and the two classes are the rob lied , a nd robV-lers. If one had cared to be rude one might, at this juncture have cried " Bats," and left the room even though by so dring one missed the collection plate. However, we remained though like the Scotchmail when jok ng, " with dilliculty," and were rewarded by hearing a tirade of the most senseless, infantile and dangerous (t 0 seine) twaddle to which it is possible ' for a human being possessing intelligence to give utterance.

Comrade iHoward must be a singularly impossible man. JTis " kick " is not so much against the robber and exploiter and capitalist and direct-or a »d, worst of any, tho man who receives a dividend (that is the man who finds the money to pay the wages of Comrade Howard's pals with a chance of jyettin? some interest thereon after the said p.^ls—not belore-'have had their full whack) as it is against anybody and everybody who is abovo the. j/rmle, o! a common labourer. This last is the only genuine " bottom dog," and the carpenter and artisan are aristocrats. Therefore, up with tiho common labourer and down with everyone else who oan wear a clean collar and likes soap a nd has brains enough to (be something different. As for "Professor " Mills (I still await details of this " Professor's " credentials and dlaracter) the man who the other day was. greeted with eulogies as silly as | they were out of plaoe, the cry now goes forth " Crucify him, and release unto us Comrade Semiple!" Says Comrade Howard : " A little gentleman known as 1 Walter Thoimas Mills was one of -the principal writers of a Labour paper (laughter) thdt was owned and controlled bv the exploiting class of this community," t&c., &c., &!c. Is it not pitiable? What are ■we to make of a world where mem of this stamp are'regarded as leaders ? Jn England notoriety hunting vituperators tA the Tpnull&mn and Ben Tillett staimp, in New Zealand Payne of Grey ''Lynn and Howard and Semple of no one knows where ! Would any person entrust such persons with an ordinary labourer's job ? Yet, forsootih!, they not only pose as leaders and legislators but are followed by the victims of their ignorance 'with a loyalty and devotion that few of us give to King,

country, oliuroh and ttho man who, after much anxiety now and again, pays us our wages regularly every week ! More than onoe in the history of the 'human race nations have gone to the dogs through avoidable causes. Is the time now ripe for the doctrine' of the bottom dog to take us there again 1 And is New Zealand, after twenty yearq of LLHoralUm and an addition 0f£4Q,000,000 of national debt, to lead the way '! As the man on the stump proudly says '' -New Zealand has always instructed the world."