The Tuapeka Times. AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, Not Men." SATURDAY, AUG. 23, 1919. COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 6691, 23 August 1919, Page 2

The Tuapeka Times. AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, Not Men." SATURDAY, AUG. 23, 1919. COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS.

i; 1 "" sl ob j<*tionablo foatura t««.od Ldion Z^TT' 8 '* dement associated with £ rr£r, aßa " uotmm^ bto^» t!H . • Uud -ballots and the icu'iiK> ]''■ ar °) tho two spocio3 of lotter y r; Ithi*1 th i* uount ™ ™ d » tl>oir thev urn habiti ° f indu «<y kiml of u S I>crmcious as any othor th' • fir.' IBK M ° m ' hw in shall t •? havo ' dccre » d £ rf? *: 1 ? 04 The rat 6 01. . . u Ma a te »-pound note to spare. *o IK not rnoro in lovo with waeefron" 8 i W ° rk thaD anyono « lse > an^ ?, , om : l'«<ihanco, the habit of ,;" i " u i l "" luslr y has boon eliminated by a long courso of military discipmiturally l° okß rOUDd him tQ - - • any chance of augmenting his _ pounds to 01) pounds without much * X t WD - flo his ohance in the ut.ih.sa.tur, and away goes his monoy o back horses. If ho gets no return, , . » ,crhll P" Me. » job till ho can obIlllotlior fivcr or tenner which goes he same way. if h# ig fortunate B alld ■ ' "«!; a ' divvy" 0 r two which brine •™ kl> or £IOO, hi., career aa an indus ii.i warrior is probably nipped in tho H'' ■* enrolled in the olroady too . 1 1 >ed ranks 0 f tote-bottors and i'rx.k!».-« and bocomos an additional parasite on productive industry. If our soldier happens to bo the fortunate p W - M's.sor „f „ thousand or two in bankmiles or can find relatives or fric-nds t» back Inm to such an amount, he gow for a gamble to the land-ballots. There . n " n "ttcr how keenly ho'de-■«n-ea to toil on tho land, that there are <ir more blanks than prizos, but that when he gets a prize it i a a good on«, 110 good, indeed, to warrant his pin">»g himself down to a life of hard »i ■ A small (?) grazing runi hose lately allotted from the lato Glad>roo psfdlo, put s him in cany circums ,uicc > right away. He becomes a man » substance and an embryo lord of ie manor without any exertion at al! on Ins part Xow where are the incen"u'f u ~ldus' r y md thrift in these of repatriating the r-turned HiMier Are (hoy Ilot oxcocdin , .'• v t0 mn ,. k '' lllm « mem gambler, or Arr'ter fortune like the renowned | -Mr Micnwber ?

w, H " nrCSt ,n "" I;ornofS 0f ">» uori.l hr.np llp „ roh a.sh al : the stales I du.iry old platitudes that have boen pio.«di,-d in tlio press by economists, Miiwiiicrats ami busses over sineo strikes iccame h social medicine and a politi--7 "Labour must free it<elf 11'" shackles of igncanc, which pieveni II from appreciating the economic truth that co-operation with emp.oyer.s is ID ill,, best interest! of workl»'»l'l<', and ought to admit of no dispute." "Co-operation of this nature is opposed to the tenching imbibed for "alf a century by ,1 hrg:! ~,'ctian 0 f '.i c!" Tues'! last two sentences » "ur homily are examples of what may »<■ called the popular platitudinarian 'j\ i 1 o( writing about labour u.'ircsr. Miey sound s.-.lemi and sagacious. Probably they are thought wise and p-o-------found by many of the unthinking i iowd of readors. But they arj mere verbosity. Tkcy mean only that strikes are bad, but workers still strike, nni have been striking for fifty years. It must bo rather exasperating to intelligent wage-earners to be constantly treated to this kind of stuff in the public prints whenever thoy do with the articlo they have to soil just what ths other sellers of goods in demand habitually do unrebuked—namely, hold it back for a higher price. Labour of all sorts is in high demand all over ths world to repair the ravages of war. Labour, therefore, puts up its priee. It has to, because the holder of tho goods it needs took advantage of the seareity caused by war to put up their prieo, and labour cannot live decently without. higher wages. Quite a simple matter. Done every day by the very people who preach about labour's sins. Another habit of the preaching economist is to scold the working-man for taking notice of the advice given to him by those men he has himself chosen to voice, his grievances. One might as well scold tho shareholders of a company for taking notice of tho counsel of the directors they have elected to manage the business in which they have invested their money, or the people generally Tor observing the laws made by legislators they have elect'd. Calling labourites fools for listening to agitators whom they themselves have electod to agitate for them is n very futile stylo of argument. It may irritate, but can never convinco, for it implies that tho pleader for "sane" labour counsels does not think the peopl.2 he wishes to convince have either r>ase,i 0 r commonsense. Essentially this continual complaint about the manner in whicb the working-classes are led awny by agitators to act against their own interests is nothing but a reiteration of the old Tory argument that manual labourers should have no say or vote in politics because they have not :i jood enough judgment or sufficient knowledge to look after their own interests. \V> cannot expert them nowadays to Mibscribo to such a dogma. Public interest in tho approaching meeting of Parliament i.; being stimulated by speculations concerning t'lO relations towards each other to b" adopted by the two main political pnrtif?. Are they going to together or full apart ? Tho two leaders are reticent. Thoy both pose as servants of their respective supporters. The rank ami file must give tho sign Vfore the giuic* rals can Tonew embrace*, or ftnaij

apart, "like cliffs that have been rent asundft".'' In the moun',in,e they will not be pumped. So the electors must await patiently the pleasure of thf-i: high mightinesses, while the pulse of the country is felt. Probably there will not be much making of new law- during the coming session. People ate hardly ui the mood to staid a big dose of legislation, and ihe legislative machine Lias outlasted its term of usefulness. It is ready for the scrap-heap. After-war problems were better tackled by a body more representative of the present state of public opinion. But if the main parties split, each must have a policy to promulgate. If they maintain the partnership they must have a policy in common. We are told that would be easy enough, for both are afraid of the possib'e ascendency of Labour, or, at least, if the holding by Labour of the balance of power. Both appeal to "sane" Labour for support. "Sane" Labourites are apparently those annual workers who are born and remain either n little Liberal, or a little Conservative. The "insane" Labourites who have formed a Labour party, and who aTO tcmed by oppon ents ''extremists" or "Bolshevists/' appear to be in higb feather. They pro fess to anticipate numerous additions to their ranks when the general election takes place. One mif hazard a doubt that they are rather too sanguine. They have to reckon with a large feminine vote which is ignorait of politics, quite apathetic regarding economic problems so long as there is no actual starvation, and toe conservative in feeling to welcome new social experiments. Many wo*nen will vote against T.ahour because they will be warned in print to fear revolution.