The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1914. THE "LIBERAL" LEADER AND THE STRIKE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 20053, 11 April 1914, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1914. THE "LIBERAL" LEADER AND THE STRIKE.

Because we persist in asserting that Sir Joseph Ward's behaviour in connection with the" strike was net what it ought

to luave been, the "Herald" is very angry, and in the blindness of its wrath it foolishly refers us to "Hansard." After charging the "Chronicle" with " malicious misrepresentation," with being "scandalously'unjust," with circulating a statement that is "flagrantly untrue," and ' with formulating a "cowardly charge"—expKessions which in themselves sufficiently indicate a. disordered mental condition —our contenapora.ry asks:

Will the "Chronicle" inform its readers where in '"Hansard" can be found any statement made by Sir Joseph Ward which^ould indicate thiat he was not on the side of law and order or that he "was aiding or abetting the strikers? . .

With respect to the "Chronicle's" further and equally untrue allegation that Sir Joseph Ward did not suggest a remedy to end the strike, we would again refer it to "Hansard." Newspapers may lie, but "Hansard," surely not.

The concluding 'sentence- is decidedly* amusing, though we rc.ircely expected the " Herald" to speak for itseK quite so frankly. White v.c fully recognise the "Hoiaid's" ability to prevaricate ,\e .are not altogether sure that ''Hansard'" is always and inevitably,accurate. However, we are piepared to take it as we find it, for in its pages there is ample to justify all wo have &aid concerning Sir Joseph Ward and the strike. Tii "-Hansard" No. 36, pages -440-442, there is recorded a speech wEJch Sir Joseph Ward, as the responsible leader of the Opposition^ ought never to have made. It is '!his notorious utterance concerning an incident which occurred in Wellington when rioting and lawlessness., was the order of the day, and when an injudicious 'utterance-on the part of a responsible public man was calculated to work infinite harm in the community. In the course of that speech .Sir Joseph Ward said: •I was assured upon coming in here just now by a man who was president of one of the unions connected with the waterside-workers—l do not know his name —that until this display of batons he was iable to keep absolute peace among members of the union. The speech from which we quote was made ia the House on October 30, and 'inlaiediatcTy following lits publication Wellington's evening paper, " The Post," which sides neither with the Government nor the Opposition, challenged the position taken up by Sir Joseph Ward. It said: The Opposition Leader must be singularly unobservant if he has not noticed that the alleged " absolute peace" of sections of the strikers since 22nd October has occasionally been expressed in violence and law-breaking. Surely His Majesty's Opposition should take some pains to be informed—by personal visits —of tho state of affairs at the waterfront if the Liberals doubt the accuracy of the reports of their own local" organ as well as th© chronicles of other journals. Sir Joseph has either to confess to unpardonable ignorance of developments at the waterside^ —or his judgment has been temporarily upset by the fear of giving an advantage to the Government by anything like a whole-heart-ed support of the Administration at a critical time when the suppression of lawlessness demands united action by the people's elected representatives, lifted by the public need above the dusty and ignoble hollows of party politics and electioneering finesse. The speech which called forth this denunciation at the ihands of an independent critic, and which provoked a storm of condemnation from one end of tho Dominion to the other, was made on October 30. Two days before (see "Hansard" Xo. 35, pages 323-324) Sir Joseph Ward made a lengthy reference to the Himtly and Wellington strikes in terms which were certainly not calculated to assist the Government in promoting a settlement. Here is a brief extract indicative of the general tenor oi iliis remarks : This mine has now been closed for ten days or a fortnight, and we know nothing of the particulars of the matter ; and there is a feeling—and a keen feeling too —abroad regarding it that wo ought all to try and prevent, if it is correct, that a, system is being pursued of practically compelling men to come into lino by a process of locking out, which practically is a system of starvation. lam riot using the word "starvation" in any offensive sense, but I am simply stating the position as far as that mine is concerned.

As "indicating how this speech was viewed in the House, it is only necessary to quote the opening words of the Prime Minister's reply:

In reply to the lion, gentleman I would just like- to say that I hope no attempt will b© made to make- party capital out of the labour disputes wo arc experiencing in this country at thepresent time. Hie position of the- Government is sufficiently difficult with re-

gard to these matters without attempts being made to make it worse, i This was at once a dignified reprimand. [ and an appeal, yet two days afterwards ! the country was shocked by Sir Joseph ] Ward's unstatesmanlike allusion to the | Post Office Square incident. We come j now to November 11, on which date the j Leader of th© Opposition made another \ speech relative to the then existing con- ; dition of strike affairs and talked airily of settling the- trouble (which had been ; acute for the best part of a month) per 1 medium of legislation, although he must

i have been aware that the strike was being maintained by men wifoo openly ad- ( vqcated the consignment to hell of all

j agreements binding on the workers. In reply to this further untimely utterance, Mr. Massey said: I am not going to criticise the speech made by the hon. gentleman, but I do say this: that it would have been much better in the interests of the country had that speech not been miade. We need not go further. We have answered our contemporary's challenge from the pages of "Hansard," and we are confident that -every impartial reader will agree that the extracts we

, have,giyeir arc such as to fully juslify

,' our assertion that Sir Joseph Ward, did .}• not play the part-he ought to have played at a'time ■when the country was faced with'a grave industrial'crisis. In | conclusion, however, it may be as well i to clinch the matter by repeating the ■' quotation from a speech by the Hon. A. L. Herdman (another " Hansard" record) which we gave in our previous article:

I do not know of any helpful sugges-

tion the hon. gentleman has made a but

I do know that by his indiscreet utteri ances in the House at the beginning of the strike, and, indeed throughout these troublous times, he did much to fan the ' flame and put kerosene on the fire. I am quite certain that the speeches he . miade in the House when the trouble ! was at its worst ihave done as much as i anything else to keep it alive.