The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23. 1950. LEADERSHIP!

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 September 1950, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23. 1950. LEADERSHIP!

W IIAT an important thing leadership is! It carries responsibilities of the greatest magnitude, particularly when it affects a large number of people. But it also places responsibility on individuals, in that they get the leaders they deserve. Judging by the reception given Mr. Barnes, president of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union, when he addressed members on the wharf in Wellington yesterday, some members arc questioning his leadership. He cannot object to that. Members of a union have a responsibility to see that they are well led. If they are poorly led they should make a stand. The same thing can be said for employers. If their leaders are continually leading in a direction that the rank and file object, to, the system of democracy we seek to protect provides them with a means of making a change, and leaders who no longer fulfil their function—leading those who elected them to greater advantages—those who have the power to do so should lose no time in removing them. These rather simple truths have been raised by the recent trouble on Ihe waterfront, the immediate settlement of which left the people wondering why it all had to be and who benefited. People have a right to question the wisdom of their leaders, just as leaders have a duty to lead faithfully. Leaders who continually look for trouble, who live by unrest and confusion, are not good leaders. Men can be fighters for good, and yet not be agitators. It is time that we all, workers, employers, and everybody, took stock of the position and ehose men who can lead to our advantage, not to our confusion and unrest.