Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1913. THAT APPEAL FOR FUNDS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11567, 16 January 1913, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1913. THAT APPEAL FOR FUNDS.

We confess that we find some difficulty in following tho logic of that reasoning by which some good people would try to make us believe that it would be a highly improper thing for municipal councils to subscribe to the fund which is being raised by the Employers' Federation of New Zealand '' to combat socialism, syndicalism, and anarchy." As appears from a report in our last issue, a circular bearing upou the matter was "received" at tho meeting of the borough council on Tuesday night, and on that occasion certain arguments were adduced to dispose of it which we reproduco here because they are instructive: "I don't think tho Council should take part in fighting party politics," said the Mayor. Cr. Ewington: "Hear, hear!" The Mayor: "I have no objection to employers fighting the battle and subscribing funds, but this Council has no right to use its funds for such a fight. I am certainly not going to support any contribution from this Council to the fund." Cr. Ewington: "I move the letter be received. We have no right to take sides. It is simply asking for a fight, and wo should leave well alone. '' A councillor: "Tho circular is marked private and confidential, isn 't it?" Another councillor: "Yes, and everybody knows about that circular. " The Mayor: "I am surprised that, the Federation should have sent it,to us. They should know that we can-,

not do business in secret." Cγ. Candy: "This is not a secret society." Cr. O'Leary: ."They've cheek enough for anything.'' The motion was put to the meeting and carried unanimously.

Now it will be observed that the circular is addressed to employers of labour, amongst whom may bo found numerous supporters of the Labour Party. It is not exclusively addressed to the members of any one political party. All the false sentiment quoted above, therefore, savours of playing the party game rather low down, and it presents an excellent illustration of the shallow and specious pretexts which can be made to pass for argument when the object is to court popularity by playing to the gallery. The borough council represents the ratepayers, direct and indirect, in their corporate capacity as citizens of the town. In that capacity ■ the citizens, through the council, are ! considerable employers of labour. It is, therefore the duty of the Council to protect tho interests of the citizens as public employers. Why, then, at a time of universal labour unrest, and new and dangerous tendencies of a revolutionary and socialistic character, should it be improper for a municipal council to subscribe to a fund to be used to resist the increasing and ever more exorbitant demands of labour and to expose the economic heresies upon which so many of them are based? Do the members of the Masterton Borough Council approve of socialism, of syndicalism, and of anarchy? If they do not; if they believe these things to be harmful to the best interests of the community, why should they refuse to join in a movement to combat them? It is lutilo to argue that neither syndicalism nor anarchy have yet appeared in Masterton and that it will be time enough to consider the position when they do. The point is that prevention is better than cure. The new spirit which appears to be infecting labour all over the world is spreading like an epidemic which knows no quarantine, and the only way to meet it effectively is to be prepared for it before hand. If it is a laudable and a justifiable thing for labour to combine to protect what it conceives to be its interests, surely it is equally permissible for employers of labour to do likewise. It does not seem to have occurred to the members of the Masterton Borough Council that they are just as much manifesting party predispositions by refraining from subscribing to the fund as they would be by doing so, —with this difference that, as employers of labour, they are deliberately neglecting their interests for the purposes of courting cheap popularity. That ,is a policy which does not find any exponents amongst the labour organisations.