OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2836, 16 September 1890, Page 4

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(nio.M orii nw.v (vuumi'onpknt.) SvnNK.v, August 20. rUACTK'AI.IA WR Mi e ilia Mate of rivil war. It- is true ihrro arc comparatively few acts of bodily violence. But. none I,ho Icm is a. deadly purpose cherished by the t.wo great contending parties each of which avruvs its intention of de-trovini-the other. If there are no acts of overt violence it, is hee.an-n it is felt that, tliey would defeat the end in view by provoking the intervention of the Stat'.\ Pethaps, dlthotii-'h such a crisis would be sharp nnd serera, and attended by fatal disaster to individual*, it, would not be ho bad as the present lingering paralysis. At present the Government holds aloof, ready to interfere in ease of riotous outbreak, but allowing '.he contending parties to work their will as regards the commerce of the country. As long as they respect olio another's skins this is left to them as a prey, and a nice mtsrs they are making of it. Yet one wou'.d i nagine that public posperity, which inv lives tho right of every man to follow his own calling in his own way, was of iutinitely more importance than tho heads or hides of a few individuals.

Of course, I ain aware that the Executive in preserving this attitude of " masterly inactivity " is following the highest precedent. It has always been accepted as an axiom that in cases of this kind tho State must not interfere no matter how its deepest interests are endangered, provided the contending parties who make it their battle-ground, show some skin-deep and outward conformity to the laws made and provided against a-mult and battery. But just as all hiary and time-honoured creeds are being put upon their trial, so this one will in tune have to answer for it-elf. I think the result of the present struggle will be 11 show that the welfare and safety of whole classes is of even irrcater import ance than the bodily wholeness of a few i ldividuals. Very properly the State is o ireful of the latter and bends the whole of its resources to secure it. Much more ought it to provide for that which i< greater and secure to the several branohes of indintry the right to follow their avocations iu peace. A-life-aud death struggle between labour and capi til works far more harm to the State than a rough-and-tumble in the streets. Yet the one is allowed to proceed without let or hindrance, whilst the other would be stopped if it co-t hundreds of thousands to do it.

But how can the Stat'j intervene without unjustly giving the victory to one party at the expense of the other? How his it put an end to the reign of the a'rong hand ? By providing tribunals which may admiuister some semblance ol justice, and then making it penal for men t> take the law into their own hands. The p :nalties would be of no avail without toe tribunals, for men would still feel t iat their lives depended oil taking th.' lives of their enemies. Neither would th' tribunals be. of any use without the penal ties, for the strong and powerful would a'ill prefer to enforce their own decisionritlier than submit to those of the courts. But there are no courts which can decide the questions at issue, between labour and capital, or compel any respect for the common peace and welfare. Yet those questions are <[iiite as capable of some practical find approximate solution by clearheaded aid honest judges or jurymen us those which now come before the courts. For wilt of the rtqui.-ite machinery the former are Mitferid to breed heartburning feuds, mid to threaten convulsions which approach dangerously near to revolution. At present employers sen no prospect ol security except in the utter extinction oi subjugation of Unionism, a movement which in itself is harmless, and il poperly controlled is capable of achieving excellent and desirable results. They expect from their employees n pledge that they will not jfiin Unions, or if joined that they will not iilliliate with othei Unions. If they are disobedient, they discharge them. All this seenis to me an unjustifiable invasion of personal liberty. Employres have a right to expect loyal obedience and faithful service, but the private engagement of their officers they havo not the least moral right to ontrol. They think it essential to theii own security that they should prevent them from joining the unions. Under present circumstances it very likely inecessary, because unionism, nncheekid by anv legal re-traints and officered by seme of the most ignoiant, officious, and overbi armg men in the colony, has shnwi. itself capable of exercising the mos 1 insolent extortion and dietat'on and the most intolerable tyranny. Witness tin attempt to boycott all non-union work, and to force all workers to join thu unions, whether they wMi to do so or not. NY plo»sing of smooth words can disgui-o the true d'araclers of these demands. They involve the supervision of individual liberty, and the usurpation of a powei which only belongs to the Stale. Hither the Government must destroy and trainph out these assumptions or iliey will do.-troy th" I iovrrmncnt. j s*it if a tribunal were called into existence t.O reject all unwarranted alarm-- from both sides, and a'uicd with power to visit with condign puu'shmcnt all offenders against itsediots, employers would no longer have the dread of unionism, which now very jastly feel, Uohmi--io. on the other hand, instead - f amusing hostility, and awakening t i ■ j 'ulous sns.j-'ptibiiifies of every lover of lawful liberty would he set free to exeiciso il.» immense and legitimate mora' i'.lluence, which will yet conduct it to vietoiy, unless indeed in the meantime the wild vagaries anil io-aoe pretentions of its unskilled steersmen should hopelessly wreck it on the reefs of public reprobation. In short, il the individual liberty of employers and employees til ike were provided for and protected by lawful authority, there would be neither pretext nor opportunity for such disgraceful and humiliating conflicts as are nou paralysing trade and cinbiltei ing social life. What we now see is a determined a'tempt to decide by sheer brute force an issue which should he determined, and em only be permanently settled on grounds of justice and cijuity. Let adequate machineiy for providing the latter l>! organiseil and set in motion, and the task of the Stato in preserving peace between rival organisations, will become at least as easy as its pteseut task of preserving outward peace between private individuals.

Whilst I am writing the air is ringing with the news of a riotous outbreak at Newcastle. Of course the sooner this kind of brutality is resorted to, the sooner does the intervention of the < iovcrnment In come absolutely necessary, and the sooner will the sympathies of all lovers ot law and order lie enlisted against the malcontents. Tlieie is no reason to suppose that the Conned of Trades arid Labour have any connection with these outbreaks. They have no dcsiir to resort to outwai d violence, but their hands have uo doubt toon forced by some of their impulsive followers who cannot distinguish between terrorism directed against a mail's means of obtaining « livelihood and terrorism against bin person. The Newcastle strikers have e.mi rill the sheep's clothing rather prematurely, that's :,l!. The inactivity and apai.hy dl-pl.'iy, d in I'arlianient. is in i-tiony <-"lilra-t I'llbe 1n ■ in'. i I < .ti t-i 11 Kxei-pl Mr Wiill.er'.ehdillike ami I'!-iiid pio| i'silill11 that tin Slate should snb-idisv in.-ni i • etinn md n-nrpati nby leiidiiiir the led.lie in..in y In ill" Unions, there is hardly a word said to show that the collective wisdom of the colony is cognisant, i f the nri.-i* through which it is passing. Perhaps this restraint is necessary, f' r some of the legislators who have iiKsumed the responsibility of controlling their fellow colonists have' shown in the pa«t that, they are not able to control themselves.