Under Currents

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17384, 21 April 1928, Page 6

Under Currents

IN THE DRIFT OF LIFE

By 'Stekar. '

SATURDAY NIGHT THOUGHTS. "Whosoever would be free, let him not desire or dread that which it is in the power of others either to deny or inflict." This saying of the Roman philosopher Epictetus is quoted by old blind Bardo in George Eliot's story "Romola." Bardo adds: "Of all such gifts as are dependent on the caprice of fortune of men, I have Jong a*go learned to say, with Horace, 'Sunt qui non habeant; est qui non curat habere.' " (There are some who may not possess; there is one who does not bother about possessing.) Rather weak and negative stuff, this old philosophy, isn't it? Not to bother, not to desire! Old Diogenes went to live in a tub so that he might be as little as possible dependent on others. Fortunately he had no family —or perhaps unfortunately, as there's nothing like a family to remind one that the liberty of loneliness is no liberty at all. Is the bee working with its fellows, less free than the spider which stalks alone? Is a man, or the more de-pendent woman or child, less free than the lordly lion? Surely it is our salvation that "we humans are so dependent one upon another. Yet we may learn from the lion how contemptible it is to cringe and fear. In living and working "with, our fellows we may have to yield, yield, yield one cherished wish after another. We may have to humble ourselves. But we are miserable as,craven curs if we lack ideals for which we would dare all things. The man with little ones dependent on him may be drawn painfully between conflicting loyalties when to follow an ideal means to sacrifice all worldly things. But will anyone say that John Bunyan was wrong when he went to prison, leaving his family to humanity's mercy? Jrfe said the parting was like dragging his flesh from his bones —especially the parting from his little blind daughter. Not only for our own freedom and independence should we keep watch upon the desire to get and possess. Not only should we learn not to bother about possessing. If others,are "eating bitterness" for the lack of needful things, we should hate to possess. So too, with liberty. Should we not hate bur liberty if it is gained through the subjection of others? In national as well as social life we need to be ever on the watch lest under the guise of defending our liberties we trample on those of others. In the name of liberty the slave-owners of the American Southern States demanded the right to keep their slaves when the North wished to abolish the vile svstem. And Lowell truly wrote:

There are'slaves who wear to speak For the fallen and the weak."

"Yes, true freedom is to bear All the chains our brothers wear."

THE SAILOR'S LIFE. The sale of the Australian Government's steamers is accompanied, a*» was expected, by threats of boycott on the part of Australian workers, 'ihe problem is an exceedingly difficult one for the seafaring men, for the purchasing company and for the Government. The conflict arises from the difference between Australian wage standards and those of Europe and Asia. Within Australia the high standard can be maintained by exclusionism and protection, but on the sea it is a different matter. Six years ago the "Seeker" went a-seekiiig through the crew's quarters on an Australian coastal steamer and an English steamer lying at Sydney. The contrast was striking. On the Australian boat the crew's cabin, though placed in an uncomfortable position eight against the stern, was airy and well-lighted. Below it was the shower-room, where the stokehold hands washed and changed before coining to the cabin or the messroom, which was separate from the sleeping quarters. There were no frills but everything was clean and wholesome. On the English vessel some members of the crew were having lunch While others (night workers) were abed in the same room. A stoker came up in all his filth to snatch a meal in that dark hole. I was told that there was no bath at all for the crew. It was a cargo boat, and probablv conditions were worse there than on the passenger liners. But it is against such conditions that Australianseamen are battling. There was a contrast, too, between the men. The Australian who showed we round was a fireman. In his whole appearance and manner he was a self-respecting citizen. He would not drink. He insisted on going home for his lunch. The "hearts of oak on the British ship looked as rough as their surroundings. The \ustralian firemen at that time were receiving £l7 a month; the EugI went over a Japanese cargo steamer about the same time. The crews quarters were certainly no worse than on the English boat and the men had a bath, in fact a bath is the last thing Japanese people will do without.

AUSTRALIA'S SHIPPING PROBLEM.

The Australian coastal navigation laws provide that ships may not enpace in the coastal trade unless they comply with Australian conditions as to accommodation* and pay for the crews while so engaged. It would be difficult for an English company to have one scale of pay for the ocean royage and 'another for the part between -Uistralian ports. The English companies now in the trade pay English rates and forgo the local trade. If the company which takes over the \uslralian Government liners reduces the paw it will have to face the hostililv of Vustralian labour and probably a bovcott by the waterfront workers; if it' cuts out its coastal business—that is the carriage of local passengers and freight between Australian ports it w ill occasion much inconvenience. The \usfralian Labour Party opposed the sale of the steamers, pointing out that they had saved Australia millions of pounds by keeping rates down during the war boom, and contending that is was good policy to make up the current losses from public funds in order that Australia should not be at the mercy of British and oilier shipping conferences 1M Bruce Government held that the taxpayers money should not be used to / subsidise a losing shipping service. \dd this fact—that Australian vessels trading to the Far East are registered al Hongkong and carry \siatic crews, and you have a suffl* cienllv tangled problem to solve, i