A SPECTATOR'S COMMENT.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14833, 26 November 1913, Page 11

A SPECTATOR'S COMMENT.

TO TIIK EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir, —I am," I may say, simply one of the great middle-class, who have no part or lot in this great industrial struggle, only in so much ac the squabbling of the two factions makes things uncomfortable and unpleasant in co many ways. I went to the meeting in Victoria ! square last evening with a certain amount of curiosity as to what would happen. In -the first place I must express my surprise at This Worship the i Mayor throwing himself bo completely in the hands of the strikers. It was all very well to make conditions as to what resolutions were to be placed before the meeting (which was comprised mainly of strikers and their wives, those locked out through the strike, and other sympathisers), but quite another to keep the ringleaders to such resolutions and compel the various speakers to refrain from "Red. Fed." outbursts of anger and incitement to violence. Professor Mills (I don't know what he is professor of —he evidently has a clever, if lurid, way of expression), who evidently hails from America, was the great '•'star." lamat a loss to understand how the Mayor could contain himself and have to listen to the volcano of vituperation, abuse, and slanderous statements given forth by this apostle of free speech against employers of labour, without making some protest. According to this great believer of British liberty and they (the employers) are a gang of thieves, liars, robbers, mean cheats, parasites, deepoilers of the poor, and a God-forsaken lot. The strikers and agitators, on the other hand, are the poor, innocent lambs who are being mercilessly fleeced; they are the salt of the earth—can do no wrong. I found that the meeting, instead of being a means to an end, of finding a way out of the unfortunate state of affairs existing, was "being cruelly used to add fuel to the fire of discontent. Inciting men, whose hearts were very sore, with ruin, staring them in the face, to be prepared to fight for Freedom. The impression I got was that this old man Mills is a firebrand and a dangerous element in this or any other community at a time like the present. With hundreds waiting and anxious to listen he is in his element, and is. ready to pour out threatenings and curses which, if taken seriously by the unthinking, may bo the means of untold harm being done. What is wanted is peacemakers, not firebrands. Ancels of light, not demons in the guise of men. Prayers we want, not curses.

Fellow-workers, don't be tooled by these ill-guided leaders. What is the position? Mills is well paid for the work he is doing., and the more discontented he CiUi make you the better he fills the bill of protessional agitator. Hiram Hunter has a good thing on: he will neither strike nor starve. His bread is sure, so lon£ as he can hold his present lucrative job. McCombs is after a Parliamentary appointment, and he wants your assistance. —Lyttelton. or some other suug soat. He can't do without you. He will keep on with the system of pin-priekine and ear-scratch-to further his cause. "What of Spoirs! , Well, this man has been appointed to the honourable position of Justice of the Pence, yet, forsooth, he is aiding and abetting the side of disorder, using his motor-car, presiding at their meetings, and using what influence ho has. What an anomaly ! What is he after? A seat on the Municipal Council, it no more important seat offers? _He also wants your votes. My advice is: watch these mon, and be careful of the advk>> they give. They are the gainers, btit you are the sufferers.—Yours, etc.. LOVER OF TRUTH. November 23rd, 1913.