CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1566, 9 October 1912, Page 5

CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE

' Owing',!to pressure on our space, consequent upon Pai'liament'being in session. Vie 'have 'been 'compelled to condense' a number <if .letters, which ;have been waiting publication "James McDowell recounts re the Ulster situation.,that: tho gt-eat • General ■ Lee, Commander-in-Chief of all the armies of tho "Southern States in the Civil War, said that America, and especially the United States, owed their eternal, gratitude 16 the many Ulster men of the North of Ireland .during the history of America. Ulster men have always been fighters .for' liberty and for liberty of conscience "for all'men, as' Ulster men from Ireland.' It is .from them and their .successors and their .cousins and their brothers that; wo have obtained so "ma;iy'))f bur best soldiers,' our greatest' generals, and patriotic presidents. 'George Washington left'his money to the college that was founded and endowed by tho ancestors of those Ulster men who left Ulster for conscience sake for freedom and liberty of thought tor themselves and f<y all men. Tho political machine that, would take away their freedom from .the descendants, of those men by forcing upon thsm a Government alien to their hereditary. lovo of freedom of thought and without' 'an appeal to the constituencies at the ballot-box is the author , of ; civil war, should"such a catastrophe,'such a deplorable incident occur. And.now'as to Home Kule itself: In the 'Tablet' of Septpmher a, it is recorded' that the total subscriptions for the cause- of Home Rule from all the Catholic Churches and from the rich farmers of. Ireland the Irish Home Rule members and all the rest up to our .latest returns in tho Dublin 'Fireman,' the official' recorder of'subscriptions for- the Home Rule cause for the year 1912; is <£14,000: The ,£l-1,(100, obtained by begging in Ireland, is slightly more than one penny per head from the 3,'2Cf1,000 Catholics of Ireland. Facts nre stubbprn things.' Mr. O'Brien, of Cork, member of Parliament, and about ten of. his fellow. Irish members—patriotic Irishmen—Say the granting of Home Rule to Ireland would bo the. greatest curse l that . ever happened ,to it. Only two-thirds of the time occupied in going 'from "Wellington to. Christchurch is required- to.Teach- London from Dublin, and the London morning papers arrive in Dublin after mid-day on tho day of publication, and you have, the fame freedom in Ireland that we have in New Zealand. Homo Rule is largely a ChuVch . affair,- and no country coulil bo governed if clerics of any religious denomination were permitted to foist their pet schemes on the electors, or on education. When- W. E. Gladstone tried to force Home Rule on Ireland and said he would employ the army, if necessary, the then Commander-in-Chief (Lord Woolsley) said: 'If civil war breaks out in Ulster I must join ■ my Ulster people and take any-command they will give me.'. At the convention; of Ulster men in . London .at .the same- time, Lord Roberts announced'''at the'first' shot fired: 'I resign from the British Army nnd join the array of Ulster, and no Scotch -regi- I ment would fire on their cousins and brothers'in-a civil war for any Irish Parliament.' " ' "Pi H.' Mackenzie" writes in referenco to a letter to Jlr. Massey by Mr. William Earnshaw in The Dominion" of Seotember 10, as-worthy- : of the consideration of workers-and: employers:' and urges that Mr. Eamshaw is right in what he says from the view he takes on the settlement by law of. all differences, but all interested must submit to- that law and that I is where-the trouble starts. All are not satisfied, commercial enterprise "and la- [ bour. consequently - suffer loss, and hard-I s.hips to the. whole-'community result. If all employers and labourers would take an intelligent -view, get right down to honest facts, act honestly-to each other, and give each other a' fair deal', "we should have less friction.' All are" forced to-ad-mit that both labour and employers un-' der .present conditions do not get fair play, and that 'those 'desirous of starting' industries often don't, on account-of the present unreliability of labour. Where immense-profits are made by the brain power of the employers, labour sees its exertions-don't, get'a fair share of what it is' making and asks ;fpr more. - Xo doubt the time-will come,'the'writer suggests; when all inducement to excel .in any particular business- profession or undertaking. will be swept aiyay,- we shall -then revert-to. the old Maori 'communistic system .-all We own will belong to us all," there will .be no poor, no disputes, we. shall live-on an equality-as the animals do, we shall be like a mob of sheep.' This is the - tendency at present. No doubt we shall get on all right, but if we look right ahead we find that when alf inducement to excel -is- killed, our present competition man-against man,' State '.against State, Nation against -.Nation', to excel, will van-ish,-improvement will ceasS, we shall :become - stagnant. Then out of tho ashes of the past a- new and better, civilisation, based on giving all human beings on earth a fair treating each other honestly and fairly, will-arise a'Government of Liberal-minded men; their leader has battled honestly from nothing'to-where he is. Wo must, of course, submit to tho law, but let lis by eliminating the obsolete features of tho law.- Make us all partners in what ,is going, let iis work on a lay'or share of what we make. Let capital represent a sharo and labour another share, fixed by law.' Then we shall be getting.a share of-what we make, and this is the only law that binds workers to their work, to be partners. The more nnd better work done, the larger the-re-turns for both .capital and labour. There is no such thing possible as a loafer's 'paradise when big wages and little or no work were-law. As Labour has made the wealth of the world, so Labour alone can hold it. Without brains to direct, and capital to pay Labour is no use. Socialism, as preached by many,, is no use, its tendency is regenerative, and those who preach equal division of .wealth know nothing. - "Iron and Steel," referring to The Dominion's report on local industries, and particularly to that part having reference to "The Iron Industry," says that such a proposition ns moved by Mr. Lnurensoii should be passed, is iiiemlible and hardly likely t6 meet acceptance by the Government. The principle of assistance by the Government is sound and not to be disputed, but that a body of industrial masters should submit such a proposition opposed to the policy of the Government as regards 'monopolies, savours of a sinister motive. The light direction of a' bonus should-be a : boi.ius on production and not-a bonus for- a financial operation. "Pro Bono Publico"- urges, with regard to tho atrricultural college promised for .the North liUni that a good mijed farm>_

ing district, centnill.v nn-.l couvcniciilly sitimU'il (in the .Main 'I'ninlc lim; (if milwa.v, i.s wlmt slioulrl be m-Icoliml us \isilp. i .\ (lisiniri'Hril |htmiii, by lixikiiiK ill ii railway map of tin- North 1.-lund, Hiiulil iiiitu'nilly -ay Ihal .Miirlon held tlu , iirciiiior puVjtioii, linviu; 'Wi'lliiislon anil Wairiii-iipn nn (In? s-outli, A licldiUiil and Wiiik.ilo on Ihc north, GUliorne and Xnpiw mi Ihu mill Waiigiiniii and Tiirnunki on tlic \Yc-l. He niissi'.-Is thai fn order to evade any friction with North Island iiipnitds, the choice of » sile should lie left to a com mi 11 , .'0. of South Island member:) uppniiili-d by the (.'ulninct. "1.0.5." remarks, uncut the. crisis- in Ulster, that we unwarrantably magnify the ))owor aud the presligo accruing to the Unionist, party from the late melo> dramatic teals of I heir lofl-wiiiß in Ulster, anil e.Npro.-.ses the sincero.it assurance that llio-u feats serve only to raise, a hearty laugh, even in Ulster itself. It is a notorious fact, he says, that every concession gained by Ireland has been always ushered in by feats of this nature, and asserts that thero is a> majority of tho people of Ulster for Homo Rule. Hcligion is not tho dividing influence, as a strong minority of protestants are Homo Rulers openly, while avowodly a further strong minority nre in sympathy with it, but fear prevents.them from coming out openly. The overwhelming majority of the people of Ireland wish lor Homo Kulo, and tho writer protests against (The Dominion- denying them this right that we enjoy here, just because, a small irreconcilable portion says no. "A. Bhezf," in regard to .the cost of living question, .suggests that the. inauguration of tho frozen meat works, and the canning industry, have caused increased prices to tho local consumer of meat, butter, milk, eggs, fish, poultry, vegetables, and fruit, the best of which is sent out: of the country, anil the remnant sold here at dear prices. Ho says that, tho export trade is to a great extent the cause of dear living. What is the. cure? An export tax on all goods produced in the country and sent elsewhere for sale. Why.should a few exporters get rich, while tho general population are robbed of good food and starved because high prices make articles of good food prohibitive to those of small means? ■We have, to pay through the Customs a liigh tax on most imported goods. Let us hav.e an export tax, and so reduce tho import tax, and eive us cheap food by leaving some of the good things of life produced in the country lo be for tho benefit of the people'of this country. "N.Z. War Medallist." writes,-in connection with tho New Zealand Cross and Mr. Hurry Wrigg, aud the petition to Parliament praying that he should bo deprived of tho honour, that the Scddon Ministry «t. up a commission, which after an exhaustive inquiry into a similar petition, .found that the awarding of the X.Z. Cross to Mr. Wrigg was fully justified. Having waded through the report of the inquiry, held in -Wellington-same years ago, the impression left on tho writer's mind was the strong bias displayed by tha leading witnesses in support of the petition (none of whom, by the way, were present in the district at the time the service was rendered .for which Mr. Wrigg \vas awarded tho Crois), and tho absurd manner.in which they contradicted, 'themselves and each' other under closo examination. The service for which Mr. Wrigg wae awarded the Cfbss was briefly as follows:—In 1867, during the Maori war, there' was a. military camp at Opotiki, amongst tho troops being tho Bay of ' Plenty Cavalry .Volunteers, Mr. Wrigg being cornet of the. troop (what •■ is now sub-lieutenant). • Tho enemy was constantly making raids through tho district, and on one occasion two men were waylaid and killed by' them on tho road between Opotiki aud Tauranga—a Mr. Bennett (white), and a friendly Maori. The' day following the killing of tlie;e men, it was urgedly required that dispatches should go through to the' officer in command at Tauranga. The commanding .officer at Opotiki, knowing the desperate nature of the- s?rvice required, in coiue'quenco of the presence of • this marauding band, decided to call for volunteers. Tho cavalry troop was paraded, the service explained, and volunteers called for. Mr. Wrigg. at once volunteered, stipulating , ' thot as the rivers to be crossed were dangerously flooded a trooper should' accompany. ■ him. A trooper,' M'Donald by name, rode to the front and volunteered to acepmpany Mr.- Wrigg. They started 'on -their ride of some 80 or 90 miles at daybreak next morning, and successfully accomplished the. ■ service without mishap. M'Donald .was unfortunately killed later, whilst performing a siniijar service, or he too would have been awarded the Cross. One of tho witnesses at the Wellington.inquiry had.the audacity to say that the ride was as safe as riding down Lambton Quay, although two men had been murdered on the road the day before. Another witness, au influential member of the Legislature, who was in Opotiki at the time of tha murders, swore that the ride of Mr. Wrigg and the ', trooper was the talk of the place, and he heard it remarked that the two would likely never come back. Whom arewe" to believe, the-man who was there or the man who was not? A military man looks upon a comrade whose servico has caught tho official eye as a man to 1« congratulated, and not to.be hounded-down; but tho civilian soldier, if one may be allowed' tho expression, is apt to , placo too much importance upon his individual acts,. and, so to speak, stands himself upon a pedestal for general admiration, angrily deprecating tho presence of another upon the same level. -