SIT TIGHT NEW ZEALAND!

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1925, 6 December 1913, Page 7

SIT TIGHT NEW ZEALAND!

Sir,—We are all justly proud of otar countrymen who have saved the country from the Ked Feds., and who will have to be counted with in ail future anarchist plots which may spring forth —and wo are heart and sou! with iiiem ill their determination to have no compromise with the men who would overturn all law mid order. New Zealand seems but a small fragment of tho world oil the. map, .but I believe the gallant stand our moil 'have made to defend the right will bo an object lesson to other countries which'arc harassed by the same sedition and lawlessness, and already I sc.o the farmers in Australia arc ready to foilow our example if uee(ftsary. In the end, right will bo might and these fungus growths will entmbio away and men will wonder that they could havo been so'easily duped. Again I say SIT TIGHT NEW ZEALAND. ASHES. Sir,—All's well—lights art burning brightly—eight hells have siruc-k on a score of - ships, and a. thousand,pairs of sturdy haiids shift hatches, finger •» Unll-ropc, knock a preliminary kick out of a winch, and trundle their H.H. gocarts to tho various scenes of action.

Yes, -on a fine day those times tho Wellington wharves are " 'ives of bioomiir industry," and what was it that .set such a gigantic ball rolling?— just eighty-seven men from the Wairarapa and Maiiawatu, who on November 7 pulled their coais off and started to play tho game—fifty-sis from AVairarapa ami thirty-one from Maiiawatu, many of them yoiing follows who held their end up with the best. AVo felt like a drop in the ocean. Yes, but we knew to-monw would bring a bunch of strong young ■Wellington men. In.our miml's eye wo pictured to ourselves the stalwart Bfiiiarc-slioiiidered cavalier who may bo seen any day at 4 p.m. walking majestically into the fashionable tea-rooms and usually accompanied by the most charming of Wellington's many charming maids and matrons. Yes, to-morrow \wrald do it; but to-morrow dawned and passed, as did many days that followed, and still wo slogged in. Then wo knew — wo realised the fact that the stalwart men of Wellington had ignored tho call to shoulder their burden and play the game--to strip olf their coats and twoinch collars and handle a. bull-rope, run a truck-, or (horrible thought) siio-ulder a coal-basket would be most infra dig. Of course there were 1500 foot "specials," doutchcrknow, with mornin.g tes. and afternoon tea, and who, with rhythmic tread and dignified mien marched at 5 p.m. due soul h to E Shed. Our gcntlo bosoms thrilled with pride as they passed—with longing eyes wo sea relied their ranks' for a face wo know, and having found ouo we, ' ii-o unwashed toilers, received a smile—a sinilo in which dignity, superiority, and compassion blended, l>ut our ranks wero swelling— tho country boys came . in their scores. A' few (very few) Wellington men came, perhaps a dozen. And at even, when tho sun was low many crews sculled their joy-boats round tho bows of the old Mararoa to ga.i-ie -at tho. wharf rats that thronged her decks, and silently thank their gods that they were not of such clay. Wo arc not indignant regarding Wellington's "men" (?)—far from if. All credit to those 1500 foot

"specials," but as for tho many hundreds —aye, thousands —Who still sipped their tea at 4 p.m., with pretty tics' and immaculate boots, hair parted with infinite care, wo mourn their loss. They are non est when men are called for. and it is they who have now constituted themselves an additional burden for tho countrymen to shoulder nnd protect should occasion arise, and when some day we from the country enter the city to sojourn for a few days as visitors, we call gaze at theso ten-room stalwarts and know that beneath those manly shoulders there palpitates the heart of a chicken. We meet old pals—"What of the '!)0 strike?" wo ask, and a gleam comes into the eye of the man of do. "A os," he says,, "ten went from' our ollice — V.o manned the old Kiwi—we lumped coal, learnt to swear, and wash decks, and, Lord love you. boy, vo worked like

But what of the 11)13 strike? Aro our city men degenerating? Ave not those luauly forms and delicate hands what they seem? Is city life a "bhill,' to be merely called and nothing to show? Echo gives no answer —nobody says mifiin, lint we, of the country, cheerfully shoulder our additional burden nnd wholeheartedly resign ourselves to the task of nursing anil spoonfeeding the men of Wellington, who, when not armed wiih a pen, lilt tiny Ua-cups and cast amorous eyes oil Ilia fair faces and charming forms of the fair jcx with whom they differ only by the law of nature. Time alone will regulate thejnaehinery of the iielusi rworld of New Zealand, and from the ashes of the J!)I3 sit ike will rise a better and eleaiwr understanding between town and country; but wiil the ashes of AVellington's manhood O-YIT Ii.SC il hove the lend of degenerate mediocrity, into which they have descended through years of peace and plenty, supplemented by "aftcrnodii "Tea,"' pre!iv ties, charming manners, and amorous glances from beneath hideous hats 0 — I am, etc., IULL TUK LH'Sd.OCKV. Miisterlou, December ii. isl«>