HUNNISHNESS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 22 July 1916, Page 3

HUNNISHNESS.

(To the -Lklttor). Sir,—John Robertson says ''To say that the dairy workers, had 110 right in the A.l'.fJ. is lioiisenfce, and 110 ono has said so except Jas. I'rouse." Now, Jwt me quote again, for the third, time, I com the Maorikuid Worker: "When the Labour Department was rip pealed to tor advice, the Deparmeiit said the dairy workers had no right in the A.P.U., k>{* th-oy wore not pastoral workers." Also, in the second column of tho same article, it reads:— "Tho Registrar had decided they (viz., the d.airy workers) must bo excluded (viz, from tho A.P.U." I would «p----iwal to your readers, who are the judges, if his statement does not come, under the heading of tortuous reasoning. But, his enquiry why the Farmers' Union took a ha.nd. Youlr renders will notice T have refrained from bringing the Farmers' T*uion into the discussion, and I will now only go so far as to Ray I have road, in mannfieript, the defence of the Farmers' Union, and when that is published in pampliVt form, as 1 expect it will be, John Robertson will get rather more enlightenment than I could give him; ami when circulated among the fannei'tt it will help them to see John Robertson and the A.l'.lf. in a clear m.nd lueidi liglrt. lam not contending for tho interests of the Farmers' Union, but for the reputation of the Levin Co-operative Dairy Coinpnnv delegintre and tho oause of the dairy industry. The Farmers' Union will, J. surmise, tako its own method of defending those it represents. Then ho Bays "Jus Proline and (Jo." AUjw me,, in this instance, to compliment John Robertson upon hie porspicacity. I feoi proud to belong to that great company of producers, beginning with our local dairy company, which this last year has produced inearlv £60,000 worth of butter, and of the other producers or our various

products— the fruits of .intelligence and industry—and because tlie local dairy company did me tho honour of appointing mo chairman of directors I ani only doing my duty in defending its rights and combatting any malign influence that may, in my opinion, be exerted against it.

T have a lively recollection of the meeting of the organizing seoretary of the A.P.U. and myself and of the discussion between us and the course of action adopted by hirn at that time; therefore I must confess thiat when John Robertson says ''Jas Prouse and Co. have thrown over the agreement and the Arbitration Act, and so exposed the dairy industry to all th# dangers of industrial disturbance which it is tho object of the Act to protect it from," it appeals to me as the most delightful joke 1 have heard for many a, long day ; that paragraph is worth framing, and making a present to all the boys who went to Wellington dwring the big strike. It could be placed, metaphorically, beside the scalps they secured during that campaign. Did I not say that the far mere had got to work on their thinking machinery; and when they read this correspondence, some of it redolent of "Red Fediism, "rand then note the language and weigh the arguments,tliey will not need a conjuror to define the difference between James Prouse and Co. and John Robertson and Do. We contend for two distinct and opposing currents of thought: viz., If we are to be as much as possible a self-con-tained country, then every means must 6e employed to harmonise the relations of capital and labour. But if, on the contrary, we 'are to encourage the policy of importing everything from abroad, then every abettor of strife and discord should be munificently rewarded, so that every industry should be hampered 1 and infant undertaking* strangled at birth. At the present moment tew know the relation of the A.P.U. to the "Ked. Federation," <'r of the ''Red I'ederation" to tho 1.W.W., whose headquarters are reported to be in Berlin. But when our tunnelling boys come back from lighting the Huns they may take on the job of prospectiug for this relationship, and lit should be la job to their liking. This letter makes four from e«ch of us, and probably many of your readers may desire a change, because of other 'liews more engrossing; so that eve® if John .Robertson comes on 'again I propose to wait to a later date, when I hope with your permission we may bo able to resume the exchange of •ompliments and ideals.—l am, etc., JAMES PROrSE.