Thoughts For The Times.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 December 1919, Page 1

Thoughts For The Times.

THE MISSING LOYALISTS. We shall probably be told yet that the Labour into in the Dominion was loyal to the flag right throughout the war. It was in the earliest days of the war that the Federation of Labour declared that its attitude to the war was one of “dignified neutrality.” The Federation of Labour is,'on the industrial side the counterpart ofvthe New Zealand Labour Party, on the political side. There was no question of compulsory military service at the time. There was no question of war profiteering at that time. The Federation of Labour had no convenient excuse behind which it could shelter when it committed itself to this astounding declaration.

The subsequent, action of the Labour junto in opposing the introduction of a democratic system of military service, in calling for peace at any price, and in denouncing the Peace Treaty was thoroughly consistent with the declaration of a “dignified neutrality.” The claim now made on behalf of the leaders that they were loyal and patriotic may be tested by the record of their actions. AMENDE HONOURABLE. A Labour admirer of Sir James “I have never previously admired Sir James Allen, but I have to admit that if there is one man in the Government who has come tlirougli the war period with credit and that man is Sir James \llen.” Mr Alexander M’Lauchlan, official Labour candidate for the Mata ur a seat. TO-MORROW’S ISSUE. “I cannot say thede is a great deal of difference between the manifestos of Sir Joseph Ward and Mr Massey.” Mr G. W. Russell declared: “But in Avon it is not a diffedence between Mr Mussev and Sir Joseph Ward, is a question between the forces of order and the forces of disorder.”