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Hokitika Guardian, 15 November 1920, Page 2

As regards harbor matters, the district has already its own liabilities at its own door, and it is enough to shoulder these without placing additional burdens on the people. The situation as it presents itself, suggests food for thought as regards what might be done to ensure more shipping for the part of Hokitika. There are all the facilities here for shipping and ample freight could be arranged if the right sort of craft were brought here. In the last maritime strike ships of considerable draught found no difficulty in working Hokitika, and this open port was tlie saviour of the Coast during those trying days. With so many sawmills in operation hereabouts there would be ample timber for export if the millers combined in securing the boats. If this were contemplated, the Harbor Board would be justified in improving the berthage, an operation which could 1 be done at no great cost Not to attempt to do anything in the matter of local shipping is to see a fine harbor fall into decay and a serious district loss incurred. We are persuaded that, something could be done and something should be attempted. The timber produced here and required to be carried overseas should as a matter of right pass over the local wharf. That it does not do so now to a great extent"is a reflection on the enterprise of the people. If the3 r do not attempt to do something to help themselves in a reasonable and practical way, they might in" tine end find themselves forced to assist other people to make and maintain a harbor miles away, and another town continue to reap the harvest of the shipping trade We have some enterprising men connected with sawmilling and it is expected of tljem that they should do something to assist the district which is the centre of their industrial profit. When the local Harbor reserves were sold there was a promising scheme put forward about export from Hokitika, but the scheme lias not materialised in past years this port was able to send out millions of feet of timber annually, and the same export is still possible if the people acted unitedly in the matter. The .course of events are so shaping now as to force some form of union to secure local shipping for the needs of the local industry.

The industrial situation in Italy has its value to the outside world. As an English paper said while the labor upheaval was in progress, an object lesson in the composite and co-operative character of all profitable industry was being taught in the Italian steelworks. When a factory is to be seized the men rush to the gates, not to lock out the masters, engineers, and skilled staff but to lock tlfem in. The workers’ dependence on technical skill was confessed by the principal strike leader to a London correspondent in Milan when he said : “We seized the factories and tried to work them ourselves by compelling the engineers to help us.” What applies in the case of the workers’ own skill, applies equally to the other departmnts which in combination make an industry succeed. A skilled mechanic becomes so by apprenticeship and training. It is the same with direction of capital, the work of the engineer, buying and selling, and office management. Labour is a part, but only a part in forming with all other factors one functioning whole. Industry needs heads as well as hands. The story of these seized Italian factories is proving it. Forcible conscription of brain power having failed, production is falling off; and as the workers have no effective organisation for buying raw material or selling finished goods., their experiment must end in the inevitable tragedy of No Wages.