The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in-Corporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1925. RULING THE BOOST.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is inCorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1925. RULING THE BOOST.

Tiik cnpiinii above scions to be the political issue all round the Empire. Australia is peine to have the matter decided in a special setting a general election tor the purpose of deriding who shall control the administration. New Zealand will have practically the same issue. It is limning across the political horizon already, and when the parties get to grips, the final tpicstion in easting the individual vote will he who is to rule the destinies of the Dominion ? In the Homeland, the last general election was decided on such an issue, and the Baldwin .Ministry is nowgrappling with the subject. An English political writer dealing with the ipiestion in ipiite a breezy way points out the perils of the occasion at Home, where extreme Labor seems to hr endeavouring to create a slate of open conllicl. Tlie writer says; —\t ihe very moment of writing. Mr Cook and his confreres of the miners' unions are breathing tire and brimstone against, tlie proposed composition oi the (!overumont's promised Coal Commission. 'What tlie Cabinet propose is a commission ex.lnsively composed of business experts, without tlie slightest personal interest or concern in the coal industry. Tlie miners strongly object to this, desiring on the commission some piratical mining authorities, who must however, to! lie a ooa! owner, or a colliery manager. To concede this would almost inevitably entail giving the coal owners representation on the commissi.i>t as well. And then, however strongly diluted those protagoti; ists might- be with impartial outoutsiders. the inquiry and tlie report would he sure to resemble a dog fight. Perhaps tile mine's may lie persuaded to accept the original severely nonpartisan eemii'i'sion if tlie terms of reference are made sufficiently wide to include by-products and their cherished scheme of nationalisation. One cannot at the moment ive sure about it. I at that lord's rather like the sort of

compromise the Oovernmont may make. It would be a terrible business if the miners suddenly made no their minds to repudiate tlie inquiry altogether. Thor are sufficiently “on their toes’’

aft<?r the recent surrender l>y the Cabinet tn their money-or-your-life demand-; almost tor anythin)'- But -Mr Cook is quite an astute as '.veil as an extreme man and his older colleagues, notably Mr Smith, of the cloth cap, and Mr Smillie. of the melting voice, have ballast enough to keep him st rnit'llt ;tnvhmv. \ minor sensation

lots been eatt-ed. however, by one statement made by the jubilant Mr took, lie declares that, when the dei isioti wtts taken hv tin- (lovet iiment to pnv the coal subsidy. Mr Churchill, who v.ns like a hear with a sore head, a; having his economy plans blown -k'-high. remarked to him: "1F-

ehea)H-r than a revolntien. anyhow I’’ N'at urallv the admission eonlaincd in do frank -tatement ha< put the Die Hurd wind tin sky-high in the Tory t>;,rt \ Hitt Mr Churchill lias oflieial'.y deniod I hat he ever used such an expression. either to Mr Cool; or anyone el-:, ; und there the matter rests. Xuho.ic would ilisonie the ('lia ncellor ri! ,he I'.xehe.pier's veracity for a moment. Truthfulness is the p liti ban's tdttek in trade and lone suit, as everybody knows. lint it is just conceivable that. in the heat :tti<l excitement of the moment, someone did use that phrase. Because. knowing Mr Cook, pretty well, and deeply distrusting his polities a.s I do. nevertheless 1 lee! .lit it e certain of one thinyr. lie i- m»t the man to fabricate a clumsy lie. or even an ingenious taradiddle. Mr Coo!; i-- extreme, but honest. And be is not really much "f a pnlitit iait. His spec-lies during tile opening stages

~(■ the recent coal trouble planed that, lie talked far too recklessly lor a genilonian so,-kino to score point' without conceding them. And. anyhow, who will dispute that, in sober la. I. tile coal subsidy i-. if mu a DaltcgcH I , (he 11eds. at least an insuram e ~„;l ; ,isl pessible revolutionary troubles. Vr is io-l a~ well to eall a spade a blinking sltuvel! Ibe ex-st-rvice men understand that soil ol talk best! The plain, blunt i- tie raised by the recent roiil was whether l*:irli:iin<'ii t or tile combined trade unions stimih! rule (.lie roost. That issue <lu"s envisage II jeal revolutionary prolihun. S-mc day We shall have to fm e it and settle it. Personally I am not the least in doubt which side will win handsomely in ibis mutiny, lint it may mean considerable uproar and ineotiveniem c. possibly even a little street fighting with pvrot cell!i ics before Die determi nai ion of .lolnt Hull in be maM'-r in his own I,,,Use is . oltell'ively demonstrated. All will ilecell d. a- 111 Die duration and v j,.. of |he struggle. on tile men at the helm ol Slat Il tltev allow themselves to he caught napping, as the present Cabinet undoubtedly were after six in i: 11 11 is* warning, so much tin- worse for us - and them! What tin- count rv ' a ills now. how ev -r. is a lull and final inquiry into the rights ~,1 ... ;■ lie.' at I lie rla I illdl! -! IV . \ ltd || it apear- that things e-ntld he hettet mantigeil. and with less intermitt n; uplieaval. iimlei nat notalisal ton. t!i t v ill be no acndet„i, 01-h-i lion so la , a- tile lMltiiie are eolleertled to giving imirc to quit to the coal owner-. The miners' ie.p!e-t that the iniptiry should include the middleman's U isij 11 - meets with widespread .support. I In . ~j the e,-, s-csl terms of plnlitcerjng has ! ecu in ri tail < oal prices. The tie r-ham- diseevereil the gentle are long before the war popularised it 1 ,, : -- -locks of coal at cheap rate- in , -i e -.aid-. Wait for a wlii-pe, of I|- up,he ill tli- ti. ini og d i-t riet - a tel :• mil- they have not long to wait. \n | then up go the pi i, <■-■ oil their re- .... long before any teal shortage iin sight. Tina' mol again in l.ot'lii the | nil-! i- has been held up lit: - way. • | »i;a. 1. 1 to pav huge aggregate sum--1,, the ! retailers, over a rumoured | ,-risis that never came rear wittet ia! i-a l ion. It is this sort > I cute -trat-g-. that drives so many poor professional aial middle-class tolks into the I.aliour ear,qi in sheer despair. It Mt Ma. Donald bad only made il leaf t lint I "No lid- Need Apply." so far ns the l.ntioiir i rogiamme and poliev are e.uteerned. he would prohnbly b • puttin'lii- brogues tn.der the Downing Street mahogany m-dav!