Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1930, Page 4

Thu Federal Prime Minister Has usually been credited with possessing sound • political judgment, but He must bv this time Have realised that he committed a grioevous “faux pas” when he allowed the “left wingers” of the Labour Party to dragoon him into proposing the abolition of preference for returned soldiers. Mr Scullin endeavoured to explain that most of the returned soldiers are unionists, and that by demanding! their adherence to the unions as a qualification for preference he was really trying to protect them and promote their interests. But a.s the Leaders of the Opposition put it, this explanation is “rather thin.” It is painfully evident, believes the “Aucklnnd Star,” that this move was part and parcel of the vindictive campaign of hostility conducted by the Labour organisations during and since ' the war against the military system in general and the returned soldiers in particular. "While the war lasted, Australian Labour did its best to prevent recruiting and to render it impossible for Australia to play an effective part in the fighting, and when peace came the unions, generally speaking, pursued the returned soldiers with relentless malignity. -Now those who survived that terrible struggle are asked by Labour to stand aside and give place to those who, in many instances, refused to fight themselves and treacherously aided and abetted the conspiracy to keep reinforcements from reaching the hard-pressed “front lino,” No wonder Mr Scullin’s project aroused intense bitterness, and the demonstrations of resentment and indignation that greeted it in Parliament and throughout the country have had their ! due effect. Mr Scullin has advised the Labour caucus to drop the matter, and lie has withdrawn his proposal. But Australians will not easily forget the gross ingratitude and the vindictive hostility that the unions have displayed towards the men who fought for their country and its workers in the Great War.