WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 23 May 1932, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS

LAW AND ORDER. FrIeDOM OF SPEECH. (Special Correspondent).,;.

WELLINGTON, Maw 18. Whatever grievances the .malcontents of various species besetting t:.e Capital City at present the time may imagine they have against the - Government they certainly should he harbouring m. malice against the local daily papers.. Both morning and evening publications have opened their correspondence columns quite generously -to the grumblers' land growlers .aaiuibeven to the threateners and the'strikers. Only last evening one of these gentlemen: was allowed to tell the pubic through one of these mediums that if 'thc."< Communists “were out of this country' New Zealanders would ne working far below the miserable standard we il'l'C working under to-day for tile simple reason they have not got the backbone to stand for their rights to live and' will take any miserable conditions the Government likes to offer.” 1 This particular authority apparently hails' from Australia, and quite likely foresaw changes in the affairs of the Coni'- 1 - monweath that impelled him to seek refuge in this country.

THt COMMUNIST AT LARCE.

It is rather his fruitful imagination than iiis ignorance of affairs that tempts me to quote further from the breezy concoctions of this refugee from the troubles of his own country., “Jt is the nature of the majority ,qf New Zealanders,” he tells us, “to wait for someone else to fight for their cpp-. ditions. They may condemn the Communists, but they are always ready ,to accept the concessions that are forced out of the Goverment by the fear of the Bed Flag. The only thing the majority of New Zealanders are first in is in joining up with the ‘scab police’ that are patrolling the streets at the present time with hats of the same material as their head—tin. As regards deporting the .Communists....l will take at least 100 men with me, from Wellington alone, who will be only too pleased to leave this scabby country, and its people to the mercy of the present Government.” And so on. and so on.

“WELL KNOWN MALCONTENT.”

Another correspondent, who -is not ash.:med to attach his name to a -letter denouncing the Governnunt iii general and the most punctilious Minister of Justice iii particular, epitomizes bis grievances in a single sentence. “I have been used to living ’decently,” lie tells the world at large, “and have taste for" some of the finer cultures of life, and then one is forced to, exist on approximiftely' IBS' peCAVdek', Wh'ith the single men have had to, and to still make matters worse, is refused both work and sustenance some ten weeks ago because 1 refused to isolate myself in a slave camp.” This sufferer lias taken upon himself “a fight on behalf of his fellow men,” bolding that “it is tlie birthright of the peopU to have enough food, clothing and shelter,” but lie refuses to accept what the Government, b.v the means of heavy taxation, can provide in this direction. His dreams may be admirable. Unfortunately their application is impracticable.

“QUITE COMFORTABLE.”

Alter reading complaints of the provision made for the unemployed in some other places—most of them uii-affiruled-—it is refreshing to learn that tiio camp for single men at Te Horn (near Otaki) is meeting with very general satisfaction from the workers themselves. ‘‘There were about a dozen bound for here the day I came,”, one of tile workers writes. “A lorry was waiting for us at the station and a* soon as we had our gear in the tents we were called to the cookhouse where we had great enamel plates full of steaming .hot currv, and plenty of bread butter, cheese, jam and hot tea.” Tiie whole accomodation of the workers, according to this authority, was far in advance of that available to the early settlers in the Dominion,' and the possibilities before them far less remote than those that confronted the pioneers of eighty and ninety years ago.