The Kaipara & Waitemata ECHO WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE KAIPARA ADVERTISER & WAITEMATA CHRONICLE" HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, Oct. 7th. DOMINATION OF LABOUR.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 7 October 1920, Page 2

The Kaipara & Waitemata ECHO WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE KAIPARA ADVERTISER & WAITEMATA CHRONICLE" HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, Oct. 7th. DOMINATION OF LABOUR.

THE Government is supposed to rule the country, but in reality Labour rules. Previously it was often said that the Government was ruled by the farmers and all the laws were made in the farmers' interest. The farmers certainly had visions of some such happy conditions, but up to the present all they have been able to discover is a little circumstantial evidence. The Prime Minister is a farmer, and a goodly proportion of the House are also "farmers1, but there it seems to end. The farmer is double taxed on his land and profits ; his produce is bought by the Government below its market value. He is expected to sell his butter at

what it costs to produce (it is alleged). He is asked to sell to the tanners his hides without competition, and has to feed the rabbits bred on Crown lands, and to eradicate noxious weeds spread from native and other lands. He is expected to grow wheat for the masses, and to pay taxes to reimburse the consolidated fund for the loss in supplying cheap land to the public. On the other hand, Labour is usually regarded as being a mere handful in political circles, but in actual domination it far surpasses any other section of the community. Do we require coal, it is rationed or stopped according to the '* go-slow " efforts of the coal-miners. If the public travel it is at the mercy of the stokers. We may have houses built if we are willing to meet the demands of the workers. If a man wants work he can get it if the union agrees, and if an employer wishes to rid himself of an inefficient man Lie does so at the risk of losing all his men. The Labour bosses dominate and triumph over all. The power of Labour to dominate lies in the unorganised state of the other sections of the community, especially the farmers. Labour is really the only organised force; its power is not due to its relative strength numerically, but to concessions that have been granted from time-to time to enable the workers in combination to improve their condition. Up to the present the workers have lacked the moral courage to control their executive bodies, and have supinely allowed themselves to become enslaved to the leaders — a system that can only end disastrously sooner or later. We venture to say that some of the Acts' which were designed to protect the labour movement will eventually be repealed.