The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, February 8, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1004, 8 February 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, February 8, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

WxiA'Jf a vast difference there is between the causes of the tramway strikes in Brisbane and Wellington, and that of the American steel corporations. In the latter case thousands ot foreign peasants aie working under conditions worse than negroes endured in the days of slavery. In the Brisbane case a body of men who are not overworked, who have reasonable hours, reasonable wages and most of the essentials for a comfortable life, upset a whole city and interfere with the business of a whole state because they are not allowed to wear union badges while on duty ! There are no allegations of ill-treatment, no slave conditions, no anything, except that a badge must not be flourished in the eyes ot their masters, the public! In Wellington several hundred apparently intelligent tramwaymen left their masters, the public, in a hole because they did not like a ticket inspector, which leads a contemporary to remark that “some day a union agitator will order the sun to be put out because he has sustained sunburn,” Anyhow we are glad to know that the Wellington strike is a thing of the past,and while the terms of settlement left honours even, the cause of Labour will not advance one bit as a result. The late T. E. Taylor urged Eabour to elevate itself to a high moral standard, but the attitude adopted by some of the leaders in the recent strike was distinctly degrading, and the sooner Eabour dispenses with agitators ot this crude and blatant type, the sooner will the cause gain the sympathy and support ot the great mass of toilers who are at present outside the ranks ol the unionists.

How unionism and high wages afiect certain glasses of workers and prevents them from obtaining employment, with the result that they are forced to live in poverty in the midst ot general prosperity, was pointed out by the .Rev S. D. Yarringtou in the course of an address in Sydney. “In spite of the so-called prosperity in New South Wales, there is a great undertow of poverty in Sydney, caused by the unhappy conditions ol labour and its demand and supply," he said. “ There are many possibilities for trained workmen, but the unskilled and inefficient labourer is unfortunately compelled to become flotsam and jetsam on the labour market. There are hundreds of such men in Sydney, willing and anxious, and praying to God lor work, and they can obtain none. You take or send one ol these men to an employer, and plead with him to give the man a chance. The employer will say 1 No ; 1 have to pay the best wages, and I must therefore have first-class workmen.’ The employer, ottentimes in his heart would like to give the man a trial, but he must remember the Nemesis of the union, which will thunder upon him if he makes any compromise with the unskilled would-be worker. Thus, while the strong, efficient, capable workman in constant worx rejoices in his strength and in the might of union, the weaker brother mourns his weary lot, and is forced under, cursing his want of skill, his weakness, or, as is often the case, his grey hair. Some say that the lime will come by process ot evolution when all men will have work to do ; but that ideal slate may be a hundred years hence, when every lad will be i'oiced to learn a trade. To-day this law ol the survival ot the fittest is a cruel, un-Christiaulike thing, and the Christian man must surely show to the world that he has learnt a lesson from his Master to care lor those less fortunate than himself.”

Rui'Krking to the death of Mr Filzherbert, S.M., which took place at New Plymouth this week, the Taranaki News says ; “ It is good to die in harness. Last Tuesday Mr Fitzherbert, Stipendiary Magistrate, sat for the last time on the Bench, and endeavoured with all the strength that remained in him, to do his duty to his King and to his country. The late Magistrate fully realised that he could not live. Knowing this, he showed the high courage, the unexplainable resolution, the great spirit of a British gentleman, the kind of spirit that moved his eminent father to procure a small vessel in the forties m England and sail for this “terra incognita.’’ It is this type ot courage on which is based the fabric of our Empire. To many folk it is unaccountable

that a man grievously wrestling with death can so far sink himself as to proceed with his plain duties. On Tuesday the late Mr Fitzherbert proceeded until he was physically unable to do more. Kven at this moment his self-sacri-fice was apparent. He was the people’s servant, and he apologised because he could no longer do the work of the people. ‘ Gentlemen,’ he said, dropping his hands almost helplessly, and addressing the Court, ‘ I am sorry, but I cannot proceed,’ and these, as far as we can ascertain, were the last official words spoken by him. To labor this matter is to invite a charge of insincerity, but we are so convinced that this particular quality in an individual has a tremendous influence on his fellows during his life and alter his death that we record it. The unselfishness of Mr Fitzherbert’s services is an inspiration to his fellow countrymen. To do one’s simple duty to one’s fellow man is to do the best that is in one, and it is because generation after generation the father impresses the sou with the idea that duty is before all, that Mr Filzherhert resolutely faced the inevitable and died like a true gentleman.”