LABOUR MILLENIUM.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1163, 25 October 1913, Page 4

LABOUR MILLENIUM.

The Feilding Star, writing of the Labour Millenium, says ;—ft has been a source of wonder to those who have watched the workings of the Red-Fed. labour movement bow in the name of everything good they were going

to accomplish the ends they aimed at. When nearly ,£40,000 was raised for the Waihi strike, and expended with more than a princely hand by the tribe of agitators who seemed to make a point of being around when there are any spoils to divide, it was thought that some evidence of statesmanship would be shown by those who were running the affair, but, beyond the fact that the money was spent and that a large number of working folk were reduced from comfort to indigence, little resulted. Then, probably to some extent as the outcome of the strike, Mr Webb was elected M.P. for Greymouth, and the labour folk were in the seventh heaven of delight at the wonderful results which they supposed would acenti to their cause. But one member in eighty is a mere drop in the bucket, and unless one is another T. E. Taylor his prospects of making any sort of an impression on his fellows a;e very small. But we have a glimpse into the methods by which Mr Webb’s party hope to attain the millenium in a speech he made at a meeting of the Wellington Letterpress Union the other evening. He urged that the workers must not look to Parliament for help until lire workers controlled that institution. He mentioned, however, that the Social Democratic Party were starting a daily paper at Greymouth, and that it was on these lines that they hoped to win better conditions for the unionists of New Zealand. How the printers must have smiled ! Just imagine the sort of condition that would be gained by the starting of a morning daily paper in Greymouth ! Look at the vast store of untold gold which is awaiting the Red Fed. managers when they get their paper in full swing ! Just imagine bow the business folk of the Dominion will rush them with advertisements, and how anxious the workers will be to send in their ready cash to keep the ark “a mooveriug along!” Then the workers on the paper will have such glorious conditions —high wages, short hours, easy times, and all the rest of it, until the members of the trade in other employment will be green with envy. Oh, yes, that is the idea. Start daily papers in all parts of the Dominion, labour leaders, and you are sure to win better conditions for the workers —or bust.