A BRICK AT THE RED FEDS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1573, 6 July 1916, Page 3

A BRICK AT THE RED FEDS.

iEsop tells us of a frog, which, seeing some bullocks grazing in a field nearby, conceived Ilia notion of blowing himself out fo bnllocklike dimensions. The experiment was, naturally, disastrous. We are remined of this allegory by reading that the Red Fed. eonferenee in secret session in Wellington has decided to urge all the unions under its auspices to take a plebiscite vote to ascertain if the majority are in favour of a general strike as a means of preventing the enforcement of Ihe Military Service Act. The Red Federation executive is anti-militarist in everything that pertains to lighting for national institutions and national ideals, but it is militarist to the extent of its powers in nearly every other conceivable way. Rut it: resembles the fabled frog in this respect: that though its hor/.ion is boundless nnd its aspirations enormous, its constituency is insignificant. A stranger might well imagine by listening to the eacophanous croakings of the Federation executive that it was representative of a very large body indeed. As a matter of fact the Federation is numerically insignificant. This lias been demonstrated over and over again. The outstanding majority of the manual labourers of New Zealand are antipathetical to the Red Feds. They have nothing in common with them. They regard them with suspicion and distrust. If it came to a point in which the national interest became involved, this fact would be brought home to these reactionaries in a very salutary way. Parliament, which is representative of the great body of public opinion, has given almost unanimous endorsement to the Military Service Bill. This irreeoneibable minority plainly proposes that the authority of Parliament shall be flouted and the law contemptuously set aside. The suggestion of a strike at this crisis is equivalent to a declaration of war on Society. This is a situation which the people as a whole will not tolerate. It must be made clear to these sedition-mongers at the earlies t opportunity.—Manawatu Times.