Whitehaven (Eng.) Colliers.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 19, 14 July 1911, Page 14

Whitehaven (Eng.) Colliers.

New Zealand's Help. Valuable Correspondence.

Wo hare been favored with correstxmdence and newspaper comments relative to tho N.Z. Labor Federation's donation for tho benefit of most deserving cases in connection with the Wellington Pit disaster. The Whitehaven papers speak of the donation as "a handsome contribution," as "generous help" and as "a noble gift." The following letters spcuik for themselves : Cumberland Iron. Ore Minors anil Kindred Trades Association. Moor Road, Cumberland, April 25, '11. Mr. J-. Glover, secretary N.Z. Federation of Labor. Dear Comrade, —Your favour of March 3rd enclosing money orders valued £133 10s came duly to hand, and you will see from tho enclosed newspaper cuttings that I have handed the money over to Councillor Thompson, of AVhitehaven —■» miners' official—who has been appointed secretary of a "fund which ha a-been promoted to keep the old miners; who were- thrown out of work through the murders at AVellington Pit, from sheer starvation*

A generous and sympathetic public subscribed over £64,000 for the relief of those who suffered through the disaster—soft jobs have been found for some, but nothing can now be done from that huge fund to get a bite of bread for the poor old veterans who gave tho vitality of their youth and manhood to . tho AVhitehaven Colliery Company. And it was just at the moment when the fund for them was languishing, when their weekly grant got. down to Is Gd iier week, that your generous gift arrived, and I am confident that had "you. and those kindly souls who subscribed the noble sum you were good enough to send, been on the spot and saw the ragged misery of those poor old miners—forty in number—you would have said "we will help these poor old victims of modern industrialism"; and it was because I felt that you would do so that I in your name handed over the money with, as you will observe, the reservation -that any exceptional eases of distress among young .. married men should receive consideration. I enclose you herewith the first re-

port of Councillor Thompson's Committee and the resolution of thanks which they have passed and which they wished mc to send on to you. I am sure you will take whatever opportunity offers of conveying the sincere and hearty thanks of us all on this side to every one who subscribed to the fund in New Zealand. It was not merely the money itself—though that lias brought joy and hope into many a -weary old heart—which we valued most, but the strong humanitarian note which prompted the/ promotion of the fund, that spirit of kinship, that bond of human sympathy which distance cannot kill nor oceans divide. As it is the workers in all lands who give up their lives to the bloody sacrifices of industrialism so is it right that in the hour of need from whatever cause arising the

workers of all lands should give evidence of their class consciousness and never more so than when 13G of their brothers are foully done to death in a mining hell where more was thought about drawing up a few tubs of coal than of savitig the lives of the wage slaves who were groping for life below. Assure our friends in New Zealand that we are deeply grateful for their generous gift, that it has been and will be used in the spirit and for the purpose for which it was sent. I have got about 120 photos in connection with the massacre at AVhitehaven and I am not without hope of some day being able to give the full story of that awful tragedy in words and pictures to the workers of New Zealand. Sliould that time come I shall then be able to personally thank all those who have subscribed to this fund, but in the meantime you will accept our deepest gratitude. And may I earnestly hope that your Federation of Labor will receive that largo measure of support which itdeserves? Despite the ease with which wealth may be created to-day the great mass of the toilers are soaked in poverty, are clothed in rags, and are condemned to live a standard of life considerably below that of a pauper or a criminal. In your new country I am told things are rather better,

Wellington Pit Disaster—** Hands Across tho Sea.'*

you have land and mines and railways owned and controlled by your Government, but the material thing is for the workers to select and elect men to Parliament who are in full sympathy with the socialisation of all means of production, distribution and exchange, as otherwise your nationalised industries are not of much value if tho administration of them is left in the hands of Capitalists.

Here in the Old Country Socialism ■grows by leaps and by bounds. The cry of the worker is being heard and to some slight extent heeded and so .wo join hands across the sea—-slaves to one common system, soldiers in one common cause, the usurpation ...of capitalism. AVo .-;tand or fall together just as we r.v-e true or false to the ei-a-s : to which we belong. If we are loyal to each other, if we stand by our own class, sure I am that the time will soon come when the Herald will proclaim- that tho day of the " Common People has arrived and that Labor bar. entered into it.-i inheritance Hasten tho day Brother! With, all 'good wishes and love to old comrc-d"? —Yours faithfully, T. GAYAN-DUFFY, General Secretary, -x- -x- * 2f>, Senhoufi-9 Street. Whitehaven. Cumberland, April '24, 1911. Dear Comrade, —As you will know quite, a sensation was created by your handsome gift from New Zealand. I should think nothing else has been talked about this Week-end among miners. G'a van-Duffy lias been much in tho picture. Needless to say the "veterans" are very grateful.> I have had many applications for relief from all sorts and conditions of men and women. And the only thing I could do was to take details of every application (wliich I did) and place them before the Committee. AYe had our meeting on Saturday night, Avhen every case was fully gone into. AYe wero only sorry that we could not give

relief to them all, but then we realised that by so doing the fund would bo exhausted in a week., and there would be nothing left for the old men. So very reluctantly we had to pass o/er tho majority of cases, and to adhere to your wish, to help married men who were still out of work, which we did in two genuine cases brought before our notice. Any other such cases that may come to our notice we shall be clad to assist. AYe paid out £20 19s on Saturday, and as it is feared it will be several weeks yet before the old men will get re-started you w-ill see that wo will have to be careful in administering the money. AA r e shall do our very best, and your handsome addition has helped us very much. At our meeting we also passed a resolution: "That the hearty thanks of the Whitehaven miners be extended to their comrades, The Labor Federation of New Zealand, who, through their secretary, Mr. J. Glover to Mr. Gavan-Duffy, sent them the substantial sum of £133 16s, which came at the time of much consequent upon the old men of Wellington Pit still being unemployed, and who were in receipt of no support, only what a generous public subscribed.'*' So now if you will please send the above to our comrades in New Zealand we shall be much obliged. And I hope that what we have done may meet with, your approval. AYe are out to help the poor and suffering as far as we possibly can.—Believe mc, dear comracU, yours faithfully, JOHN THOMPSON.