THAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION AND ITS APOSTLES.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 35, 3 November 1911, Page 17

THAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION AND ITS APOSTLES.

Sir, —Since the Christchurch General Laborers' Union decided to secede from the Trades Council a few weeks ago there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth in Trades Council official circles. We—the general body —are only beginning to learn of the deep sympathetic consideration these benevolent creatures say they possessed for us—all the thirteen years we have been affiliated to that obsolete body. However, with four shillings a.nid five pence in hand (vide the looa! Trades Council last unpublished bal-ance-sheet), the officials thought it time to. be up and doing, so they decided to run an Industrial Exhibition to boost up their bosses' adulterated also to send delegates to the various unioms which have seoeded from the

Council, to get the said unions back again—by plausibility if possible, by misrepresentation of Industrial Unrion.sm otherAvise. And so they hope thus to make good the depletion of their financial coffers—not that they care a tinker's cuss about methods to be instituted for the abolition of wageslavery—oh, dear, no! Their chief concenri is the "spondulicks," without which paid officialdom has to go minus certain perquisites. Then the game would not be AAorth the candle. So we have had "Comic Opera" Mills to lecture us for half an hour at one meeting, and the President and Secretary of the Council speaking to us at the last meeting. I think it was Home To'oke, the grammarian, who describes a "qual" as a play upon AA'ords. Well, Mills' speech could be aptly termed a series ot "quals." I will quote one shining example out of the many: "If I don't succeed I cannot fail"—and the croAvd (the hall was packed) got so tired of hearing sweet nothings that •they streaked out in their twos,- threes and fives, until there were only 20 listeners left. At 11 p.m. someone sang out in a hysterical voice that '•'the motor garage at. Avhich Aye leave our motorcars closed at 11 g.m." Upon hearing this, all but the paid secretary, the chadrnian, and three or four old relics of the stone age, made a bold dash for their motors, and the writer being one of them, I just managed to overhear the general opinion expressed, and it AA'as this: "Don't that bloke take a veil of a time to say nothing at all?" Then this week the president had his turn, and instead of comic opera Aye had musical comedy. The- gist of his remarks avc re: "Did we realise the terrible sufferings of the women- and children in the recent general strike which took place in the Cold Country? Did we realise that the death-rate amongst children had gone up 50 per cent, in some districts." In fact, there Avas nothing that had happened there just cently but Avhat friend Sullivan attributed to the late general strike. ("Turruble. wurn'fc it?") Yet when he was asked the question: "If a. general strike didn't involve all the AA'orkers of a country, and were not there not only a few transport Avorkers' unions Avho indulged in the late strike?" he merely coughed, but never- answered — so Aye all came to the conclusion that he was more to be pitied than blamed. As for Secretary Young, Avho expatiated on that great, beneficent and glorious Act ever placed upon the Statute Book of this colony, he got a full blast of "Bosh!" from'the audience, and he wanted to get home before the time we allotted him to speak was up, but was three or four times prevented'from doing so by questioners, Avho put some real stingers in, and Jimmy looked quite faint Avhen he did managed to reach the door and bid goodbye to our union.' for cA r er. And this, friends, alii goes to slioav the trend of thought in industrial circles in Christchurch. —Yours, etc.,