KAITANGATA ITEMS.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 43, 5 January 1912, Page 13

KAITANGATA ITEMS.

Registration Cancelled. — Industrial Unionism and its Opponents. In Kaitangata much greater int-crest has been taken by a number of our members in tite ballot taken on tho question of cancellation of the Union's registration under the I.C. and A. Act than in the general election; that is, so far as our own constituency was concerned. The result of the ballot was declared at a general meeting of the Union held on Saturday, December 16. The results svere:— For. Agst. Infl. Kaitangata 88 95 8 Green Island 63 7 1 Nightcaps 64 8 1 Waronui 19 4 — Alexandra 11 1 — Mataura 5 0 — Totals 250 115 10 The total membership of the Union is about 450 members, so cancellation is carried. As the above figures show, there is not the same spirit of revolt in Kaitangata against the Arbitration Act as is the case in tho smaller branches. In fact, sonic of the supporters of arbitration boast that they are going to form another union and register under the I.C. and A. Act. Some of these were present at the meeting, and they waxed wroth when our president was enndid enough to describe such a union formed in such a way as a scab union. In fact. one veteran threatened personal violence to any person who would call him a scab, and he gloried in the fact that he would be one to join such a union. Of course, it may be possible, in view of actions for slander, etc., to prevent people from telling such men the truth .is it appears, but certainly the l;,\v cannot prevent anyone from thinking what they please. And whether it would be V. scab union or not depends' on who it is that is doing the thinking lbout tho ethics of the position at any given time. One tiling can be depended mi though, and that is that any c-.ifs conscious worker will not be long. ii"> putting the correct handle to it. The humor of the 'position is in a minority refusing to obey the will of the majority ; certainly seven more voted against cancellation "than for it in Knitan-ntu, but when we analyse the figures. \\v find that there aro 240 members Kaitni'gatn, and the. old school woir> not Eib'fe to held one-half of them ; certainly, some who did not vote were debarred by their arrears, but if they iiad felt strongly they would suuti have altered that.

Now, if this mintiity of the union form anothtr umon (save the rnaiki) how are they going to carry on if thoy arc not going to submit to majority rule? If they will not in one raw:, how will they'in the other? It will bo the old story of the Kilkenny cats n> enacted.

It is more than strange how hard it is to got some men to think for themselves. The record that the Federation has put up since its inception, in the way of bettering the conuitions of its members, wherever it has token a hand should be enough to make any worker realise tiiat in the Federation lies his only hope if ho wants to hotter the price of the only commodity he has to dispose of—his 'labor. While the way that the Federation has been able to brine; bora'. 1 , to so many of thoemployin.u; classthe fact that in the Federation they had found an opponent to be considered and a force to be reckoned with, should make every wrige-o-arnor rush to join its ranks, thus strengthening the Federation, and at the same time ensuring the workers' own industrial welfare. If the workers want to be in a position of independence, they must unite in One Vi'i'j, Union ; thus they will bo able to get an equitable return for their labor, and the employer will be forced to give it. But evidently there are some, workers who enjoy the position of having to beg for their rights instead of demanding them as men. In fact, the interest of the employer is paramount to their own. They appear to be more afraid of hurting the boss than anxious to better their own conditions. It 's quite safe to assert that there are ; d workers whose conditions could not ' i' bettered very much, and that, too. without hurting anyone lut

the man on their back, who is litt-lo more than a parasite. However, with all the tahreats of forming a union, in the interests of the employers, I am afraid it will not he * huge success. Most ofnh« few who are at the bottom of it happen to bo in a position that very awkward questions could be aeked of them, , and assuredly these questions will be asked, not only in Kaitangata, but in these columns, too. while their names will go down to posterity as the men who did their utmost in the interest of—who ? Readers can answer the question.

That the position is not desperate can be gauged from the fact that the following motion was carried at the meeting: "That, seeing that Mr Webb, President of the Federation, will be in Dunedin next week, he be invited to visit Kaitangata to expound the principles of the Federation." And when lie comes I trust that every toiler in Kaitangata will hear him, aiid when he lias heard him, do some hard thinking Remember, comrades, we are all links in the chain and the endeavour of each should be to make himself as strong a link as possible. And the only way to do this is by using our brains, by taking every opportunity of listening to those who are in the forefront, and reading up whenever we can.

The nomination of officers for the ensuing 12 months closed on the 16th inst., with result that the president, secretary, and treasurer wero re-elect-ed unopposed, but for the positions of four committeemen there were seven nominations. The election will take place in January, and will be fought on the question of supporters and opponents of Federation. The. four candidates who are staunch Federationists are Messrs. Crowe, Heard, Hebbard, and Hollows, and those who oppose Federation are Messrs. Pryd.e, Russell, and Terry.-SPECTATOR,