IGNORANCE OR TRICKERY: WHICH?

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 58, 19 April 1912, Page 4

IGNORANCE OR TRICKERY: WHICH?

Mr. Parr says: "The question to be decided is whether the Mayor of Auckland is to be selected by the eiti/ens of Auckland or by the Federation of Labour." Not so, Mr. Parr! If the Federation had to decide, you would not get ten votes! I don't believe you would get one. There might bo one man in the Federation of Labour who would give his vote for 'tho catspaw of the Employers' Federation, but it would be a mistake. If Mr. Parr's intelligence is of such a low order that he really believes the nonsense above quoted, he is not fit for any public position, much less that of first citizen. If he- does not believe it. what is the reason for the statement? It would appear to be a piece of claptrap, by means of which he hopes to catch votes. If there are sufficient members of the Federation of Labour in Auckland, they are quite within their rights in nominating a candidate, or opposing any other candidate, or of persuading any number of (doctors to take their side, but Mr. Parr i_ afraid that with a united working class vote his chances are nil; to split the woakrrs' votes and play on their prejudices would appear to be his object. Mr. Parr says: "The means which the Federation advocated was the brutal one of force and strike." Again 1 wonder if this is the statement of ignorance and stupidity, or chicanery and cunning P The object of the Federation of Labour is to get for the people who make all the wealth their full share of the wealth they create. If the. robbers will give up their illgotten gains peacefully, the Federation will only be too pleased. If they wish to? keep the proceeds of their robbery and continue to rob the poor, we shall use any weapon and every weapon to make them stop their plundering, but it ill-becomes a man who will use eery force he knows and every power ho possesses to protect tho robber class to deprecate the isanie on the part of the workers. No man in New Zealand is more- in favour of the "brutal method of force" than Mr. Parr, and his previous speeches show he does not mind starvation and suffering being thrown in, but it most bo the women and children of tho workers who starve attd sutler. No intelligent working man or woman can possibly vote for Mr. Parr. Not even a newspaper writer, if he will do five minutes' serious thinking and drep his class bias.