CHRISTCHURCH COMMENTS.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 61, 10 May 1912, Page 10

CHRISTCHURCH COMMENTS.

Christehurch Citizens—"Somewhat Dir« ferEnl" People—Jail Strike—Titanic Wreck and the Churches — The Lifeboat of Socialism and the Crazy Craft of Capitalism—-Labor Changes.

Ohriste-hureh is a wonderfully inteu•sting e-ity - that is to say, o 1 course, tho people who make up this village are wonderlully interesting. The- town it•elf is ju-,t the', ordinary average town ; no better, no weose than other towns of its si/.e. It has got rows of shops, somo empty, sonm doing glorious business. Look in enie window and you see all the' fashionable thiics the uoiker;can't idl'ejid to buy. Ae-n-ss tim road you see Iho shops where Mr. Worker (rays his blueys. Pass down the side street, and if jou have tlie nvcrage in-tolligcii.-e. you can pi.'k what tbe I'amilios- who eie-e iipy the' varieins houses work at, or at least what their average incomes are. But these workers--aye, oven the' shirkers—are different to the people who liye in the other iowns. 1 nave lived (or should I say existed h in most of the large towns of this Dominion, and I have come to tho conclusion that when tho Revolution si arts it will start, in Chrisiohiiroh. I don't mean to say that the people bene, are wore intelligent or better people' than Ihoso of aw? other town, but there is

simething about them dill«T<'iit te> what you meet elsewhere. Ma\ be it's because of tin- Hat city, bin uii.i«a\ llieoe is a, spirit of divine discontent running through thi'iu. and there are' always hopes eif something hen it wlum yem are not sati.sfie<l with things as the.v are-. George Wettin runs a boanling-house down at LyM-clton. wiuie> they keen all thej innocent men locked up for fear they will become contaminated by mixing with some' of the people on the outside. It has been ronliseil lor a lone, time that those who are exiverts in the art of robbery are the people wlio should make the laws to prevent redihery, or to limit it, and so we pick these people out, make them members of the Upper House and colonels of a regiment. Well, our friend George decided that Fred. Cooke .should become a guest of his, and so Fred, went down twice (he enjoyed himself so much), and during tho time he was there lie l tohl tho gentlemen about Bob S'unple and his One Big Union idea; told them they ought to become elass-e-onse-ioiis, and if George didn't ireat them better they ought to refuse to remain his guests. This bore good fruit, for the other day all the boarders went out on strike. "Apparently most of them were single, and were not used to the business, for they refused to let the valets for whom they were providing work go through their pockets. I should say our masters will think twice before they invite any more of our organisers to snend another week end down there. However, it's not much of a place: it's not like the 'Un-ace mansion at Wellington, w-hero they are meire afraid of people breaking in tha.n they arc of them breaking out. because they have a notice over the gate which reads: "Trespassers will bo prosecuted. 1 ' Again, take the Holy Village and the military question. I guarantee that if a vote were taken in this city on the question, there would be. three to one against compulsory military training. The only people who are in favor of it are those who are exempt and those who are exploiting it by supplying uniforms or other details for which they draw cash. Of course, some of the fedlowers of the Prince of Peace believe in it; tliey believe you can teach brotherly lore better with a bayonet than with a nible. Christehurch enjoyed itself on a recent Sunday. Most of our citizuis are like my dear old mother-in-law, who is 80 years of age', and the only enjoyment she; guts going to someone else's funeral I So the Salvation Army and tho various churches eot to work on that most popular air, "The Dead March in 'Sal' " (or words to that effect.) All this business was got going 011 account of our friends, the British capitalists, having sent a ship to sea with insullieient boat accommodation, and, consequently, when a junk of solid water bumped up against her and punctured her tyro, the' P2OO or 1500 people who couldn't lind tho boats that the dividemd-drawers hadn't provided for them had to go down and feed the fishes. Now, it's sad, very sad, that so many human beings shor.'ld be suddenly wiped off the face of the earth with hardly a moment's warning, and all of us can feel for those poor devils who were saved and who will .suffer for years over that nightmare, but it's ouly another black mark to capitalism. Why, every year the'i-e are more men killed in the mines of tho world than went down in that ship; every year flioro aro more; men killed on tho railways of the world than went down in that ship; every year there aro more women and children murdered by food adulteration than went down in that ship. Vet our ''Christian" friends of the High Church, Low Church, Catholic Church, Presbyterian Kirk. Wesleyan Chapel, and even Salvation Army don't enro a damn. No "Dead March for them; they are simply killed one at a time; but it's tin; same old profit-drawers who demand their lives that sacrificed those who couldn't find the boats that we r<>ti't provided. Watch the .Maori. If ever she bumps anything yem can bet your bottom dollar old Davy Jones (not the farmers' agitator) will have some guests. I can't see the good of playing tunes or pulling long faces out the matter; what I want to do is to fgo and buy an extra strong pair of hobnailed socks with protruding toe-plates, so that I can give a vigorous kick at the system that will Permit I he bub-hcry. We Socialists have provide"! and are offering the world a float ab!'\ 11011----p 11 ncturuble, water-tight lifeboat, guaranteed to have room for every living soul on God's earth; taut and trim, and well found, and we have ehri-deiicel her "SocialiMii" ; but the. people, have he-en used to put their faith in an old rotten tub called "Capitalism" that has drowned, poisoned or mangled thousands every ;,oer. They are con tea it to try and patch this old weather-boa ten, top-heavy, water-logged old coffin up for another commission, and when a few thousand- a!' done to death by her Ihey I.eetcr..l 'o la.wl, rni=e her up again, igivo her a flesh, eaiai of tar to <-ovi'i- the e-iae-!>-. end m u-1 another lot to their doom. Tin-re are going to fie iuigbiy big; ci. ug'os in the- Labor movement ir. ibis quarter soon. Our local Trules Council eek'lirifies ore now asking tbe unions who constitute the Council to absorb tin- L;d/eir P.irfy, 'ingle ta.veis, prohihs., or any other organisation which happciiH to have a man who wants to get into Parliament so that he can vote himself a free ride in our trains, first-class, whilst the common workers ride on the hufh if, smi,-he->----stnek ,or a*u,-\ whore else as king .'is (hey keep out of the tax-ml Tliey

are asking the unions to now form themselves into an el<?ction committee to get live gentlemen into Parliament, who are going; to save the country and, incidentally, draw £300 a year; but many of the unions are not having any. Many of the unionists are beginning to realise' that, even if a "donkey" wants to kick, he docs his own kicking, and doesn't senel another ass to Parliament to do the kicking for him. 'Hie, iron trade is showing signs of revolt; one shop alone, whoso owne-js remind one of the P. auel D. corsets, is iilleel with Revolutionaries of tho deepest, reddest dye. and they can't be fooled so easily as they were, e>ve'ti co recently as tho late election. Hurrah for the Revolution and the 50,000-shilling fund I— TIFF VAG.