CHRISTCHURCH COMMENTS.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 64, 31 May 1912, Page 10

CHRISTCHURCH COMMENTS.

Anti-Conscription Triumph — Myers has a Bart Time—Meetings and Comparisons—P.R.U. Activities— M.P.'s of the Future. The City of Churches has r>ecn called the home of the anti-conscription movement, and if any visitors had been in this town on Sunday, May 12, they would have been bound to have acknowledged that there was something in the statement. The P.R.U.'s, or, in full, tho Passive Resistors' Union, had a field day. These boys took the King's Theatre; and organised a meeting. The hall at 8 o'clock was simply packed. D. G. Sullivan, the President ol the local Trades Council, took the chair, and in declaring the meeting open, said that he wanted to make his position clear —ho was in favor of defence, but not of the compulsory clauses of tho Act. McCoombs and Hunter followed in the same strain. Then young Frank McCuliough. one of the hoys who havo been to jail, gave an admirable speech, and one couldn't help being ph-ased with the fact that this professional murder scheme is bringing oji a lot more speakers to bo let loose as agitators in God's Own Country. Other speakers were Howard, Cooke, Harlo, and Roseoe—all Socialists —and the reception they got clearly showed that that vast audience of between fifteen and sixteen hundred ixcrsons was certainly largely composed of Socialists; in fact, the "Press" was silly onon/ih to admit this in its report tho next day. Now, the oflico cf the "Lyttelton Times" is almost- jvext door to the "King's," and the cheering must havo disturbed the editor of that rug, yet not, a word nppcan.d in Monday's issue' about tho meeting, but there was a Press As--o<-intinii wire alwmt, a mooting in Wellington, at which some <if our "brave" defendi rs had disturbed the proceedings: by the singing of that military hymn calb-d "Has an.yono seen Kelly?" The mothers ami women fiiemls of some of the boys who have been to (.'eorgo AVet tin's boarding-house at Lytlollon waited on the gentleman who gets fifteen hundred a year for bossing tho Defence, and other departments the previous Friday. I'oor Mr. Myers nearly had a fife when ouo of these ladies told him ho was a servant of the people, and when he began to talk piffle one of them interjected "Rot!" This cooked him altogether, and he has decided to give this village a wide berth in future. The next- day the men went and interviewed this great, gun—or rather big bore.-—nnd one Fred. Couke —be who has a bo lived at Georgo-W.'s board-ing-bouse, told the man of beer fame that- be iCooke) didn't very much care which of Queen Victoria's grandsons drew the salary for being king~-he didn't <e'e if if was George of England or Hill of Germany—all he wanted was bis libe-i-tv. and bis boys and other buys not to be compelled to do the scrapping when these two gentlemen bad a family quarrel. Now, both daily )i . I mean papers, simply howbd nirr this, and if we hadn't forwarded our voice lollies to Auckland we should have sent- Dun! come, because they are b'coining very hoarse with MToeeliiiig. Then the General Laborers en tried a resobilion endorsing fb<> i.|<- ;l put forward by the Moulders' Fnioti, that Uie workers should declare a, general holiday if the compulsory clauses of what Mr. Justice Cooper calls tbe "Comic Opera Defence Act" were not repcah-d,

and to ask the Federation of Labor to take a plebiscite vote of its members on tho same question. Of course, the Socialists did not hold an indoor meeting on the Sunday mentioned—they went to tiio boys' meeting—but they held thoir usual meetings iv the Square, and made an appeal for extra collection on account of giving up their indoor meetings, and the crowd responded. The Unity i>eoplo must feed a bit wild at the' fact that their bent man cannot till a hull in this city, yet the Socialists keep these meetings going winter or summer, and never lose a meeting. On the other hand, the Trades Council is in a deplorable condition —cannot get a meeting. The Council has changed its night and tried other ways, but it is no good: the rank and file has become disgusted and simply ignores this body. How different to the time when what my friend of the Labor Column calls the Rod Revolutionaries were in power! During their term of office not a mooting was missed; meetings always started at 8 and generally finished by 10; tho business of one meeting was never carried over to the next, and there was never a count out. Then the Political Party got into power, and for nine solid months one item stood on the notices and was never reached. The Children's Sports Committee also submitted a report condemning the Executive and asking for an inquiry, and it took six months to get it. This year matters have been worse. Not half the ordinary meetings havo been held, the Council is simply bankrupt in funds, and a general fooling of distrust pervades the whole atmosphere of the Trades Hall. This, to my mind, is a pity, because there is room yet for a Labor Council, and there will have to bo one, but it must be on industrial lines. Religion and politics will wreck any industrial body, and so they must be kept separate. The Painters' Union is another body that is in trouble through the ambitions of some of its members for political power. Its meetings are poorly attended, and there is a general lack of interest; in fact, only unions with revolutionary leanings have any meetings worth counting. The Tramway Board elections are coming on soon in this part, and the same littlo crowd have nominated themselves as candidates. I hope they get in, because tho sooner they get into power the sooner will the workers have their eyes opened. The P.lt.U.'s have formed a. scout party, and about 20 of them have decided to have weekly runs to the small towns within coo-co of Christchurch. and hold meetings and distribute literature. The meeting chronicled above put t'licin in funds, and they are going to let some of our country cousins know "who aro tho traitors"—whether it's tho Britisher who builds the Dreadnoughts for Germany, Japan, and China, or whether it's the boys who refuse to be trained to keep this game up. Amongst thoso hoys aro some line speakers. Young McCullough and Geary and others in the ranks of the P.R.U.'s are going to bo heard of iv this country, and if I were a prophet, or the son of a prophet, I should say the futuro Al.P.'s of this district will be drawn from amongst these boys THE VAC.