Robertson, M.P.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 74, 9 August 1912, Page 3

Robertson, M.P.

Replies to Parry.

DEFENDS THE "STAR'S" INTERVIEW. CALLS STRIKE "A TACTICAL BLUNDER." Sir,—ln your issue of last week there is what purports to be a report of a "narrative" told by Mr. Parry of what took place between him and myself somo time ago iv Auckland (on the | iM-th of Juno, to be. precise). 1 can scarcely believe that Mr. Parry has been correctly reported, and can only say that if lie lias, then Sir. Parry has allowed the zeal of his imagination to run away with his disere- i lion, and incidentally a further may thus he said in be thrown on at least 1 one of the, causes of tho Waihi strike, j The. points on which the alleged j "narrative" is not in accordance with I the facts are us follows: — (1) (essential) I did not, as stated, assure Mr. I'iiny ou iho Sunday night that the disputes—i.e., Jtcefton and Waih'i—were in accord with my ideas and that I recognised the justice of tho strikers llcefton was scarcely referred to, and.while I recognised, and do now recognise, that the objects ot tho V/aihi Union were justifiable, viz., (he prevention of aiutlwr union forming to defeat- the effectiveness of their existing organisation, the strike still remains "a tactical blunder." (2) (essential) The interview in tho "Star" did not contain a castigation of the strike. It said it was a tactical blunder, a point tacitly admitted by Mr. Parry himself at our meeting on Monday, the 24th. (3) (non-essential) I never proffered my hand to Mr. Parry, but instead shook hands with Mr. Payne and conducted him to meet Mr. Veitch in. the room I had just left. Mr. Parry was therefore denied (apparently) the opportunity of making the melodramatic refusal which so far exist* only in his imagination. (4) (non-essential) He also says he told mc I was a liar. Mr. Parry's friends who have any respect for him ought to be pleased to know that this is not true. (5) He accuses mc of "stammering ont" that the paper may have misconstrued or misrepresented mo- I did say that on one poinft they had not quite represented my meaning, and that point was made clear, I hope, i*. next day's issue of the "Star." 1 (6) His challenge to meet him at the Opera House, though not couched in. tho magniloquent language it subsequently assumed at the Waihi meeting, was declined by mc on the ground that "I couldn't do it/ , as Parliament was meeting during that week, and I would therefore require to be in Wellington before the following Sunday. In any case, however, I fail to see what good such a meeting in the Opera House could have achieved, and I don't think Mr. Parry could tell us either. Thero was one gentleman present during tho whole of the interview —he is a public servant, is not interested in either the Federation, the Waihi strike, tho United Labor Party, or any other organisation. I have had no communication with him since leaving Auckland, but I think if ho was referred to (I enclose his nanio and address) he would easily show that Mr. Parry's account of our conversation in the Government Buildings, Auckland, is only part of the truth where it is true, and tho balance is sheer imagination. I wish, however, to point out that the mere fact of Mr. Parry or anyone else calling anyone a traitor to the Labor cause who happens to disagree with the line of action which he thinks the right one, does not necessarily make that person a traitor. It will bo a bad day for Labor when wo have to surrender the right to criticise any organisation merely because that organisation may find it easier to persist in a blunder than to remedy it. I for one will not give up that right, and Mr. Parry may become as melodramatic as he pleases over my refusal. — Yours, et«., Aug. 1, 1912. J. ROBERTSON. p,S,—Mr. Fraser, secretary of the Auckland Laborers' Union, was present at the interview in tho Government Buildings. I have offered to cite the gentleman referred to above as a witness to what took place in preference to Mr. Fraser, as Mr. Fraser on that occasion, with less elegance, but more emphasis than Mr. Parry, undertook to give mo "hell" everywhere I' went on account of the interview as published. I think, therefore, tho other gentleman is the least likely to exhibit any bias. —J.R.