To Mr. Robertson, M.P.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 76, 23 August 1912, Page 3

To Mr. Robertson, M.P.

AN OPEN LETTER. Sir, —In The Maoiui.anp Workeu you have tried to justify that famous interview you gave to the Auckland "Star" on June 22, in which you condemned the Waihi strike. Let mc remind you that when yon were in Christchtireh a few days before you gave tho "Star" that interview, you were asked oy the Peace Council here and the Socialist Party to give a public address on the Compulsory Military Training Act, and you refused to do so, but subsequently you arranged with tho secretary of the Canterbury General Laborers' Union to give a private address to the members of that organisation on the same subject, provided it was kept a secret. The private address you delivered in the Trades Hall on a Sunday.—just before leaving Ohristcburch. When it came to question, time, at tho end of your address against compulsory military training, I asked you why you declined to give a public address on the question, and you replied that you were a member of .the Cost of Living Commission and were being paid by the Government, and that it would bo most improper for you to give a public address on politics while on that Commission. How can you justify your somersault when you got to Auckland? You were still a member of the Cost) of Living Commission when you gave that interview to the "Star." If it was wrong for you to give a public address against compulsory military training while in the pay of the Government, was it rijxht to publicly condemn the Waihi strjke while you were a member of the Federation of Labor? Or were you afraid to offend the Government that appointed you on that Commission by condemning an act that they were wedded to? And were you not trying to curry favor with the employers by condemning a strike that they were opposed to? Did it not occur to you that what) you made a vice in ono case you made a virtue in another? Will you be good enough to explain the inconsistency?— Yours faithfully. Trades Hall, H. A. CAMPBELL. Christchurch, Aug. 9, 1912.