Flings at Things.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 83, 11 October 1912, Page 1

Flings at Things.

"Leave well alone." . 0 that a man should callouß* ness to advocate such a. doctrine in' these days of human sin and shame. Of sickness and suffering. Of poverty and privation. Of want and wretchedness. It is the doctrine of smug complac* ency. Of cant and hypocrisy. Of Pharasaical piety. It is the doctrine of the wilfully blind and the callously deaf. Of those who Take Things as They Are. Of those who hold that Everything is as It Should Be in this "best of all po*< siblo worlds." * }t * ; "Leave well alone." Few they be, 'tis good to believe, wh<» advocate such a tiling as regards the economic evils of civilised society. One of their number, is Robert McDougall, sen., who recently contributed a letter to the "Otago Times" in advocacy of this policy cf laissez faire. i Robert McDougalll Surely Bruce and Wallace lived and died in vain I Surely Scotia's tears and blood were shed for naught! It is "a doctrine or policy to which sensible men will readily subsoribe," wrote this transplanted Scotsman. Sensible people? Say, rather, heartless, soulless people. Weep for the "sensible"' people. Shame on them. * # * "Leave well alone." Its advocates mean: "Leave ill alone." They are blind to the awful tragedies of life. There is misery and misfortune, despair and destitution, suffering and sorrow', woe and want on every side. Even in this prosperous country c-fi New Zealand. This "industrial heaven upon earth,"as Robert McDougall, sen., calls it. This "working-man's paradise," as the employers grandiloquently picture i- it. .** ' But they do not see it —they do not" want to see it. They do not hear the cries of the dis-. tressed—they do not want to hear them. They shut their eyes and close their ears to the sights and sounds of human agony, and pass unheeding on their way.

They do not*, want to see, to hear, to feel, to think. -

Their feelings are dead; their hearta are stone.

They have nothing but a sneer fop those who try, however humbly, /to solve the problems and surmount the obstacles that bestrew the path cf humanity in its attempt to climb the Upward Heights to a grander, fuller, freer and better life. ' " And they have never a helping hand for a fainting or a falling fellow human. They have never a kindly word pf hope or cheer for the weary and thef downcast. Nol All's well with them. New Zealand is "God's Own Oouu* try." God's in his heaven. And all's right with th© world. The pity of itl