Nightcaps Progressing

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 87, 8 November 1912, Page 5

Nightcaps Progressing

VISIT FROM F. R. COOtiE.

SUCCESSFUL SPORTS. SOCIALIST PARTY FORMED. s Labor Day, 1912, will live in the history of Nightcaps. The union had decided to get someone to give an addrc&s or two on either Socialism or Industrial Unionism on Labor Day. The individual who had to obey the call of duty and come to Nightcaps was Comrade F. R. Cooke, of Christchurch. On his way down to Nightcaps, our comrade thought he would take a run down to Riverton and see what the prospects were there in the matter of propaganda work. Evidently he was not favorably impressed because be hired a bicycle and came across country to Nightcaps the same night, a distance of about 35 miles. We had the pleasure of listening to the first address given by him in Nightcaps, and found that the N.Z.S.P. had used some discretion in selecting as secretary a comrade who knows whereof he speaks. After answering a few questions, a motion was duly carried that a branch of the Socialist Party should be formed here, and straightaway we got to business, and elected a good, energetio committee, among whom, it is a pleasure to state, were four women, and we trust that the influence of these four comrades of the gentler sex will be such as to bring into our ranks many , ( more of our womenfolk. On Monday we held our sports, which proved most successful. During a break in the programme, we got Cooke upon a chair for half an hour. During that half hour he managed to make more points than the majority of , speakers could do in the time. At all events, it ranks among tho best, if it was not the mo sit instiructive half V hour's address on Socialism the writer ever had the privilege of listening to. Then "again at half-time in the social we h ( eld in the evening we got our comrade to, give us ten minutes of his views on compulsory military training. And let mc tell you that we have * "The Red Flag" and "Workers of the World, Unite" as part of our programme now —we close our meeting's with one or the other. Why, "The - Red Flag" is the fashionable waltz tune here just now. At all events to sum up, and after '■' allowing for the usual spurious entlrusiasm which manifests itself at the start of any forward movement, it can be safely relied on that we have enough of the genuine article about to keep the red flag flying in Nightcaps now that it has had such an auspicious start. Already we have somewhere > about 40 members of the party, and more to come, so if we never rise much above that number of active members we are all right. —Own Correspondent< »