WHAT IS WRONG WITH LABOUR?

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10277, 12 May 1919, Page 3

WHAT IS WRONG WITH LABOUR?

To tho Editor "N.Z. Times." Sir, —The stop-work meeting was a brilliancy in its origination, but the community cannot afford to lot it stay. The men who stop don't lend a hand in tho deliberations, and take no business part in the proceedings. The fallacy is that, being workers, they< think they are not "men of affairs." Combination makes them "men of affairs," and when they realise it they will appoint a different class of men to manage their affairs. Those who do it now push their way in by cunning and brute force. In former times they would have been Apaches and knights of tho knuckle-duster—anything other than labour. Hence the instinct they evidenco in their dealings is all in the same direction —the pistol and tho hold-up. Of «uch is the stop-work meeting. Referring to tho type of men who attend these meetings, a. marked distinction will bo found between them and the generality of lanour, and, search tho town orer, their counterpart will not be found, except whero imperceptibly moving groups mako tho Pier Hotel corner hidoous froin daj to day. A concrete instance of my contention occurred at tho Opera House on Snndivy Inst. A frail artist catered melody to tho crowd. It was piei-cingly cold. She shuddered. Tho crowd shook the building with theii laughter. She could hardly hold ud

against the chill. They demanded ft treble encore. Then a cavernous void from something in the distance that looked like a man said: "To the extent of what wo have done for you ; to the extent of what .has been done for us; and to the extent of how you liked it, we thank you very much." Those men are rushing to Bolshevism on the skid of fatuousness, and remind one of "The Alpine Cataract." "Behold yon mountain crest! There was I born a feathery flake of snow, dubious awhile or up or down to go. My first germ rested, and many a wandering flakro rjesidc, aroivnd, its place would take. Thickly we gathered. So passed a century of wintry days. Drop followed drop. The trickling watercourse joined myriads more. The sparkling stream flowed joyous onward. From every gully grew the deepening tide. Soon swelled the torrent with tumultuous pride, and I, the offspring of a snowflake light, rush on my way invincible in might." Translated to a human purpose, it reads as follows: "Childhod, here nurtured in the wintry storm; there joyous, gentle, warm; then vigorous and impetuous youth ; next manhood, tranquil in the ways of truth, or mad with greed, or swiftly born along by passion, lust of power, and zeal in wrong. Reckless alike of others' weal or woe. Or forced, perchance, reluctantly to know, the feuds and struggles, turbulence, and strife, which fill so large a spaco in human life." Stop the stopwork institution while it is a snowflake. HEXTCT BODLEY. CHEAPER MEAT WANTED To the Editor "N.Z. Times."

Sir,—By this morning's issue I see Napier has resorted to boiling down to deplete the surplus stock of fat sheep, due to drought and the congestion of meat stores. What is the matter with the Efficiency Board? They were clever enough over the prohibition question, in which tlieir nigh and mighty ideas were ignominiously turned down by a long-suffering people, using common-sense. Let them get to work, and get cheaper meat for the worker, and do something sensible for their pay! Fancy meat in Jvew Zealand: Steak off the legs lOd, other parts of the bull or conv anything np to Is 3d per pound; mutton at famine prices; and the poor, down-trodden sheep king, crying over the loss of his fats dying for want of grass, not forgetting the fact we only get seconds, the prime goes Home.

THREE CHOPS FOE. A SHELLING.