Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9122, 15 April 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE President of the 'Wellington Trades and Labour Council (Mr W. H. Hampton) may be supposed to speak with-some authority as to the aims of the town unionists and wo have studied 'sßTith some interest a speech he recently made in reply to the toast of organised labour. Mr Hampton said that “from the events ,of the past few months the workers must recognise that ther® was a stern fight before them —the fight of their lives—and success depended on their consolidation and organisation. Labour was well organised in tde different centres, but it was not consolidated, and consolidation was required for a complete victory.” We cauuot but ask what Mr Hampton means by a complete victory? Does ho mean that the Unions are to arrange wages and hours at their own pleasure entirely? This is the ideal which has been more and more nearly reached with each new reference to the Arbitration Court. But unfortunately for labour a victory of this kind would mean a crushing defeat, because the employer would retire from the field and leave labour in undisputed command, but with no one to work for. The difficulty of the labour question is that there can never be a complete victory for either side and the followers of leaders like Mr Hampton would be wise to inquire whither they are being led. Compromise is essential in the struggles between labour and capital and if it comas to a fight to a finish it is tlie more numerous body of labourers that must be defeated in the end. The constant increase in wages has proved a futile enterprise ; the cost of the products of industry ■has risen with the cost of the labour involved in the process of production. It is time for the leaders of labour, or the followers, if not the leaders, to call a halt and reconnoitre the position which they propose to carry by an assault in which many risks will be run.

THE resignation of Mr DeaUin comes as somewhat of a surprise, bat it has long been obvious that as ho was only kept in power ,>.t tho will of the Labour Party his position was by no means firmly established. The immediate cause of his downfall was the carrying of a proposal to substitute a Royal Commission to inquire into tho management of the pOit office instead of the Cabinet committees desired by the Ministry. After a considerable amount of private discussion it became evident that no arrangement conld be arrived at between the Premier and the Labour Party, and, therefore, Mr Deabin decided to resign. Neither the Opposition nor the Labour Party is numerous enough to form a majority of the House and there will, therefore, have to be a great deal of bargaining before some temporary coalition is patched up to manage the affairs of the country. The latest news is that Sir William Lyne is endeavouring to arrange for a Cabinet composed of Government and Labour representatives, but as the Labour Party demands a majority of the members tho task of Sir William does not look a very hopeful one unless his desire for office is stronger than his selfrespect. Mr Deakin has consented to retain office until the tariff has befen“disposed of which will leave Sir William Lyne time for the wirepulling at which he is so export.

THE readjustment of the portfolios among the members of the British Ministry will produce a more compact and united body than formerly. Mr Lloyd George lias become Chancellor of the Exchequer and has been succeeded by Mr Winston Churchill at the Board of Trade. The Education Department lias again changed hands and Mr Runcimau, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, has displaced Mr McKenna. Lord Tweedmouth has left the Admiralty and become Lord President of the Council, having been succeeded by Mr McKenna, who seems rather an unknown quantity in naval affairs. The Colonial Office with which the outlying portions of the Empire are chiefly concerned has a complete change of officials. Lord Elgin, the Secretary for the Colonies, has been shelved and his place taken by the Earl of Crewe, who is fifty years of age, and, therefore, of the younger school of statesmen, while Mr Winston Churchill, who has few admirers in the colonies, has been provided for as successor to Mr Lloyd George at the Board of Trade. Mr Morley who has proved so successful in his management of the affairs of India, will seek the less strenuous

atmosphere of the Lords, but -will retain his present office. The comments of the English press on efch changes are favourable, but it is amusing to road the regrets'of" the Protectionist press that Earl Crewe’s appointment to the Colonial Office is not likely to ho a conspicuous success as he will be 'unable to make concessions in the way of preferential treatment. People in the colonies are quite aware that their supposed desire for preference is being used for all it is worth by the Conservative Party in the attempt to secure a return to power, but they are not blind to the obvious fact that the success of the Conservative Party is the'first object and the interests of the colonies only a secondary consideration.