Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9177, 22 June 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

LITTLE has hitherto been heard about the progress of enlistment in the new British territorial forces which are intended to replace the volunteers and yeomanry. The new force came into existence on April Ist, though the period for transfer from the old forces will not end till June 30th. It was laid down that Government would not recognise a battalion, regiment or battery until it produced 38 per cent of its men actually ready to enlist. On May Ist Mr Haldane stated that out of 800 units which had to be raised 373 had been already approved—that was to say at least 30 per cent of the force required had already come into existence. Lancashire had done excellently having enlisted 7133 out of an establishment of 17,740 and 80 per cent of the officers had come straight over. Mr Haldane said that all over the country the officers had given their men a splendid lead. The latest figures show that 148,459 uon-com-missioned officers and men have enlisted out of 303,199 required to complete the establishment. That is to say [that with ten days still to go before the transfer lists are closed half the men needed have come forward. Mr Haldane expresses his satisfaction at this result, though some newspapers critics profess to be disappointed with the figures. It would certainly have been more hopeful if the new force had reached its full strength from the start, but no doubt the units will gradually at tract men when they are in full working order. AT a social given by the Auckland Single-Tax League, Mr Fowlds said : —“Social movement was now necessary and inevitable, and that it was daily becoming more apparent that the movement must be either in the direction of increased individual freedom, through the abolitou of monopoly or Increased restrict i m of freadoih by Government interference. The only alternatives for the social movement were now either towards Single-tax or towards Socialism.” Speaking to his constituents at Grey Lynn Mr Fowlds said: “If the change was not effected in one particular way, it would be brought about in another way. That way might be Socialism. The present system was not likely to continue very long,, because the •schoolmaster had been abroad. The man who keeps his coat on has a large proportion of the product of labour, while who has his coat off gets very little of what his labour produces.’ ” It would be interesting to know whether Mr Fowlds considers that a Cabinet Minister who works with his coat on, should receive only the wages of a day labourer, or that day labourers should receive the wages of Ministers. The theory that the only labour is that performed by the exercise of muscle misleads a good many Socialists, yet frequently object lessons to the contrary are given |by shrewd business corporations which offer thousands a year to secure the mental services of experts who certainly never do a day’s work with their hands. As to the only alternatives being Socialism or Single-tax we that the electors will declare that both these shall be snuffed*out of politics.

DR. FINDLAY in his recent speech in Wellington pointed with pride to the fact that under the Arbitration Act strikes bad been far less frequent in New Zealand than in Britain. But men do not strike when they can attain their ends without striking and during the last ten years the country has been so prosperous and so much borrowed money has been spent that workers have been too few to meet the needs of employers | and Cbalmost every demand for higher wages and shorter hours has been granted with little As soon as the steady -rise in wages received a’slight check strikes took place and no one can doubt that if the Arbitration Act remained unamended for another ten years strikes would be of constant occurrence.