The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1919. A MOONSHINE EXCURSION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3326, 3 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1919. A MOONSHINE EXCURSION.

With which its incdrporated “The Taihape Post; and Waimarino News.” ~

W Something very terrible and awe inspiring in the nature of strikes or lock-ou-ts, or both, is being talkedand wl/'itten about by men. who seemingly, have some political axe to -grind. It. is s-p.ok—-en of with bated breath, and even. in the holy of holies of the Cabinet room, in Wellington, it appears to.'be .a banned subject for discussion. What is, this pmysteriousnes all. about? Surely; someone knows something about it.. It. is -preposterous to assume that because 1 some person, designedly or otherwise, I made a mista.ke in saying men onnthe i waterfront. had struck Work, there‘ should be hundreds of columns of false- I hoods telegraphed ~through.out the Do—minion, for which newspapers have to I pay. The story is telegraphed, and duly appears under “scare” headlines, ‘ when it further message comes to say] the first was a misconception. An error is, of course, an error, but this strike story is being talked abou~t by men who may look the part of Ministers, but have not the commonsense to play it. j-Does it not occur to those menwho rlingsrv all about. this strike trvaddle, that they are. committing the very offence they, by legislation, made :3. ciime in others? it can be said without fear of contradiction that the Press, of New, Zealand played a nlOSi‘- 1101219 part in] keeping up the.spirits «of the people} during the war, but Ministcvss are in-! dulging in the silliest, most ‘reprehen-i Sible fe-fi-fo-fpum mystery shine; they are trotting out a bogey to scare people into believing something that has, no basis in fact, something the masses could not be -made to ‘ believe by honest, admirable means. If not, why all the mystery? It is as much a crime to create'a scare of this nature as itvvas to invent a war scare, and the inventors should be as liable to punishment. If it is labour that is doing it, let labour bear the brunt of its crime against the people; whoever; the culprit may be, he, or -they, should be made TB answer for ‘the; flood of con- ! sternation that was made to flI0‘W‘OVOI“ the land. We do not say that the whole business was anything more than a stupid bungle, or, perhaps, a little! “try-on,” as our Maori friends say, but the inscrutable mystifieafion of it has upset the coun.try’s peace of mind, and tliey are even now looking for, and expecting, the awful catastrophe that has been so strongly suggested by Par-liamen-t’ and Press, bu.t not actually. stated in the ‘form of cold" fact. It seems, however, rto be nobedy’s busi-‘ ness to clear? the air so that the country may once more breathe freely. It‘ is reported by some m_vsteriu.os personage -that there is a strike on the whole‘ of the Wellington waterfront; then it is reported that the first report was a,‘ miseonceptiofi; if this is correct, what‘ is ‘the nature of the nliscOnception?l Surely it is only the people’s Tight ‘(Oi be told that it was all. a silly blunder if such it was; and if it is anything‘ worse the people are doubly entitled to know what -the awful thing is that overshadows them. ‘Newspaper reporters approach shipping-owners for some explanafmn, but none is fortheomin.g; labour leaders are appealed to, they‘ have nothing to say; Ministers of the Crown are questioned, and -they only deepen the m_vster_v by saying, “Whatever it is. the G-overrnnent will do its d11l."'-” We beg most resp-:ctt‘ully to say that if the Governxnentwould -only do its duty 'tlle.air would be cleared in five minutes; What is it of such impor-J tance that causes that duty to be left

undone? The whole country is wonder-' ing What is going to happen; ‘there is great strike smoke, but no ‘strike fire; there are rumours of strikes, the puzzle being to find the strike, and it is all suelra mystery that neither ship-own-ers, labour, nor Groverninent. will say anything about .it, either that there was, or there is it strike, or that there was not and is not a strike. Until those whose duty it is to prevent suelr scares upsetting the people let some daylight into the mystery, the country -is justified in regarding the whole thing as execrable. humbug. Writing and talking upon the subject is still proceeding, but as principals" to the «affair refuse to speak, it is obvious that whatever is said or written is gathered from men in the street. We'clo not believe there ever was diause for spreading the strike rumour; it seems that a few words between a rather offieious person and a few workers are responsible for the whole scare, and now that :1. mountain has grown out of the absurdly ridiculous strike mole hill everyone is too much. ashamed to admit he had any part in its upraising. Whatever disaster may lurk under the camouflage of words, the country is quite safe, for Mr. Massey has promised that “the Government. will do its duty.” S 0 ends another moonshine excursion.