The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1920. A TROUBLED CABINET-MAKER.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3409, 13 February 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1920. A TROUBLED CABINET-MAKER.

With which is incorpr;¢tw.9 “The Taihape Post. and Waimarino New.-.2.’-'

Reconstruction of industry, and of zinternal affairs generally, is being sadly neglected. It is said that the master artificer has a more than ordiinarily difficult task in Cabinet recon-is-truiction. That piece of national furiniture has gone to rack and ruin "under the stress of a general election, and from the rough Wear and tear it has been subjected t-o by its superiviser. No one can deny that it is J seriously out of repair, and miafny arc Imarvelling that no Visible effort has ‘yet been made towards its rehabili‘tation. Of course, all, or nearly al-1, Mr Massey’s time, since the elections, ‘has been devoted to search for reli.able material. He is faced with a very serious and .dis'heartening “shortage” of what is requisite for making a strong job, in his own workshops, and before risking repairs on ‘indifferent material Mr Massey is en-' ideavouring to secure high grade tim,ber in other political forests. Withlout doubt, the Pl‘ellll,ell’S bench mates [would welcome such a fixing up of {the old broken down Cabinet that i would render it better than new, but ‘the individual members of the union those benchmen represent are exlpected to squeal if member_s of other unions are employed on the job withgout their approval. They may even ‘relinquish allegiance to the old Boss land seek work under other auspices, lbuty that would not influence the Boss lso fong as he secured the ‘men that ,would enable him to turn out work in in Way that would give satisfaction,

{and compel public approbation. Not ‘only does Mr Massey experience a “shortage” of first-class hands at conLtruction and reconstruction, but he I has not a man at his command that is [able to finance the business. He jnnight take that part of the affair on himself, though he realises that he is neither equipped by nature or special training for it, and that in diflicult circumstances the might fail. The elections took place in December, and still the old chipped, cracked. dc]api‘dated Cabinet -has not been rejuven-1 fated, not patched up, nor even hndi ithe unsightly deteriorating .scl-atches Irubbed off it. Rival firms are taking [but very little notice; they do not [seem to think it matters wliethel‘ the lcountry has a Cabinet or not. Occa,sionally some political organ takes a ‘grind on the subject, but when that‘ lis over peace and silence once more lprevails. It is said that it is this {silence that is getting on. the nerVf3S of Mr Massey.‘ So long as Peolfle ‘Say something there is a, chance for ithe Boss to know just where he stands, not only in his Cabinet-making business, but in all other ways and "espects. He knows that tffere has accumulated, during the war, so mile‘-h Work of a pressing public nature, and when he views the workmen he has to do that work he quails almost to: hopelessness. His Cabinet, his tools,’ his finances, everything is out of order; that Cabinet, however, is the‘ most -ticklish job, and he knows that if he can only make a t=hor'oughly stl'oll‘s' affair of that, the responsibility for other reconstruction work throughout the country will be largely removed from his shoulders. Not ‘many people will envy Mr Mas-sey his task; they. cannot understand the desertike silence; they know that Mr Massey would jettison the whole blessed

Cabinet rubbish he has around him

‘did not the constitutional articles of iassociation provide for him -being‘ J'Lt‘tisoned mith it when the Painter is ‘out; All must give the Cabinetimaker credit for trying to do his }best, the “shortage” of capable Cab;inet men is not his fault, it is! his lmisfortune, and diifficult as the situajtion looks, the disreputable old (‘abinet may yet emerge from the Massey workshop a marvel of comDl‘r:tt‘ness a.nd high polish. Still, with the ;exception of negligible distant sounds, silence prevails; coal mines are out of order, sugar refineries dOn”C WOT}?-' sfhips sail spasmodically; \‘v'ool'e€-11 work-s owners‘ are growing rich On 3. shortage of clothes, and cl‘stw};-ile ‘little boot factory owners :1.r9 .'ioxlri:sh—ing on a boot shortage. E\-'~;-rt/‘5JU'3Y is trying to get hold of a “sllorf.l_£‘3” of some kind as the only thing that one is capable of making nl'.>ll9.~’ “Wl- - a Hibernian E:-i-an-l rema:-i~:r.=d “them shortages are foin-3 L]J]'l'l§._,.‘~‘, they help :1 fellow tp Luke five hundred per cent on what ne has to S9ll and divil a one ses a word about it.” People cannot" understand W11:-It the silence means, it is of so itatue a dcscription and yet universal in observance. There -are many guessers, ‘some mysteriously unfold the most improbable story about 21 ‘petldiilé’ WSruption of industr-ies——a big strike that will knock the maritime strike of history into a cocked hat; others have woven quite an interesting plausible yarn in vvlrich various seizing’s of labour by the thoat produce tragedy upon tragedy, -sensation upon ‘sensation, bringing New Zealand back to conditions such as those prevailing before the Pakeha’s advent, and we are to verily return to a man-eating era again. Some actually think New Zealand will be no more when the supreme tug between labour and capital subsidies, and Mani’s labour in fishing it up will have been wasted time and- energy. Nevertheless-. Mr Massey goes on quite unperturbed with his Cabinet job and other work, doing a bit now and again, betwixt whiles discussing the situation, be it improved or retrograde, wi:t'h"his Cab-inet-making confreres. He may have a.n uncanny feeling about the not pun‘dcrstnnd‘ablo silence of his opponents, but he doesn,'t show it._ He may not be a capable Cab-‘net-maker even, but he suffers from no shortage of pluck, or resourcefulness. If he knows nothing about what others think. othersknow nothing about what he is going to do. He may give the country a new Cabinet some day, if he doesn’t people have the consolation of knowing that someone else will.