PUBLIC RIGHTS PROTECTION

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3549, 11 August 1920, Page 5

PUBLIC RIGHTS PROTECTION

_TO ASSERT THE AUTHORITY OF

GOVERNMENT.

Contribuxtc-<1 by the NZ. ‘Welfare

League

TM’? 3 Rob>Cl‘ts of the Tran.~‘l*m“t Vlorlxers’ _"\(iVl>'.()}')' Board has just. aninounced that his Board has decided to ITGIDQVG the embargo on the ti-ausport lof r-acehorses. We are,{told {hat “this ,deci.=ion was ‘arrived at in View of lthe fact that a. great number of jock'93“ WCTC‘ in favour of the embargon iI'2LCChOI‘S€S being lifted. ’ I The fact that Sir George Cliiford ‘was able to travel by the “Pateena” sseems to indicate ‘that.’ the embargo ion passengers has also been lifted. So, by the gracious condensation of the iselfnppointed Soviet Commissioners of 1 Trade in New Zealand, and the favour lof their lordships; the jockeys, the ori din-ary trade is allowed to proceed for g the time being. Some newspapers com€ment that it. reads like comic opera. ;To our thinking it reads more -like Eimpudent treason against the author- ’ ity of the State and the peopl'e of New ”Z€al3H<3- In this free country where every man and Woman is_giv-en the‘ right ‘to choose the Parliament and} [Government that shall legislate and! [administer the affairs of the country,‘ iany attack by section of the people upon the authority of the:,—Sta'te. and the legal rights of private citizens, by usurping the powers of Government ought to be treated as a criminal offence. It. is undoubtedly an insidious attempt to subvert the auzthority of the Nation, a repudiation of the law of the i land, and an attack upon the rights‘ of the whole body of the people. To‘ what ends are we likely to come of, each section, 11>: it. chooses. is to impose I embargoes on the trade of -the country? If the Transport Workers’ Board has a right to do so, then the Commercial Travellers, the Civil Servants, or any other combination must be held to have the same right, and What then becomes of Plarliamenft, the Governnicnt, local authorities, the franchise, of the people, and virtually the wholei constitution of the Dominion? if lii? is’ SHO-llandite self-deterniinajtion with avengeance if we are to admit !that any self-constituted authority that chooses may ‘set up a Government of its mvn within the State and‘ rule over any sphere it chooses- to rt-ake charge of.; If this principle of sectional Govern-' ment is allowed to control trade affairs, on what. ground can we object to it being applied to any other domain of the civil life of our go-untryii

The Transport. VVOI-kers’ Bbard, it nluS‘,t. be noted does not withdraw its embargo on trade because it recognises its action was wrong, nor out of regard for the rights of ‘£ll2 people,_or the ziuthority of the So far as we can judge those men still claim The rig]-.{ ‘tg set up 3 Government /of their own wi’rholl§’ pl'oce.=2s. of law, and in plain 4i(.‘fi:l)l€o of the Constitution of the Dominion.

Mr. RO-borfs anul his fellow syndi_¢':llvi.<.f ro\'olu’rionisfs say in cfl’ect fo the people of New Zoaklaml (they can correct. us if we are wrong) “We will use }‘;’our politi<':‘ll-sysfom of governlnvnl’ for all we can get out of if, and meantime we will ignom constituted authority as far as we man go, and enforce our own mzflxm-i’(._\f upon the people where xyr:-. can gain‘:my advantage tlwrel)_\'." 'l‘lm’r :z'ltit.u<le is definitely on the lines of znmrclxism. It is :1, st:ln<.l thar ‘sllonl<l be clxalléxlged Vstr:ligl)i' out tlm llrulianlent and .l'l1(‘ people of New Zo:1l::n<l. The time seelns “to have :Irri\'.e<l when the (‘rovonnnenl ;~'lmlllrl_ln'ing nlo\\‘ll legisl:ll‘i<:m in the form of fl. }‘uhli<?‘Rights’ 1”1'01'o«'-.h'ox1 Bill. in V\‘ll?l('l] ~'1I<:l1 .‘ICTI-S as tho m:linton:ln«-o of C‘\"lllll_)i1l{lti0IlS wlwireh tnlco elirevf mitican in cmm‘a.venvion of the le;_»':ll I'3glll.< of citizens, or in 1ls111'p:ufi611 of a.utlmri’ry commonly \'<~.~"r.wl in fho S‘r:n'o Slliill ‘rue ‘rreafml as .~'m'iouS ofl'mn°(~s‘. .5-. ;»rv.':;»m' form of ‘p1lIllSlll!l(“llt for Sm-ll ofi‘«>m-9 would be HlO xviflulrnwl of all «,-iv?! ri§:ll.‘r.'< from the pm-soy]-'4 so :34‘-,l‘in_:. 'l‘lli.~' }mniShInonl’ mm \\‘(>ll lore jll.<lilil'-l ml the grmnul ‘ll:lt‘thuso who will not rvspoct 1}... Sf';'l'lQ\"' ,\utlmril.v mu"! pay no reg-“-(~]” to puhliv x'ig_l'l:!.- slmul<l llavo no mmsidm':lt'ion under HlO Collsfitxltion. 'l’:lrli:mmnl should p::.<.< such ar act as would say (lnfinltely “You can have politlml avtion or «li'N\('.: amion, but You (':lmm‘t. l1::\‘(> lmtlx, if you rely on ‘vour own mltlmrify «then you (ran claim lw civil rights from tho uul.ll’orify you an-. «lonyingr. l\'hi«3ll‘is that of the State.

Petty self-consfittltml. Hy)-anny may bo Imlg-lwd uf by ‘Whose who are not ninfucked but when if is: Hm I'cslli:f. of (‘mnbinod opmmion an the party of a. eonsidorublo number of people spread throll,r,_rhnilt _fhe omnm-y it is 'a:’r Once a public menace and Janqor that requires to be s'tel'nly flealf with. Between disputing p:ll'fiCs of capiTzll and labour the Loagqe is impartial‘, knowing thaf both may be partly right and partly wrong, but in attacks upon the‘ nation ?the league nhnfends that thh re should Be no congpromise with the isloyal element that raises xfhe hand of enmity against ‘the State which is built. as ours is. u—pon"t.he wifl“-of the people. .

The disrupfers of the Stzvte t'equ,ire

to be recognised as the enemies of such. ~ the commonweal and dealt. with as