VICTOR GRAYSON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 299, 14 December 1908, Page 3

VICTOR GRAYSON.

To the Editor. Sir, —i was interested somewhat this morning in reading your comment on J. Christopher's letter re Victor Grayson in the House of Commons. You say; "No wonder Grayson is lonely. The British electors are evidently possessed ui discrimination,'' etc. _A very famous parallel case occurs to my memory about a reformer who lived a long time ago, who set uut to try and reform the rfai and respectable folk of his day, and he called them harder names than Grayson used even. He also had a following, but in the stressN>f the fight they all forsook' him and fled, one man going ,-c far as to deny- him with oaths and curses, hut note the result. This same i mau to-day is the God of the Christian Church and is the centre of universal worship. A weJI-known speaker once said that " Mankind always crucified their saviours and crowned their oppressors, but a thousand years afterwards they erected monuments to their saviours." One can well imagine the consternation in the hide-bound famous "House," where everything has to be done by line and plummet, and the man wlio dares to create a precedent commits an unpardonable sin. "Away with him!" everybody cries, and away he is sent. X wonder what would have become of , us as a nation if somebody at some time or other had not stepped out of the beaten track of orthodox commonplace uniformity. What about Luther and John Wesley in religion, Watt in locomotion, I'limsoll in shipping, Disraeli in politics, Bruno in science, and a host ol other noble men who, forgetting the things that were behind, pressed forward to the goal that was before them, and we to-day reap the result of their labours? I have Ui-fore me the letter of the Eev. Scholefield which he wrote to the Bishop of Manchester on the very question of the starving poor that Grayson shocked the susceptibilities of the House with. The reverend gentleman says: "Justice must come before charity, and to provide unending charity for the poor without altering the wickM system which causes unemployment and poverty is eithci' a counsel of fear and despair or the work of knaves. Will you, my lord, lead us in unmasking either knavery or insanity of hypocritical Christianity which prates of the : brotherhood of man, and then in the same breath is prepared to order Jio use of brute force and shed men's blood for the sacred rights of property. If i:i the sacred name of poverty a Christian Government rightly batons and shoo's shall we do wrong if in the more sacred name of humanity we go and do likewise? If the Church will lead the way the revolution will be a bloodless and peaceful one. Then, it not. so much th- 1 worse for the Church.'' The above is a plain statement of the ease of poverty bv a man who labour? in the midst it. and is a credit to the heart of the ■writer and a vast improvement on speculating nUou.t mansions iu the skies, which, alas, are out of reach and on the top storey. What use were they to the poor woman -found on the pavement :n Whitechnpel without food for weeks and practically dressed in brown paper pinned together? I fanev T hear you ask: But why bother about things thai are happening so far away? Because, my dear sir, we have the nucleus of the same state of things in our midst, and the signs are all around us. for we are hound together, and by the same ties of Mood, and by the same octopus will oar . life-blood be sucked if we remain b.'Dine. But that is another story.—l am, & c-i ' J. A. ROBERTS. [Grayson's name should not he uttered in the same breath as the name of any of the characters mentioned. They were great men. in the real meaning of the ■word "great." Grayson's greatness li?s in the extent of his self-assurance and presumption. He, like other anarchists, 5» against all law and order. He defies Parliament and its .standing'orders. His ivav is right and everybody else's is •wrong. He seems more like a spoilt tiaby th.ra a grown-up man To argue that the line of conduct he adopted helps a reform is to exhibit a very imperfect knowledge,,of conditions as th?y exist. Were his example universally followed, we would have no need for Parliament* or any other of the forms of civilisation. We would go back to th&conditions that obtained in the stone age. What, -we would ask Mr. UolierK •would be thought of a member of the local Borough Council who defied the rulra" of the Mayor a nd the standing orders and attempted, willy mlly. to liave his way? Would the Mayor or Ins fellow-councillors submit to him? W oultl the cause he was espousing be advanced I,V his bluster and ,l>ounce ? « e feel jn*t as much for the unfortunate poor and unemployed of the. Old Country as our correspondent does, and would welcome - the carlv finding application of a remedy for the state of afla'vs that at present exists, but we feur ' conduct and vaporings of \ ictoi (.iavare likely to do the cause a great ■> of harm and very little good.—F.d.]

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