AS OTHERS SEE US.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 52, 22 July 1914, Page 3

AS OTHERS SEE US.

THE REV. JAMES FLANAGAN ON NEW ZEALAND. . NOWHERE HAS LABOR A MORE i FAVORABLE POSITION. DANGER LEST CAPITAL BECOME ENSLAVED. The Rev. James Flanagan, the wellknown London Primitive Methodist minister and slum-worker, who rose from tlhe pit to the pulpit, has been visiting South Africa subsequent to uis departure from New Zealand. In the course of a press interview at Capetown on June 20, Mr. Flanagan gave his impressions of New Zealand, and his views on the position and struggles of Laboi in the Dominion. A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. Mr. Flanagan said of New Zealand: "It is a beautiful country. It is marvellous what progress has been made since the country was first colonised. Think, eighty years ago it was inhabited by savages, while to-day, if 1 dare say it, they have cities more magnificent and beautiful than your own.

LABOR'S FAVORABLE POSITION. With regard to Labor, I believe there is no country wliere labor occupies a more favorable position than in the case of New Zealand. Whichever party is. in power, the members of that party are anxious to act fairly—l; may say generously—to the working class. THE DANGER: LEST CAPITAL BECOME THE SLAVE OF LABOR. In fact, to me the danger is lest Capital in New Zealand should become the slave, instead of the servant, of Labor. I have the deepest sympathy with all reasonable and lawful efforts on the part of Labor to improve the conditions of toil, both financially, morally and socially. My forty-one years of the uplifting of the ina-'-es will pTove this. NO SYMPATHY WITH REVOLUTIONARY METHODS.

But I have no sympathy with those revolutionary methods which shake society to its foundations, subvert the laws of all just government, and which, in the end, fall upon the heads of those who employ them." Asked whether lie was referring specially to the struggles in New Zealand. Mr. Flanagan said: "Yes. but the same truth applies to all countries. Fur society must protect itself at any cost. If the laws are oppressive, and the economic conditions are unfair, th n n. lnit.li and men should be compelled to submit all grievances to a court of reason.

A SET-BACK TO TIIE LABOR CAUSE. It was just here, I think, where the last Labor struggle in New Zealand failed. The Government provides Courts of Arbitration, but t!lw>. men at first re fußC.d to submit to them. The consequence was that of the nation rose against them, and they lost the day; and their cause received a setback from which it will take years to recover." Mr. Flanagan was asked whether he took any part in the late New Zealand strike. "No," was the answer, "but -I arrived in the country in the thick of it. All I did as a Minister of the Gospel was to try to- allay the passions of tin- men who came, to hear me preach, and to plead for a fair lieai - ing of both sides." - •\OCKLAND TRAM STRIKE ENDED BY MR. FLANAGAN.

Mr. Flanagan had visited New Zealand six years a«o on the invitation of the Conference of the New Zealand Primitn e Methodist Church, and during his stay in the Dominion there was a strike. "Men." said Mr. Flanagan, "had foolishlv struck work in the middle o£ the day, and left the tramcars unattended on the track, to the great inconvenience of the public. At the men's own request, I addressed liliein,, and I reminded them that the most valuable asset they possessed was puldic opinion, and that if public opinion went against them their cause was lost. I asked them what the public must think of them for disdocating" the entire business of the city, as they had done. I urged thein to go back to work, anil trust their Court ci Arbitration. They did so. The ne\t day all the trams were, running, and eventually the Court gave judgment m the .men's favor."