PERSECUTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 300, 28 May 1915, Page 3

PERSECUTION.

THE CASE OF HALLENSTEIN BROS, j Writes Mr. Geo. Fenwick, one of Otago's leading citizens, to the Olago Daily Times:— Sir,--To "anyone who has lived in Dunedin for the past 15 or 20 years, the set which is being made against the firm of Hallenstein ilros. and Co. Ltd., and the businesses with which they are connected, is almost inexplicable. As one who has been brought more or less into contact with the members of the firm from the lime when the late Mr. Bendix Hallenstein founded the New t Zealand Clothing Factory, and thereafter! established throughout jfew Zealand the retail branches of that hive of industrv,, which has for several years given steady | employment to many hundreds of our \oung people, I should be glad if you will afford me space for a few words' on , the position which has arisen. j The late Mr. Hallenstein and his brother, whose combined capital was tiie means of starting the clothing factory business and its retail branches, originally came to Australia, and the foundation of their fortunes was there laid. Mr. Bendix Hallenstein came to Dunedin from Melbourne in the very earliest years of the gold discoveries in Otago, and, settling in Qiieenstown, by steady application to the genera! storekeeping business,, he started in that goldfields township, and prospered. Thereafter Ims moved to Dunedin, and, as mentioned above, in conjunction with his brothers, the whole of them having been for years naturalised Britisli subjects, put a large amount of capital into tlie new clothing factory venture. This capital cannot with a shadow of justification be called German capital. It was made in British colonies by naturalised British subjects. In like manner the Hallenstein capital was instrumental in founding the Drapery Importing Company, familiarly known as the D.1.C., and this business also has given employment to large numbers of men and women in tho various cities in Now Zealand, in which its branches are established. In the course of nature the original founders of these large industrial concerns passed away, I and their respective shares in the liusi- I nesscs came into the hands of sons and i daughters, born in Australia or Now Zealand. Mr. Bendix Halleiistein's daughters married gentlemen who are directors of Hallenstein Bros, and Co. Ltd, and of'the D.T.C. one of them a I German, who for over 25 years has been a naturalised British subject. To anyone who knows Mr. Fels or tlie present- day members of the Hallenstein family it is utterly preposterous to say that any one of them is anything but absolutely loyal and true to British-in-terests. If good citizenship and extreme liberality in giving to all worthy objects that come before the community for help count for anything then the businesses of the New Zealand Clothing Factory j and D.I.C. should be as heartily and genuinely supported as those of any other traders in the community. I As to the loyalty of the head of these firms to the British nations, whose sub- | jects they are, it is of the most complete I type. They are in the first rank with i the many patriotic men in this city who | have devoted time and money to the ! Empire's cause. Hallenstein Bros. Ltd. Ciiine forward at tins beginning of the war with (lie handsome subscription of £oOO to the patriotic funds; they from' the outset encouraged their employees to volunteer for the Expeditionary Force, undertaking to pay all who enrolled halt-pay for six months and to .keep their positions open until (.heir return. The personal views of the various members of the firm are, I know, so strongly abhorrent of the inhuman practices ol the Germans in tlie conduct of the war, and their desire for onr triumph is so whole-hearted and earnest, as I also know from personal conversations with them—extending with Mr. Fels to his consent to the enlistment of his only son with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force— that no lair-minded man with a knowledge of (hose tilings, can any longer harbor suspicion or doubt as to their genuineness. it is, then, cruel and unworthy of members of this community to give their countenance to the oll'orts that are being made to damage the business of fel-low-citizens who are h.yal subjects of the Empire; it is a departure from the traditionary British ("airplay, nf which we are all more or less inclined to boast, and it. is undoubtedly high time that the thoughtless and mil, hinging should fairly consider the position anil act in a spirit more worthy'of their nationality and of the dictates of fair-play and justice. As for the cowardly and vindictive mob who in Wanganui recently disgraced themselves by destroying the property of men whose slio.'S ftlicy are hot worthy to black, they are only deserving of scorn and contempt. As Mr. Asquth has said, it is conduct of that kind that is a reproach to the na- > tion.