The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1922. A GRAVE PRINCIPLE AT STAKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1922. A GRAVE PRINCIPLE AT STAKE.

It will have been noticed that for some time past there have been indications that the Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association has been vzhat may be termed “coquetting” with the Alliance of Labor, and there appears to have evolved from these dangerous actions a growing tendency towards sheltering the staff under the banner of those who aim at the control of all industries by those who operate them. Apart from the fact that the post and telegraph service is a State enterprise, c rried on in the interests of the people as a whole, there is no possibility of finding room for two governments in a country, neither can anything but chaos arise if those employed in a public service of this nature are to fill the dual position of master and servant. In connection with the recent meeting of t!he New Plymouth branch of the Association, it would seem it is intended to take a ballot on the question of joining the Alliaiiee of Labor, and there are indications that other branches throughout the Dominion are being urged to move in the same direction. There is $ vast difference between the members of the Civil Service organising for their mutual welfare and advancement, and linking up with an alliance of extremists whose aim is similar tq that of the Soviet. .The former is constitutional as well as beneficial, while the latter is revolutionary and tyrannical. No branch of the public service has so justly earned the esteem and appreciation of the people as that of the P. and T., but it is certain that the members cannot more surely take a shorter cut to forfeit public confidence than to cast in their lot with an outside industrial organisation which will deprive them of their liberty of action and bind them to the chariot wheels'of ruthless dictators who seek for power and domination by means of “One Big Union”—a political revolutionary controlling organisation that is intended to go one better than the Red Federation. Surely .the members of the P. and T. Association must be jr'warc that, in spite of the most strenuous efforts of the beguiling emissaries of the Alliance of Labor, there are a great many trade unionists who regard the alliance as a dangerous combination for centralising power. Have the postal and telegraph staff so fallen from their high estate that they-are willing to become trade unionists of the most extreme type merely because their grievances have preyed on their nerves? It is far more likely that they are putting up a bluff in the hope of succeeding in their efforts to obtain redress. They have an organisation of their own, and are entitled to a fair hearing as well as just treatment, but they must not forget there is a.vital principle involved in departing from constitutional methods and endeavoring to become masters as well as servants of the State. Let them weigh well the consequences of exchanging King Dog for King Stork, for nothing is more certain than w’hat will happen if they link up with | the forces of disruption—they will be the first to suffer from a step that will find them the victims of their mistrust in the Government and public opinion. That the P. and T. staff should even think of joining the Alliance of Labor will come as a shock to the community, and it will not be surprising if suitable expression is given throughout the country against such a dangerous step, the logical sequence of which would be to destroy public confidence in a service which demands exceptional loyalty, integrity and fidelity by reason of the confidential nature of much of the business. To reduce such a fine stdff as now exists to the level of.an extreme labor union is unthinkable, while

the principle involved is too vital to be tampered with. No cquntry like New Zealand could tolerate members of any of the State Departments being involved in outside industrial disputes or acting at the dictation of extreme Labor leaders, and that is what joining the Alliance of Labor means, besides class warfare. Surely they are strong enough to hoe their own row, and they may rely on public opinion backing up constitutional means for removing grievances that arise. Under such circumstajices it is to he hoped that this ill-advised project is a mere bluff, and, even so, it will arouse much indignation. The P. and T. Association cannot act too promptly in abandoning, all thought of joining up with any individual union, and it would be well advised to uphold the fine traditions of the public service.