Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15,1892,

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4269, 15 November 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15,1892,

second Edition

BEINO IDE EXTENDED TITLE OF THE Wairarapa Daily, with which it is IDENTICAL

It is curious to notice how closely the policy of tho present Government follows tho lines of the Order of the Knights of Labour. In Saying this, wo do not desire to intimate that the lines of the Order are crooked, or necessarily lead to tbat place the road to which is said to be paved with good intentions; but they diverg so widely from the beaten track e which centuries of experience have justified, they involve such tremendous ohanges in the community, that their adoption is fraught with grave risk to the prosperity of any country, That the Ministers in power are sympathetic with the aims and objeeta of the Knights of Labour, has been admitted ; that many prominent leaders in tho party, including the Member for Masterton, are sworn workers in it, is also known; and whether consciously or unconsciously tho party seems to be fairly leayenod by the doctrine of a secret society whioh has its centre in the United States of America,

Ono of the prominent aims of the Order is the establishment of Labour Bureaus aud apparently our own particular bureau ia a counterpart of those which have been established in America under the auspices of the Order. Another aim of the Knights is giving mechanics and labourers a first lieu upon the product of their labour to the extend of their full wages and on this point tho Government has, we feci sure, satisfied the Order.' A third is the abolition of the contraot system on national, State and municipal works, and here again the New Zealand Government has made a good beginning and will, if permitted, shortly comply with the full letter of! the Knighiß of Labour, Another objeot" the enactment of laws providing for arbitration between employers and employed and to enforce the decision of arbitrators," has been at-' tempted and will no doubt be pulled off next session. The law of the .Order also enjoina the levying of a graduated income tax, We are on the high road to this, the principle of graduated taxation having been affirmed; of course the income tax itself mußtprecede the graduated tax, but the change from one to the other is an easy step. A striking point on which Ministers have faithfully followed the tenetg'of the order is in the establishment of cooperative institutions to supersede the wage system, and on this tho Hon, the Minister for Public Works hos a right to demand a statue from the Knights of the Colony, It would almost appear that this Colony was governed from some centre in the United States where the chiefs of the order lay down laws for the universe, hut the more Berious consideration ia that in New Zealand we are but on the threshold of this new gospel and it is not so much the doctrine which the Colony has already accepted, which is to be feared, as the further teachings which have to follow, The Knights of Labour are recognised in America as Socialists and we huvo yet to face the platform of tbat Socialism which is supposed to be the ultimate end and object of the movement, This platform demands, that the land and all factories and instruments of production shall become the property of the whole people, that all production be organised co-operatively and tbat all distribution be made on the same principle. This is the point where our new legislation culminates! It is not probably an attainable result or if it ever become bo, every man in the Colony, possessing the means to travel, will probably dear out of the country and leave the fanatio Socialists to eat eaoh other up at their leisure after the fashion of the traditional Kilkenny Oats,