Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1894. THE KNIGHTS OF LABOUR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4770, 11 July 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1894. THE KNIGHTS OF LABOUR.

TwioiKiiiorr New Zealand there arc numerous local assemblies of Knights of Labour. A defined group of local assemblies constitute a District Assembly, and the district assemblies in their turn constitute the General Assembly, which meets annually in America under the presidency of the Grand Master Workman. Tim Order possesses an Executive in the United States, and if a Minister of the Crown in New Zealand or a member of the House of Representatives,' like Mr Hogg, be a Knight, lie is pledged to obey tl|o executive power, and is part and lmreoi of a ppi'tip gigantic secret society, which nt the prpsont. time is destroying millions of property in the States and causing an enormous loss of life, The principles of the Society are, on the surface, almost bpnclicient in their scope, biit its action is .now; admittedly in the direction of rebellion amieiyjl sfrjfc. The principles of the Society Jmve been repeatedly affirmed by Ministers of the Crown in .this Colony, wWi' have. accepted bantmets from assemblies of theOrdor and fraternised with thorn, but can we, with the evidence now tolling tons day by day from America, comotoany other conclusion than that .."death and destruction "are the potent I'cmedies which the heads of the Order invoke. Ministers jn, tlltf Polony seem to have Wen tjjeji; pojipy al- j most'entirely,from tko preamble of the Knights of Labour. Do wo not find there the raid against material wealth, the establishment of Labour , Bureaus, nationalisation'' of land,' ; labour measures, the abolition of the contract syjsj;ero, graduated taxation, . a State currency ami. o(j,oj)eratiTel labour proclaimed. Practically, the! preamble of the Knights of lias been tho store from which the party now in power has taken all its ideas, .What do., flip, Government organs now say. to'the awfnl i occurences taking,, pluco. in . Auioi'ioa-! Well,; thoy.say as,little; about l: 'ttii KiiigWs of Labour as .possible, tho; even omit to point .out that. tb.

jattle, murder./andWden : death, icrosstheoceahisinstlflatedby'tio i Drder. - But tlidy intimnte that the ]l : l^W3l,%en6s'n.Qi^vitnepsed there' * ;ould not occi&here; because ebhcli- 1 lionspiero aw( : (lifferant, ■■ j! Still?'.the c Sov^jihiGut." hi^ : i labour- ; about the coiidifcibns here which pre- ' vail in should ' New Zealand in sowine tlio wind not hope- to reap the whirlwind, A ■ small executive of comparatively un- ' known men, who control a secret ' society in America, give the word, and iiiumair lilooi; pours fortli like; Water, .".WeJami.i'a branch of ttie same secret sj>ciew. here, and what l gimrantoehavcAveihat it will never bo called'-'.upon; bjl some ;mysterious power tb v coihniit'similar outi-agcs on this soil,! Wewould ask MrHoggj . as the member for this district, to say whether he npproves'of the Actions of the Knights of Lahourin America. He is a piciuboi'of the order, and.he is bound cither to (indorse the loss of life and tho destruction now taking place at his head .qiiarterß,oi'to sever his connection witlrtho order. We have; always distrusted secret societies while admitting the apparent beneficence of. their principles, and havo on more than one occassion warnedpcoploagaiiistthe Knights of Labour as a secret organisation which might become dangerous. Events at Chicago now show that the View wo took was a right ono. Tim death of the .late Mrs C. R. Bidwill, of Pihautea, will be received with regret by all the old settlers of this and many neighbouring; districts, Tho deceased lady for nearly half acontui'jf has been the hospitable hostess'of Pihautea, a model housewife, and the excellent mother of numerous children, who have settled in life, and taken high sduial position in various parts of the Colony. Her sphere of duty was eminently a home one, and her record has been simply the everyday life of a good wife, mother, and friend. Iter, death severs another link witiyp-'pnst, for she was in every : seiß a pioneer settler, who came.to tjlHWairarapa in the very first dayiMf colonisation, and who was. asscHted with old historic families. Be the Welds and Glifords, in I 1 task of making New Zealand- of the English race.