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Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2918, 28 March 1891, Page 2

Wβ are in receipt of a copy of the first issue of the Australasian l'astoralists' Review, a monthly journal and record of all matters ai'iecting the pastoral and landed interests throughout Australasia. In thi'sc day of srrikes and combinations amongst the wage-earners it has become apparent that countersteps must, be taken by employers to protect themselves. The objects and uses of the Review cannot be better set out than in the words of their iirsteditorial: "The agitation which has been going on for some time past amongst a- largo section of the working classes has assumed an aspect which no one who has anything to lose can afford to disregard. The new unionism has shown itself not only aggressive aud arbitrary in its dealings with employers, selfishly regardless of the interests of all labourers outside its own ranks, and thoroughly unscrupulous in its methods, but it has been made abundantly plain that the threats of violence which have been so freely made by the uuionist leaders are only the first niutterings of a revolutionary storm. We are iu face of a socialistic propagaanda which aims at nothing short of the overthrow of all the existing landmarks of society and, to put it in plain words, the robbery of the present owners of property. The holders of land have long been signalled out as the first line for the socialistic attach, and it is not without significance that the strike mania, which first broke out in the shipping trade, is now coming to a head in connection with the pastoral industry. Land is a visible, tangible possession, and the isolation of country settlers makes it exceedingly difficult for them to act in concert. For the latter reason a few agitators in the towns, acting upon an ill-informed and excitementloving city population, have obtained a power far beyond their real importance in the colony. Men who know nothing about country life, and the hardship undergone by the settler, prate glibly of land nationalisation ; while those whose enterprise in developing the resources of the soil is really the making of the towns have been, working on quietly uncoiiKjious of the mine that was being laid ior them in the cities. The recent outbreak of unionism has at last aroused landowners into combination. The Paistoralists of Australia have recently founded throughout the several colonics Unions which enable then: to present a linn front to the demand* of the labour agitators, and secure the right of those labourers who prefer to make their own contracts with their employers without being subjected to the continual interference and dictation o£ tho ring of unionist leaders. But though the new unionism may be scotched during the ur.U few months iu Queensland, an it was iu Melbourne and Sydney in the spring, it will be long yet before it is killed, The age lnis been truly described as one of discontent, and the traders iu agitation will certainly renew the attack the moment the Pastoralists relax their vigilance or allow their organisation to become looser. One of the principal function of this Review will be to keep the members of the several Pastorsilists' unions, in touch with each other, and to make them acquainted with mch other's views and proceedings.