A. J. OKER'S DREAM, WITH A FEW EXPLANATORY COMMENTS BY ONE OF THE "LOWER ORDERS."

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3032, 19 December 1891, Page 2

A. J. OKER'S DREAM, WITH A FEW EXPLANATORY COMMENTS BY ONE OF THE "LOWER ORDERS."

TO THE KtJITOK. Sir,—When the illogical J. Olc«=-i-"_« visionary howl—l taae his pardmi, " kirk " ' slui'ild havH said—replied Auckland an.', ho began ids illl-..resting disiius'-i"!! wil!i Iho prepriet■ .r of Kit: ti-li and |>"t;it, i empo.-ium, who I'll him, ::;r.<iiir otliei thing-", tliiit the ji'tisiins of Ihix Miiiiln , had forme.tly been paid fit the i-..(,.M.f from fis to lL>s per (i.-iy. and labourers from ii- to ,S» |..-r iliiy, nn<l thus-; wretched servant (.-iris fn.m 10i to Hit per wiMik.thiiL'r.iiiiiiiiilicii'.f.Olci'i- \<rl.iint(;cl " That wascertainly grand njs." Tin' vendor of li-h and pota'ors Hr'i-eunou answered, " Well, *ir, it was ; thi* country really w:i>i thf par tdi.se of (In; workiiiumm." These i-.Miia.ks, it will !>•> oWrvid. tl.r.»\v ;i Rood deal of lijlit. oii the "o\odns." tThi-i country »-;i<tin: u".i-lnotr.n:.Vs pira-,l-s,'. atirl th.-r.-fi.>--i lio ti-i-.l !■• (let. eway from ir. n< fast a< ho c0n1.1.) Hot the wwl<inguien wlid could not leave this puiudisi; of theirs \vr\v: not. Contented, no thev " formed Uihiu-tU-s into i,ri..ti>." What, sort of :i-iiniiiU tln'V ihcn I'Pcmim is not stated; lint anyli.■«• thf- dele-t ib'n scoun.lrels had tin; ;;-;'l:icilv t> Mrike for •' higher wage-" and less worV, ' winch was, of conr-n, ii nio.-t iui'iioifd proceeding. Had the ruffians struck for " !ow«r " wagc,u.d " more " w. Ik, a.s they -hoiild iin-l undoubtedly have dotiK, all w.ud'l Iwo bni-ri u-. i! ; hut. Ih' l-o-T hrtiiiKs •icvmed to havo lost all oii-i'lci-ation for tlioso strictly iiioiiil and iinsallUli mortals who constitute the hieliFi , chu-cs. Xor did t'.n'P- Riinrtiiities end lici-', for, a3 .1. Okcf lulls us, they •'c'atnoiiivcr' f>«r what they cilled ".mo iran onu v..t-'," which, straniia as it may appear, th« hiirh*»r c'.-mse.", with their tisiiiil iin-eltisliii'..s< t It.-t them have. And then the trouble hepan, f"T this concession "threw all Iha politira 1 power into ' the hands of the lower orders,' , who, incrodiblo as it, may se p m, actually made «sn of the power that they had t!iu-< ncquir-'H by " sKtidinK men of their own order to the, l-tousß.' , which was a most stuuid tliinu to do. What they oucht Ii have done was to have returned m»n of the hiffher orders becau-ts thosn enlißhto'ned and be,nevolent ni'-.n understood the requirements of the benightjd " lowar orders" much bfitti'i-than they themselves could possibly have done. The disastrous effects of this i-tupinidnu-j error on the part of the. "lower ord-rs" manifestrd itself in a very short time, for tbny went in for class legislation, which, as all hi-tory provoH, had nci?r before bonn a'.tnmnted in any civilised oountty. One of the tinnichted "leadois of the lower cla-ses" «lien, ace r.iitif,' to J. Okcr, invented a tax "to be livi.-d on those who had any property in the colony : ' (what; a shocking iniquity !); it was, in fact, in the language of J. Oker, "awfully absurd." This dreadful economic blunder shows how; ignorant these misguided "lower classes" trTe of fundaiiied'al principles of political economy. What they should have done, (nl» lowing the wise and time-honoured custom of the higher classes whs to have levied that tax upon those who had no property at all, for they, of course, would have been best able to pay it, but thesa poor ignorant "lower orders" knew no better, so it is to hoped they will be foregiven. Subsequently these same rash and unthinking " lower classes " put such a tax upon land " that it lost its entire value,' , and then when the entire value of the land was gono and it had become absolutely worthless the State "took possession," whoever or whatever the "Stite" may have been, being a man of the "lower elates " myself, and therefore dreadfully obtuse, I can't fay—that is, lam rather doubtful—as to what.l. Oker means by thu "State"; though what the deuce the Statd wanted the land tor " after it had lost it's'entire ' value " is a puzzle tome. But. the State " took possession," any way. "Then," J. Oker tells us, "capital hogan to leave the colony ; all who could sell out their property did so, ' and then, though J. Okor omits to mention the fact, those who bought in the property of the Hying capitalists took unto themselves wings and liew away also. All this was bad enough, but worse remained to follow. Capital itself then left these unhappy isles—the railways, the roads, the bridges, the telegraph lines, the mills and factories, the coal, gold and silver mines, the gum-fields, the crops, the rich pastures, the public buildings, the •übs and breweries, the sheep, cattle, horsss, pigs and poultry left tlii* beautiful land in one iniehty heaving, surging, bleuling, bellowing, neighing, granting, cackling mass I '. and the air, the sunshine, and tin: fertility of the iM>il lull w»in ••iHnr. Whtve nil these things went to J. Oker has not told perhaps, after he has had another dream in: iiiiiv bo .ib!u i■> do so, if not, he should ii-k '■•li'.mima." When capital had ev odus.ul (copyright n-t-cnedl iinivi't>;d misery, madness and murder ensued, ;.nd the shocking results of the;"' dire calamities was, ace irding to .T. Oker (brace, up your nerves dear that two uvn were sent to Mount Kden for twolvo months for manslaughter !!! l>nt rli-. n.iioml tr )übl-i did not e.nd then', l> it anirars dial after capita! ,-abig"C," .Mrl'i-iiil-r. plei.se! an. 1 the capitalists had loft us, this unhappy I country failed to nnvi the interest rlu« l-i . the public credit.-.r'iiuol.lier big "G" if you ■ [.leiise'Mvhat that awe •inspiring party did, ' we are not t.ld idre.tiu agaiu J. Oker, etid.

t.ill us, [.Va-r, and if y.n d-'ii't know yiirsnlf M-k ".1.-miiii.i ") hit. it ir,n-l h.ivn h-.'ti fOOll-tllil!" iiwflll. bi'UUK.. lll.lt. W:IS til') Herril'lr clini;i\ >.f nil tin , ghastlv horrors br.>n"lii. Miniit by tli-- imi" ~i*i"ii "f " L""it,\ \..w ;.ra.nli nir t ..I. Ok'T, th.wdlr.) rilain-.1i.-K w.T." iii.-iinly ibii! l« tin: hcl, that hmmiii i>F tint |i-a'lßr< i>f the " lowi r o1:i«!"-i " Litrlvi-fi a X-μ-.' i'f their n:«i-iinKi-bilitvt" Ili.-ii- "Mak'-r" this-! benightpd heing-i appear I" h.!V>- li:id '."raw clonb'sakn wli.-tlinr Ilicrc is i>r vva>. :i (i'd that jii<li»ctli in tin; »-arth"and whiln tlmt. mml fli-stri.viii!.Mli>ul-.tc\i-ti!'! tlir'v lin;l n<• "<<■<] tniind.-itiiiii for thrir nu>iality" mor.'ili'y it.-olf tM.-y s-i!ni t<> h.iV'! Ind (i:vpii J.-lIIH.I i lii'i-srlf, :'(linitM that) but miTidity, thnueh not a l-a'l't'iiii.' i" if- , w:, v. i" not. worth » r:ip if tin! " foiiii'l;itioM " d'li's not, Iki|>i>iti to Irniif tin! iirHio'li.x patturn, thin orthodox " fonndatiuii,' , wa> tin , ono errand cficntiMl which the leaders of thw "lower (irlnrs " HP.cin to liiivi" tiicn short nf linnco thn fonibli- troubles tliny bi-'int'lit up-n thin uiih;i|ipv l:ind. To tl:n ignorant " Inwpr ' cl;i'.si>s " this rnnsonint; seem sorri"wh;it paridi x'cal, but how can the "lower cl.'is^os" lih expect , :il to uiirli'i'sti'inil .huuli tiling? To soiiii! of theso beniphtwl piiopjri it, m:iy sptoi flint thfi whole stattiment is an nr-rocioun lilicl upon vvi'.tv ninn, woman ;>nd child out-sirf-i'thi) pale of tlin Chri-tian Church — but it must, bn riirlit, hi-caUHn the " pr>-phct-in"iT. Ok(-r divamt tlmt it is <m—and when wo consid"r tho inifelitv influence (ireiiins hnvß hixl upon th» di-tiny of our mcL", wn shall not. fail I > eivo d'm to tho drnam of tho " prophetic" J. Okor. Just, ri'tnninlmr tlmt, tho "foundation" of Christianity itnolf i« the d renin of n Jewish boathuildiT named Joseph—who hy thi) wiiy, was onn of tht. " lower classes." Again srn how beautifully J. Okf-r's view of liliis intricate question in borne out by the history and universal experience of tniin- » kind—r.'ad Rankn's "History of the Popps" —the " foundation " of their ni"r.ility was Bound onoutrh—the mck of St. Petor itself —and the, lives of some of them, notably that of Alexander VI., shows the effect a "real foundation " fnrn man's morality has upon his thonghts rvrrl deeds. Should you »till havj doubts, trv a coursn of Motley's

" Rise of the Dutch Republic." Again, r< membpr Hie purn and virtuous life of th naint-likn Henry VIII., "The Defender r tho Faith." The fminrlntinn of his mornlit was tho genuine article, and so, perhaps was hie morality itself. In short, read th history of any, or every Christian nntion nnrt your doubts on the "' real foundation nunstion will be set at rest for ever. Befcr reading J. Oker'n rlrpnm, I, in my igmi r:incp, believcrl that the Mo-hommedans thn Hindoo', the Pxuldhists, nnd even th '' Heathen Chinne." held clear notions u morality, though from J. Oker's point i> view the " foundations " nren"t worth i red cent, and that beincr so, their moralit; itself must bo of about, the same rnarke, value. And now, my clear J. Oker, just: few words with you and I've done, unti you dream again. You, being a mem be.r of thei " higher " —and therefore— cultured "classes,' 1 must have read whal an English officer, who was British Resi dent in the Island of Ceylon, has writter about a savage people called " Wood Vedd:.hp," but if you should not have heard of these people, and don't know anything about them, nsk "Jemima," but, perhaps, I harl better tell you myself. Writing of the "Wood Veddahs," the gentlemen to whom I have referred (hi , was a gentleman, my dear joker) eays: "to them, it is utterly in conceivable, that one man should strike another, toll a lie, or take that which does not belong to him." These interesting barbarians, my dear Joker, up to that date had never even heard of the " gentle Naxare.ne," they hnd no sneial organization whatever —no " hicrherclasses,"nochurches, jails, police or hiiilill's—they hadn't even a hangman--from this, you will understand, niv dear dreamer, tlmt the " foundation " >f