Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 27 April 1911, Page 770

Notes

Irishwomen and the Cause Wo print elsewhere a letter from ‘ A Daughter of Erin/ in which the suggestion is made that the Irishwomen of New Zealand and their daughters should be invited in a special way to make donations, be they ever so small, in what we all believe will be the last appeal for funds for Home Rule. We think the suggestion is an excellent one, and one which affords the daughters of Erin throughout the Dominion an admirable opportunity of showing what they can do. If everyone does a little, the grand total should bo well worth while. In regard to districts where no local treasurer is appointed the N.Z. Tablet will gladly take charge of donations. Donations, then, may be sent either to the local treasurers, or to ‘ The Manager, N.Z. Tablet Office, Dunedin/ totals, m each case, to be specially credited to the'New Zealand Irishwomen. Socialism in Australia Apropos of the remarks in our leading columns on the subject of Socialism, the following items —supplied by an esteemed Queensland correspondent—will be of interest as showing that the same trend which is observable here is in still more active force ‘ on the other side.’ The first is an extract from Mr. Bowman’s opening speech at the Labor Convention held in Townsville (Q.), in May, 1910 Mr. Bowman, besides being Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party, was chairman of the Central Political Executive, and also president of the Convention held in Townsville. ‘ We are twitted/ he said, ‘ by our opponents ami by the press, as being. Socialists. As leader of the party in this State, and as president of this important convention, I have no hesitation whatever in declaring my firm belief in the principles of Socialism, and I hope that every delegate here present is imbued with the same belief. (Hear, hear.) I am glad to be able to recognise in the present Prime Minister of the Commonwealth (Andrew Fisher) a man who is not ashamed to be classed as a Socialist and an advocate of the principles of Socialism. (Cheers.) It should be recognised that the principles of the party are not peculiar to Queensland, nor yet to Australia. I was pleased when visiting the Southern States during the recent campaign, that the same Socialistic spirit permeated every Labor speaker that I heard; and the same is true of men and women in every part of the world who are also earnestly engaged in struggling for the success of the same cause. • . • ' We should everyone of ns receive from this convention an inspiration to do even more in the way of propaganda than has been done in the past. To me this movement is a religion. It is the religion of Humanity. It is an endeavor to uplift and to elevate. We want every man and woman to be freed from the system of wage slavery and in ray opinion the Socialistic principles embodied in M '% m y sTmoT a,ds that end <*>*«*» •Jr 1- , In , o1 ’ dei : understand (says our correspondent) what kind of Socialism Mr. Bowman really means, consult the objective of the Queensland'Labor Party viz., ‘The securing of the full results of their industry to all wealth-pro*

ducers by the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange to be attained through the extension of the industrial and economic functions of the State and local governing bodies.' Mr, William Jones, one of the Labor candidates for a Queensland seat at the State elections in October, 1909. is thus . reported, in his opening speech at the elections. 'Dealing with the question of Socialism, he (Mr. Jones) quoted a Socialist writer to show that Socialism was the next inevitable stage in social evolution, when the exploitation of man by man should cease and give place to scientific production. . . . Political economists had divided the means of production under three agencies, land, labor, and capital. Some writers advocated the nationalisation of land only, some advocated land and labor, but their Queensland Labor Objective advocated the whole three. He read the Objective adopted at the 1907 convention.' The foregoing, adds our correspondent, 'spells Continental Socialism, pure and simple.'