*THE
WORKER*
BRISBANE, MAY
25, 1895.
“Merrie
England.”
The
general secretary of the A.L.F. has unexpectedly secured a number of
copies of a cheap edition of “Merrie England,” per favour of
Messrs. Thompson and Co., booksellers. As has already been stated, it
is one of the best labour books published. The price of this edition
will be 3d. and will be sent to any address in Queensland for 4d. To
those who have paid 8d. For the dearer edition the book will be at
once forwarded in order to save delay. The overpaid balance will be
refunded on application to the secretary of the Federation; all such
monies remaining unclaimed will be placed to the credit of the
Enlargement Fund. Orders for books must be prepaid and sent to Albert
Hinchcliffe, general secretary A.L.F., Trades and labour Hall,
Brisbane.
------------------------
Maori
Honour.
New
Zealand was threatened with another 'little war” up the King
Country way the other day. Political agitation again, some of the
papers said, because two of the native M.'s H. R. had been up that
way at the time. But European “men of honour” were given a lesson
in straightness by the settlesome words of Chief Kereru, who gave
utterance to these characteristic phrases:
“This
is my word. I am not one with this loud talk. I have listened
patiently to what has been said on both sides. All this wild talk is
nonsense. Mr. Carroll has explained on behalf of the Government. I
accept that explanation. We should have confidence in the law. I gave
my word last year to the Premier that henceforth I would not allow
fighting; that I would not revert to the evils of the past; that I
would uphold the law, and live and abide under it. Those words of
mine are gone out to the world. How can I go back and eat those
words? Let this trouble end. Sufficient for us to rest our thoughts
on the promise Mr. Carroll has given to concede our rights to the
soil. This pledge was given last year, and it is now repeated.”
This
speech and these sentiments settled the trouble, which arose over the
old King Country difficulty – surveying. The surveyors are now
going with their casting of lines in pleasant places again.
---------------------
Underground
Engineering.
The
following circular has been issued by that honourable body known as
the Queensland Political Association. From its contents may be
ascertained the lengths to which out upright Premier and his
respectable gang are prepared to go to keep their political hands in
the pockets of the nation. Readers will please note particularly the
words “permanent” and “reliable,” and also the evident
intention to keep off the electoral rolls names of all men likely to
vote against the Government and its servile followers:-
“Queensland
Political Association. Head Office, First Floor Courier Buildings,
Brisbane. Open from 9 am. To 5 pm Daily; Saturdays 9 am to 1 pm.
President,
Hon. H. M. Nelson, Esq., M.L.A., hon. secretary, Hon. R. Bulcock,
Esq., M.L.C., hon. treasurer, T. F. Whites, Esq., J.P. Brisbane,
February, 1895.
Dear
Sir, - As it is imperative that all parliamentary Electoral Rolls
should be checked before August next, we shall esteem it a favour if
you would furnish us with a return showing the names, ages, and
occupations of the PERMANENT employ'es on your Station, so that we
may be able to ascertain if their names are on the Roll. We have good
reason to believe that there are a large number of RELIABLE men whose
names are not upon the Rolls, and that upon the other hand a large
number of names are upon the Rolls which have no right to be there –
I am, yours, respectfully, ROBERT BULCOCK , honorary secretary. P. S.
- We enclose stamped Envelope for reply.”
------------------
John Burns and
the Brisbane “Courier.”
Shakespeare
in his “Merchant of Venice” has very truly said: “The devil can
cite Scripture for his purpose.” just so the Brisbane Courier.
In an editorial entitled “John
Burns on Labour Follies,” published in its issue of the 21st
instant, it quotes slabs from a recent speech of John Burns delivered
before members of the Battersea Labour League, and, cunningly enough,
places upon the said speech a construction which its author never
intended should be placed upon it. If the peculiar Courier,
which exists chiefly to defend
Boodlewraith and Boodleism generally, had been honest enough to quote
the resume appearing in Reynolds' - no
reason objection could have been offered, because the Courier's
little game would then have been
disclosed. The WORKER most heartily endorses every word which John
Burns uttered on the occasion referred to, and for the benefit of its
readers quotes Reynolds' report:
“At the present moment there was everywhere a tendency
to depreciate what was being done in the Labour movement. There was a
disposition to ignore the past of our Labour movement, and many of
the symptoms and causes which wrecked the Chartist movement were
evident not only in the Labour movement generally, but in its
Parliamentary and Municipal phases. He was compelled to admit that
Labour generally was too optimistic for the future and too
pessimistic for the present. The latter view of the Labour movement –
the helpless despair, the anarchy of melancholy that was apparent in
some quarters – was not justified by existing things, and in no
sense warranted many of the alarmist predictions that were too often
made. At the last meeting of the London Trades Council, a large
number of the members talked a lot of rubbish and nonsense about the
Eight Hours day movement. It was stated that there was absolutely
nothing in it, and that it was useless for the unemployed, and that
the time had arrived for a universal four-hour day. The time had
come, he thought, when such nonsense must be severely criticised.
During the last two years he had found on going through the reports
that upwards of 200,000 workmen had secured the Eight Hours Day.
There were also 40,000 Government workers who had been conceded this
Eight Hour Day, and from 1889 to 1895, including this 240,000 over
half a million workmen had had their hours reduced through the direct
agency of the Eight Hours movement, which he hoped would always
continue to exist. He found that too frequently, especially during
the late winter, throughout the whole metropolis, men who had been
elected to public positions had in many cases yielded to the demands
of the laziest, noisiest, and most disorganised section, and that the
raw recruit of the Labour movement had dictated to elected veterans
of labour what to do and how to do it only in their own way. Almost
every sincere leader of the Labour movement had had his acts
misconstrued, with the result that much harm had been done to the
Labour movement; and, if continued, this would permanently wreck it,
and reduce responsible, elected men to the mere level of jobbers and
gamblers. He hoped these new mushroom leaders of the Labour movement
would take warning.”
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