The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-01-04
NEW ZEALAND
NOT SOC|AUsT|C

The idea is prevalent in America
that New Zealand is country which
has tried Socialism and found it good.
The New Zealand Tablet contradicts
this view, and states the facts as fol-
lows:
What the future holds in store for
us, of course, we do not know; but
we have not now, nor have we ever
had, Socialism in operation in New
Zealand. The official Socialist party in
the Dominion is numerically weak,
and-for the present-politically in
significant. We have never had So
cialist party in our House of Repre-
sentatives. It Is true that the Labor
party-which is distinct for the official
Socialist party-is becoming more and
more permeated with Socialistic ideas,
and is introducing into its objective,
more or less definitely, the ideal of
economic Socialism: but in House
of seventy-four members we have only
four such Labor representatives, and
prior to the last election we had only
one.
Nor can it be said that Socialism
in any accurate sense of the TERMS
embodied in our legislation. Our In
dustrial Arbitration and Cancellation
Acts are not Socialism, but rather OPP
crate as a preventive to Socialism, in
that they tend to give steadiness and
stability to industrial and economic
conditions. So fully is this now real
lied that the militant Socialist party in
New Zealand have officially declared
that they are out against our arbitra-
ton system. Our shops and Shop As
sistants Act, which provides for early
closing of shops and for weekly half
holiday for shop employees is not So
cialism, but purely Christian attempt
to give workers a reasonable amount
of leisure for rest, recreation, and self
Improvement; and it has operated so
beneficially that neither employers nor
employed would now listen to any sug-
gestion for its repeal. Our State own
ership of railways is not Socialism,
having been adopted long ago not on
any Socialistic theory, but on the
broad principle that public utilities
which by their very nature partake of
the character of monopolies are, on
the whole, better managed by the
State than by an individual or COM
pany, and that it is better that natural
monopolies of the sort should be
placed in the hands of the people than
in the hands of trusts and combines.
Our Advances to Settlers system,
which has been such a boon to the
small farmer in providing him with
cheap money and in lowering the rate
of interest, is certainly not Socialism,
since it presupposes and is based upon
the settlers rights of ownership in
the land-the very theory which So
cialism is out to destroy. And so we
might go on, through the whole list of
our humanitarian legislation. Our
Factory Acts, our Old Age Pensions,
our Workmen's Compensation for Ac-
cidents Acts, our Land for Settlement
Acts, giving the would-be settler such
reasonable facilities for obtaining
land, on either leaseho1d or freehold
tenure, as human legislation is capa-
BILE of-all of these might have been
taken, as to their essence, and some
of them almost in their very terms,
from Leo Kills great Encyclical on
Labor. AS we have said, Socialism is
making considerable Roadway in the
ranks of the Labor party and of the
trade unions, and if it should become
the dominant factor in our politics
there is trouble ahead for New Zea-
land as for other countries; but in the
meantime, and SO far, New Zealand
stands not for Socialism, properly so
called, but merely for an advanced
democracy.