THE LABOUR PARTY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10350, 14 March 1925, Page 7

THE LABOUR PARTY.

(OPENING OF CAMPAIGN.

ADDRESS BY MR E. ;J. HOWARD

The Labour Party opened its campaign lin ithe Ashburton. electorate last evening, when Mr E. J. Howard, M P Christchurch South, addressed an open-air meeting at the Somerset Comer. There was a fair attendance. Mr Howard said he knew how many liberal -supporters there were, m. Ashburton, so he was aware he was. treadino- on soft corns in this town when he"«poke against them. All the- same, he maintained there was no difference between the Liberal Party and the Labour Party. At the same time the Liberal Party was serving the same uselessness in the House of Parliament as the appendix was serving in, tlie human -body. Therefore it should be cut out In what lux said about tie Liberals ho did not forget what the old Liberals had done for the country. Then, '.they did some good; now they were ttbt required. The speaker dealt with what he characterised as the farce of' some of the Parliamentary pro-. Regarding voting, Mr Howard said the Liberal vote was the vote that! saved iSas IReform iiParty itime jitter time. He considered the Prime Minis-. ter was merely holding on to his office to beat Mr Seddon's record of and as soon as he had achieved that,,' there would 'be a re-shuffling of offices, in the Ministry. He maintained that, with all their high legislation the rich, were getting richer and the poor were* getting poorer. Insurance was touched, upon by the speaker, who claimed that; the companies were "running the; Government.''' . , He hoped the audience did not mind the word for his party were Socialists, asking for the rights of the people. They were coming into power m this country, but some would ask: What had the British Labour Party done ? They had to consider the conditions under which that party had gone into power. When they came back at the succeeding election ifltey had over a million more rotes, Wwever, while the Liberals were those who went out. This was what was going to happen in New Zealand. The speaker reviewed the progress of the Labour Party in the Dominion since its first member was elected in 1906, and said that in the next election they would be returned to Parliament, if not in such numbers as to secure power, sufficient to be in the right position, on the opposite side of the House. In conclusion, the speaker referred to labour conditions and the cost of living, as set out by the Arbitration Court, which, he said, followed the rise or fall of all the necessary commodities in a home of a man, his wife, and two children, and then set: out 'the actual cost of keeping them alive as the man's rate of pay. There were no questions asked, and a vote of thanks was passed to Mr Howard for his address.