LIBERAL AND LABOUR ORGANISATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 163, 12 July 1899, Page 2

LIBERAL AND LABOUR ORGANISATION.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I fully expected that someone wonld tnke up the cudgels on behalf of the \mfortnnate fln«eo thnt was made in the nttojnnt to solidify the Liberal party and Labour ns one political organisnttontlon, but "A Liberal FUnctor" has not been very loprirn! In Me utterances If his Idea was to justify the Initiation of a national organisation lnthft absence of Liberal or Labour organisations, and with only the National Single-tax League to assist, which we are gravely told by "A Liberal Elector" 1b not a political organisation. 1 do not understand so ranch of polities as "A Liberal Elector," but when I see that the poUcy of a league Is to abolish all taxation in favour of one tax—that of a single tax on land—l taUe it that It Is a political organisation with political ends in viewthat is, of altering the political incidence of taxation as now in vogue in the colony. If, however, we accept the dictum of "A Liberal Elector" that the Single-tax League is not a polltloal organisation, then why were they at a political meetln|>to establish a National Llbera.l and Labour organisation? Were, they there as Liberals or Labour Unionists? I may, of course, have been mistaken,/and. have taken the solid party in the body of the hall as being present in a private capacityi with a philanthropic idea and end in view of promoting unity In the Liberal and Labour ranks. If that is the case, they will no doubt be extremely sorry to realise that their philanthropic action for the "cause of humanity," which they are very fond of quoting, has led to a slight disunion that their best efforts will not tend to rectify. Anyone of common sense looking round the hall and seeing so few representatives of the parties that were to be "solidified" present could only come to one conclusion—that "solidification," however desirable, had not "caught on," and it la a pity that the matter was pushed on to the stage of formatlon, taking names of members, and forming a provisional committee. The names on that committee and the names given In as members will show that a very large number belonged to what "A Liberal Elector" calls a non-polltlcal organisation.

"A Liberal Elector" acknowledges that "Mr Edwards put himself In communication with the various local societies on the Liberal side, but at the meeting he got little or no encouragement from any one of them with the exception of the Single-tax League, which is nothing if not/Liberal." This Is just whore the trouble cornea In, "A Liberal Elector" exactly explains the situation, and. If the various local societies gave little or no encouragement t.o the Liberal and Labour Organiser he should have seen that the time was not opportune to try and force another association on the community, I should have been only toe glad to see that a solidified union had been brought about, and personally I do not despair that a modus Vivendi may yet be found to unite the various parties, irrespective of being called by some parti* cular or high-sounding same. It is possible that there may be "unity wltftont uniformity," and some of us mean to strive to bring that state of affairs about, With regard to my "dlsingenuousnesa"—a largo word for "A Liberal Elector" to us#~doeß he not know that it is a qualification of a liberal mind; and as far as I was personally concerned I was quite aware "what the meeting meant," but I was not so sure that It meant forming and solidifying a National Liberal and Labour organisation, and as soon as I looked around on the meeting I was satisfied that what was meant by the meeting was not the meaning that was carried out; hence my sorrow expressed at Mr Edwards being misled, not by the political organisations known as the Liberal and. Labour parties, but by a so-called non-political association known as the National Single-tax League.

It must not be forgotten that the formation of a National Liberal and Labour Federation meant the extinction of the Auckland Liberal and Labour Unions taat were political societies, and the meeting held In the Wesley Hall was certainly not numerous enough or representative enough to encourage the organisations Interested to perform the "hari-lsari," or "happy despatch," in favour of the new federation.— I am, etc., P, B. CHBAL.