REFORM'S OLD GOAT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 242, 13 October 1925, Page 8

REFORM'S OLD GOAT.

THIRTY-FOUR YEARS OLD.

SITLL CALLED COMMUNISM.

MR. WAY FACETIOUS,

" I offer no apology for standing here as the selected Labour candidate to endeavour to restore to a democracy the voting power of Parnell," said Mr. R. F. Way, Labour candidate for Parnell, addressing electors in St. Mary's Hall last evening. He was introduced by the chairman (Mr. J. Philpot) as a veteran of the Labour movement in Auckland, and one who was some years ago the Labour candidate for City East against the Hon. Arthur Myers.

" I am not afraid of all the aristo-. crats of Remuera or Parnell," continued the candidate, " if only the workers of Parnell will stand by democracy and their home life. (Applause.)

He then entertained his audience by the spectacle of Re.form's " old goat." " This goat is 34 years old," he said. "On each occasion when the Labour candidates come forward to attack the party that has enriched the big financial interests and the squatters, Reform trots out this old goat. Last election it was labelled Bolshevism; now it is labelled Communism and Socialism. But in spite of the old Communism, which was hurled at Seddon 34 years ago, history is repeating itself." Initiating Legislation. Mr. Way then urged the people to repose their confidence in the Labour party, and not be dismayed by the old goat that had been resurrected after 34 years.

" The Labour party is the only party that has pronounced its policy broadcast, and is not afraid of criticism," he remarked. " You should have the right to recall your representative in Parliament, and that is a right you should never part with, and you should also have the power to say what laws you approve and what you do not. Further still, you should have the power by referendum of initiating legislation."

Criticising the extravagance of the present system of government, he said that the Legislative Council of 42 members cost the country £14,700 a year. That was £14 a minute, reckoning that Council's sittings as covering five months. And the members averaged 70 years of age. " The institution has become a burlesque of politicians for ages," he said, " and is constituted of derelicts."

Proceding, Mr. Way emphasised the seriousness of the housing problem. House-building in such a case should be a foremost activity of the Government. If houses could be built at Hamilton on State Socialist lines, and let to workers at one day's pay for a week's rent, why could that not be done at Paraell and other places? Won't Lose the Spots. "If the Reform party is, after this election, drowned in the seas of neglect," he continued in humorous vein, it will be impossible to blot out the spots they have left on this country," and he reminded his audience of the anology of the dead leopard. "It did not lose its spots by floating in the tide/ was his remark.

Mr. Way attributed the housing problem to the high cost of building materials, and mentioned that bricks, which could be bought for £2 12/6 in Australia, cost over £6 in New Zealand. Timber and cement were other instances of the game kind. "Ladies and gentlemen, he urged, "if we are going to have this thing remedied, then we have got to go and do it ourselves."

As a result of overcrowding 55,000 children were suffering from-physical defects, mostly curable; yet, to-day there was no medical fraternity that would attend to the children and to sick people free of charge. And, meanwhile, there were State experts to look after our stock of all kinds; but none to attend to women who would be the mothers of our future citizens in the streets of Parnell.

Other points of the Reform party that the candidate criticised were workers' compensation and old age pensions. Every industry, he considered, should provide a man with full wages while ill and pay the expenses of making him well again; the stigma of charity that was attached to our old age pension system should be definitely ended, and elderly people who preferred some kind of easy and useful work to continuous idleness should be provided with an opportunity, and the payments to those would could not work might then be increased. Ten shillings, and not half a crown, should be given to pensioners to enable them to live under the present conditions. Land Policy Defenaea. Mr. Way stressed the soundness of Labours land policy. It was to free the farmer from the mortgagee clutch that was at present on the land. "Our very policy was made at the hearthside," he said. "We are not here to take the homes of the people or to seize the farmers' land and push them off it. Why, if we did that, the very next minute we would have to give them back again."

Xo less an important measure was th e State bank, to prevent the "rake-off" between the rate of interest paid to the depositor and that charged to the borrower from our banks. The machinery was ready; all that wa s necessary was to convert the postal banks of the country into banks of issue and 20 ahead. °

A heavy burden of interest rested on the people, and the charge upon a family of five -was £100 a year. "That money is taken from you "even before you get the results of your labours," he said. And then there was the National Debt. "We have got to do something with it," Mr. Way remarkedand he concluded his address by urging a radical alteration in our condition of society. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are where we stood in New Zealand just before the dawn of Seddon; the landlord class is taking from us more than half a week's wases. And we are in the midst of a shipping strike. In advocating your votes to return mc to Parliament I say emphatically I do sympathise with the seamen. (Hear, hear). It is a disgrace that the shipping companies, which made larger profits last year than they did the year before, refuse to do anything to meet this state* of affairs. (Hear, hear). Our New Zealand seamen, thanks to the enterprise of their own union, are getting wages that are princely compared to the rewards of British" seamen."

"I stand for the home life first, the home life second, the home life every time," concluded Mr. Way.

The meeting passed a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence to the candidate, and gave three cheers for Labour.