THE WELLINGTON EAST SEAT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1177, 12 July 1911, Page 4

THE WELLINGTON EAST SEAT.

ADDRESS BY MR. D. M'LAREN, M.P,

THE LABOUR PAHTY'S PLATFORM

Mr. D. M'Lareii, M.P. for the Wellington East seat, addressed a gathering of about 200 electors at the Now Century Hall, Kent Terrace, last evening. -Mr. W. 11. Broderick-occupied the chair. The candidate was. considerably heckled, but on the whole had a good hearing.: Ho spoko for nearly two hours and a half. Mr. M'Lareii referred to his-visit-lo Australia, and. to most- parts of New Zealand to qualify himselt as much as possible for iiis office. Whuu ho entered the House he had mapped gut a definite lino of campaign; and he decided to study and observe things—but not. in the lobby or Bellamy's. At the same time hs had not adopted a dog-in-the-manger attitude in regard to fellow members. He had fulfilled his pledge to his party to support progressive legislation. (Hear, hear.) He had also stood to his pledge over the land policy—the leasehold—but neither Messrs. Wright nor Fisher had done so. He recalled his action in supporting Mr. Hogg in getting a reduction of the Hospital Estimates in protestation of tho hours worked by tho at-, tendarits at the Mental Hospital. lit-., cent newspaper correspondence had showu that the evil still existed and it was a shame and disgrace to the Government; and he would take the first opportunity to chastise the Government that was so inhuman and unliberal. Even'a vote of Parliament was not respected by the Executive. A Labour caucus' and a. Labour Prime Minister would not daro to go against tho will of tho representatives of the. people. Mr. Massey, when expressing himself in. favour of reducing the cost of living, had not pone into details, but-Mr. Massey had voted in the House against Mr. Hork s proposal to abolish the duty on flour. A voice: What about the farming industrv? Mr. M'Laren: I will take questions at the finish. His Stewardship. Mr. M'Laren proceeded to traverse his action in the House in regard to certain Bills. He continued that the Leader of the Opposition was taking the Labour party's policy when he proposed insurance against sickness, and the payment of old age pensions to women at the age of GO years. The critics of the Labour legislation rarely got down to details. Mr. Herdman, for instance, had said there was an excess of Labour legislation, and what was wanted was more individual self-reliance; but Mr. Herdman could not give them details of reform. Calculating the proportion of Labour laws with the. total on tho Statuto Book—fifteen—he said that consolidation and codificaion of. tho Labour '■ laws were necessary. Far too much attention had been given to tho Conciliation and Arbitration Act, to the disadvantage of other kindred matters. Against tbo cry that we had too much Labour law, ho said that separate clauses' in various Acts were classified as Labour laws, mid given as such in tho Government publications.

Labour Affairs. The Wages Boards of Victoria were advocated in certain quarters, but the work of Wages Boards was merely to fix wages. The Conciliation Councils were really Wages Boards, with.features more valuable than the Wages Boards. ■■• He did not think it 'was advisable -to- adopt-tho Victorian system here: (A voice: It's a. rotten one.) ■'At .'present in New Zealand there were too many sectional disputes. The way to reform was not by the small bodies of men abusing one another, but there should be. legislation to deal with the disputes on the basis of an industry as it applied to the whole Dominion,- or, at least, over a wide district.'.(Applause.) They must nor look , upon; the Conciliation' and Arbitration Act as a panacea for all evils. (Applause.) ■ Ho desired to point out. that the. amount of a. man's wages must be calculated in the light of what they would purchase, and the comforts they- would briiisr. And this brought ■him to the • foundation of "this , 'matter; which was really tho treatment of the land question. ' ■_•' ■'.

... ■■-. Tfto Land. It:. would pay.'those who, devoted- so nmclv time to the Arbitration Act to investigate the land and other great growing monopolies. He believed- that land gambling was going on under both the freehold and tho. leasehold system. Tho Teal issue was between productive/land settlement and speculative land holding. Of the 12S.01!) landholders in 1905. only 20.407 paid land tax, and.he gave, this in contradiction--of- the cry -that"the-, land was over taxed. •' The land for settlementproposals • ■ far dividing ■■■•••• up' the largo holdings had-, practically broken down because of the ■ excessive/ .values placed upon the. properties, a better system was required. The Labour party's proposal was compulsion by the imposition of still higher, taxation. He also dealt-with the.-Reform party.saying that considering- it had been- existing in opposition for-twenty years it ■ was time it was reformed. He asked his audience to keep its eye on the Reform party, because its professions had not always been its practices. He demanded that' there should be consultation with the people on all matters that' wero to be considered at Imperial Conferences. They should beware of the Imperialism that got up on stilts. His Platform. He gave his platform as follows:— s (1) Nationalisation of monopohos-(a) by competitive State factoriesj (b) by.tho establishment of ; the State., ferry' service between the two islands, and' nlso Mate collieries; (c) retention and' cultivation of arrears of land by tho ritate to protect food supplies. (2) Productive land settlement—(a) no further sale of Crown lands; (b) limitation of areas based on value; fc) the tenants' absolute right to improvements; (d) compulsory division of large estates by the application of increased land taxes; (e) the increment tax on land sales for recovering by the State of socially-creat-ed land values (f) renewable leasehold tenure with right of tho tenant to pay oIT t'he capital and proportionately reduce his rental, and dispose of lease only to the State; (g) resumption of Native and other lands for closer settlement on renewable lease. (3) Currency reform—(a) establishment of' Dominion' Bank, with sole right of note issue; (b) restriction and reduction of public borrowing. (4) Taxation reform—(a) increase of land tax; (b) 'graduated income tax, with a super-tax on unearned incomes. (5) Legislation Reform—(a) Abolition, of Legislative Council and the substitution of "a Grand Committee of Revision selected from tho House; (b) one vote one value by the abolition of the special privilege given to rural districts in the 23 per cent, country quota; (e) proportional representation "on single transferable vote; (d) extension of the powers of local bodies; (e) parliamentary franchise for local bodies elections; (0 initiative and'referendum on ths principle of ba.re majority decisions; (g) full political rights:to all State emP °i) Educational • Reform—(a) Election of education boards by direct vote, of the people; (b) maintenance of State educational system, free, secular and compulsory; (c) compulsory attendance at primary schools till 15 years of age; (d) provision of continuation classes over 15 years of age; (e) that books and stationery be printed by the State and supplied free by the Education Department. (7) Industrial Reform—(a) Establishment of right to work principal in legal enactment; (b) insurance against unemployment; (c) SI a!e encouragement of local industries; (d) maintenance improvement anil simplification of the Labour laws in a proper labour code; (e) amendment of Conciliation and Arbitration Act to'facilitate the making of Dominion agreements and awards, and the application of the common rule principle. (8) Social Reform—(a) Provision of old a"o pension, and invalidity pensions (b) establishment of Widows' and Orphans' State Benefit Fund; (c) special State aid in cases of maternity, particularly in back country districts. A vote of confidence was accorded the candidate, on tho motion of Jlr. James Douglas. __^______