A LABOUR RALLY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 136, 26 February 1918, Page 8

A LABOUR RALLY

MR,' HOLLAND AT THE TOWN . HALL. The Labour-Socialist candidate, Mr. H. E. Holland, was the chief speaker at a "Labour rally" held in the Town Hall last night. Mr. W. Maddison was in tho chair, and members of the Labour Party from various parts of New Zealand were on the platform. The hall was filled in all parts before tho hour announced for the opening of the meeting. The chairman, in opening tho proceedings, produced telegrams and letters of support from many Labour organisations and individuals. He said that written questions could be handed in and would be replied to by Mr. Holland on the following evening. The chairman accused Mr. Massey and Tip; Dominion of "mud-slinging," . and said the issue was not the winning of the war._ "The last man will undoubtedly go," said Mr. Madtlison, "but we have not yet begun to send the last shilling. Mr. Holland does not come before you as Mr. Holland. He comes before you as the reresentative of the Wellington. Labour Representation Committee, with the clear backing of the whole Labour Party throughout New Zealand. Mr. Holland does not make thu policy of the party. The policy of tho party is made by the party itself. The party controls and Mr. Holland serves, so that when lie cets into Parliament he will not make the policy of the party there. His personal views do not count in the slightest in this contest."

Mr. Holland: I helped to make the platform. Mr. Maddison: He reminds me that lie helped to make the platform, and that, is so. Wo all did that. It will bo his duty to carry out that platform. Mr. J. Thorn denounced war profiteers and accusal t.lio Government of public interest. Mr. B. Ross (Palmorston North) said the eyes oF Labour were on the Wellington North electorate. Mr. Polson -was not an Independent candidate; he was merely a henchman of Dr. Thackor. Voices: Cut that out. Mr. W. K. Parry (Auckland) denied that the Government candidate had any fixc< 1 , or sound policy. The people were tired of the "despotic tyranny'' of the National Government and wished for a change. They should not bo led away by the newspaper

articles, winch were "tile essence ol dirt." '".Ihe statement that the destiny _of the Allied cuuso hangs en ihe election ol this nttio Mayor 10 l'arlialneiit is a joke," said Air. Ross.

ilr. J. lieid, president of the Wellington Irades and Labour Umucii, .sam that all right-thinking Democrats condemned tho Nutioual Government for its iailure to hold the general election at the proper date. Mr. K J. Howard (Christeliurcb), president ot the United federation oi Labour, said that never in the history ot New Zealand had Labour been as united as it was to-day. The workers looked to Wellington North with a ray of hope in their hearts. He did not believe "Kaiser Bill" was watching for tho result of tlm by-election. Mr. P. C. Webb, M.P., who was received with cheers, said he congratulated Mr. Holland on "earning and deserving tho hostility of the capitalistic Press." It was in spite of the Press that democracy had won out in Australia by- voting "No" on the conscription issue. He claimed for the Labour members in Parliament the credit for having secured increases in soldiers' pensions and allowances. No power could deny Labour victory at tho poll if the workers were solid.

Mr. T. Brindle said the Government had helped vested interests to rob the people. "Human vultures" had "dipped their hands in the public pocket to tho tunc of almost £50,000,000." The people had not had any say m the dispatch of troops to the war. Men and women who had regard for the future of the country must decide to help themselves'to avoid the dangers of "military despotism and grinding capitalism."

Mr. F. Cook (Christchurch) said he represented people who had to support the dependants of men who had "gone to the trenches to fight the battles of the profiteers." Tho National Government was an autocracy, but the Civil Servants and the workers were going to elect Mr. Holland.

Mr. Holland, who was given an enthusiastic reception, said that Labour had come into tho fight with an unanswerable case, with an indictment which the National Government could not meet. Ho had fought a clean fight, but his opponents had not been able to do the same. The Prime Minister had "dragged politics in the slime of the gutter," but he had not replied to Labour's charges on many subjects, including venereal disease. If the future of the Dominion was being threatened by a horrible plague the people ought to be told the truth. Tho National Government had gone down in. the Southern Maori election, and that result was a guide to public opinion. The Government was reaching out a long military arm for the boys of twenty. It was threatening to "drag the married men to the trenches," and it was proposing to conscript the Maoris, a dying race that ought to he protected. Tho Kaiser was not watching the result ,of the Wellington North election. The issue of the war did not depend on Thursday's vote, and Mr. Massey was "dealing out flapdoodle" when he suggested that the defeat of Mr. Luke would be an encouragement to the enemy. Mr. Holland spoke of war profits, and charged the Government with extravagance. Ministers had paid £12 for the hire of a horse for 30 days, when the value of the horse was £9 10s., and they had paid tho TJ.S.S. Company £2,500,000 for the hire of some ships when the company's whole fleet was worth £1,000,000. There was waste of money in connection with CI Camp. During three months 470 men had been turned out of that camp as unfit. Those men had cost the country £8600, and the result was the discovery that they were unfit. Mr. Holland proceeded to say that he could not rightly bo called both a pacifist and a revolutionary Socialist. A pacifist objected to taking life at any time. He did not accept the German-doctored news that was coming from Russia. The Bolsheviki in any case had never been pacifists. They had always stated their readiness to fight in certain circumstances ; yet some of his critics had palled him a Bolshevik. Referring to the conscientious objectors, Mr. Holland traversed the official statement concerning the fourteen men sent abroad compulsbrily. The Minister had not denied that the men were, forcibly dressed in uniform and that they were taken ashore at England in irons. It was not true that one of the objectors, Garth Ballantyne, had appealed before a military service board and had been represented by a lawyer. The man's employer had appealed, but Ballantyne himself had stayed away. It was .stated now that twelve of the fourteen men had accepted service, but the Minister did not tell how their resistance had been broken down. There was no credit to the Government in forcing objectors into the firing line. In conclusion Mr. Holland urged the electors to remember that the Government had "denuded New Zealand of fit single men" and was now proposing to send away the married men. The by-elec-tiori was holding the attention of the whole country, for it was a fight between autocracy and democracy. The opponents of Labour and the capitalistic P«fcs were not concerned about winnin* the war. They were concerned about retaining the war profits and preventing the rise of Labour. His task in Parliament would be to drive a discredited Government to the country and give the workers tlieir chance to win a great and momentous political

victory. . The meeting closed with cheers for the Labour candidate.