POLITICAL ADDRESS AT STRATFORD

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 195, 13 May 1924, Page 8

POLITICAL ADDRESS AT STRATFORD

0 SIBERAL PABTY AND RAILWAY STRIKE. By Telegraph—Association. Stratford, May 12. Mr. R. Masters, M.P. for Stratford, and a member of the LiberalLabour executive, addressed a good audience in the Town Hall to-night, generally criticising the Massey Government’s administration, and finance. Dealing especially with Ti7c railways and the . recent strike, Mr. Masters said that the Liberal party was opposed to strike methods, and would not tolerate direction action. They stood by their own legislation, and the only proper procedure was for employer and employee to have their differences settled in a constitutional manner by the Arbitration Court and Conciliation Council. Where Mr. Seddon stood in 1894 with regard to strikers, the Liberal party stood in 1924. Unfortunately, both the Labour party and the Reform partv had taken. advantage of the late strike for political purposes, and the real issue from the outsat was obscured, while the claims and counter-claims were clouded by. political propaganda. The railway’ employees became merely a pawn in the game New Zealand was not going to be dictated to by such irresponsible leaders as had organised the strike in various parts. , ■ Mr. Masters predicted that the time was not far-distant y hen tho A.S.R.S. would cut adrift from the Alliance of Labour. The men’s representatives at the conference had not shown mature judgment, and had acted in a hasty manner without the serious thought that was d"e to the . men thev ronrnsented and the public .of New Zealand. No self-respecting man could have acted otherwise than the Minister of Railways had doile in rejecting the ultimatum given. Discussing the points at issue, the speaker contended that every man was justly entitled to a wage that would enable him to keen his family in comfort and to provide his children with a good education, and would make him something more than a chattel for the employer. In 1921, Mr. Masters pointed out, the same general manager and the same Government granted the second division a 44-hour week. It was now found, when the net earnings of the railways were higher than they were when the reduction' in hours was granted, that the Minister reversed his former decision and demanded that the men work 48 hours. The Minister had made a statement that if the men went back to 48 hours he did not propose to dispense with the services of any of them. It was therefore proposed to work four hours a week more, not to do any more work, and they would bo paid £168,146 per annum for having their work spread over a longer period. The speaker generally condemned the railway administration, and sj'd that the Liberal narty represented neither. extreme of public or poljticfil opinion. It stood, for settling all industrial trouble in regard to wages by arbitration and conciliation and tho conduct of railways by proper business methods without waste and extravagance. . Soldier settlement was severely criticised, it being stated that oji the fifteen-thousand acre settlofflent of . Whangamomona not a soldier remained.

A motion, approving . the Liberal partv’s policy, of appointing a permanent hoarrl in connection with railway administration was carried unanimously, and also a vote of thanks and confidence in Mr. .Masters as tho district’s representative.