THE POLITICAL LABOUR LEAGUE. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 3, 4 January 1908, Page 6

THE POLITICAL LABOUR LEAGUE. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — I cordially ondoise your remarks on tho folly of the Political Labour League as exhibited at their latest conference, and I would suggest that a conference of delegates representing the mental wagp-earncis of the country be comen^d to discuss the various labour proposals, and to draw up a labour programme in the interests of all classes of labour. It would be interesting to have (Side by side with the programme of tho Political Labour League th<> Legislative proposals of the mind labourers of tho colony — the wage-earn-eis v.ho h,i\e resd and thought. I belong to thin class myself, and if spaco permitted could state very substantial rpasons Eor rejecting, tho whole policy of the Political Labour League and tho Socialists. It ssems to me, as it does to political economists generally, that it is an utter impossibility to raise gflneral wages without doaling with rent, or the price paid for the use of natural opportunities, because any gene* ral rise in wages is immediately followed by a riao in rent, whu'h is in accordance with Ricardo's law of rent, accopted as true by the world's leading economists. The law of rent is that when_ any portion of the earth's surface wiU produce anything more than is sufficient to induce, capital and labour to operate upon it that overplus, whatever it may be, is appropriated by the owner of the^ground, and called "rent." _ Thus it is that labourers on land wnich produces most wealth, and consequently most rent, as in the heart of Wellington, get no more remunera-' tion than labourers in the back-blocks. The reward of labour everywhere is simply a bare living. Of necessity this will ever be the condition of the- landless labourers until rent — the creation of the whole community — is appropriated by taxation for tho benefit of all. This is the simple and only solution of what is called "die labour problem,'' as even some of the most distinguished landowners admit. I will put it to the Hon. Mr. Rigg and his Political Labour League whether highly educated men of keenest intellect, men who have read largely and thought, deeply would make such an admission" so greatly against their own financial interests if it were not true? If it is true, then the policy of labour is ■fco_ nationalise r-ent, and any other policy, so far as labour is concerned, is simply a delusion and a snare. This is a matter of the most vital importance to the workers of every country, and it ought to be discussed everywhere. I challenge Mr. Rigg, or any other labour leader in this country, to deny the statments of Henry George in regard to rent as it affects labour. I givo them a challenge to public debate on conditions to be mutually , arranged. If they will not accept this challenge, then I shall feel at liberty to charge them with deceiving; the landless workers of the Dominion — Yours, etc., E. T. E. Wellington. 31bt December, 1907.

The King Edward VII.. Lord Charles Beresforrt's flagship, has made what is believed to bo a world's record in coaling a battleship from a collier moored alongside. The Commander-in-Chief signalled his congratulations from the Surprise : "Captain Kelly, King JUdward VII., is to convey to the officers and chip's company my great nnmeuation of the splendid coaling made. Totil amount taken on board 950 tons, in 3hr 20min : average, 205 tons per hour." Somo financiers (says The Times Vienna correspondent) make figures more captivating than romance. Such a .financier is Dr. do Korytowski, the Polish official who presides over income and expenditure in the "kingdoms and lands represented in the Rcichsrath." It is said of him that ho can make penury attractive and deficit satisfactory. Recently when he presented to Parlt> n the estimates for 1908 and repoilcd ! i the closed accounts of 1906 a book surplus of more than £6,000,000 and a pos>iti\o surplus of somo £3,4-30,000, h\n artistic capabilities v. ere not tested to tho full. Yet he played to perfection the p.irt ot the rich man extolling economy and the good humoured meutQs