MR. HOLLAND'S MEETING

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 45, 21 February 1918, Page 3

MR. HOLLAND'S MEETING

The Kelburn Kiosk was crowded last night when Mr. H. E. Holland (LabourSocialist candidate for Wellington North) delivered another address, dealing principally with finance and iand questions. Jlr. P. Fraser occupied the chair. Mr. Holland first referred to a charge he had made against the Defence Department at a previous meeting of deducting from :i soldier's pay the cost of his maintenance in a mental hospital, and siiid that this had been denied by the Minister. Enquiries were now being made, and tho replies would be made public when they came to hand. In his preliminary remarks on "the fiscal fallacies of the Government," the speaker said that the Minister of Finance had so framed financial proposals as to place the burden of the war on the shoulders of the working class, i.e., all who wero> rendering useful social service, whereas an efficient and statesmanlike Government would have arranged its finances in sui'Vi a way that tho whole coat of the war would be paid out of revenue. He sharply criticised the Government* failure fco tfts war profits, and stated that

the way had been made clear for profiteers to 1 avoid income taxation by investing in war bonds. A. large part of New Zealand land was being turned over by .speculators, and their enormous profits must be made up by the producing class—the workers, to whom, the Labour Party held, cominunit.y-crea.ted values rightly belonged. The high prices paid for land for returned soldiers, the fact that most of it was "scrag," and tho slump in land values that must come, made the soldiers' chances of success very slight. It was ridiculous to place a mere handful of returned men on the land, for employment should be found for every man who came back, and more, for every man in tho country who was willing to work; there should be no unemployment in New Zealand.

In conclusion, Mr. Holland said that he was fighting fairly. Mr. Luke, he knew was fighting fairly, too, but he reEjrotted that those behind him were not, because their case was bad, whereas Labour principles were based on equitable, intellectual, and economic grounds. The speaker answered several questions, and a vote of thanks and confidence was carried, there being two dissentient voices. ;