LABOUR'S POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1922, Page 10

LABOUR'S POLICY

PRE-ELECTION ADDRESS

MR. H. E. HOLLAND AT THE

TOWN HALL

In the Town Hall last evening Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, gave his views on the political situation, on what he has previously termed "the eve of the most momentous election that New Zealand lias ever known." Mr. Holland gave it as his opinion, in May last, that if there was no strong opposition to the Reform Party a great offensive would be launched by that party against wages. This opinion he maintained, and last evening his main points were that there were only two parties worth' considering in the present House; that every plank in the Labour Party's platform was a step towards their objective—socialism ; that the party stood for nationalisation of coal mines and many other industries; that the capitalist should- not be eased at the expense of the wage earners and small farmers; and that the £66,000,000 due shortly on loans and other liabilities should be met from accumulated wealth, and not by borrowing. Mr. T. Brindle presided, and Mr. Holland was greeted with applause by some two thousand who were present.' He opened by pointing out that it was clear to everybody that there were to-day only two parties, the conservative and reactionary Reform Party and the progressive Labour Party. The Liberal Party was really not a party to-day, and everyone who voted for one of its members, for the Reform Party, or did not vote at all, voted against the Labour Party. The old Liberal Party did not now exist; its remnants were not capable of concerted action, and were making bargains with Reform. WHAT LABOUR STANDS FOR. In asserting that every plank in the Labour Party's platform was a step towards socialism, the speaker stated that it meant that labouring power, with hands / or brain, would ' measure a . man's value to society. Labour stood for the widest form of democracy. In conjunction with this he went on to expound the party's attitude towards proportional representation, which they supported with the object of ridding New Zealand of a minority Government. At the 1919 elections 206,461 votes were cast for Mr. Massey's party and 335.206 against it. If the parties were properly represented on the number of votes the Reform Party would have 29 'seats and Labour 18,' instead of as at present 9 against about 50. He again affirmed the intention of the Labour Party, if it secured power, of abolishing the Legislative Council, many members of which, he stated, had failed to go in the front door of Parliament because the people did not want them, and had then been placed by the Government in a position where they could veto the work of Parliament. They would rely on the intelligent method of giving the people the right to demand a. vote o.n important questions' if a petition of 10 per cent, of the electors was presented. Even though Labour polled over 127,000 votes in 1919, they did not have any representatives in the Council.

Labour stood for a State housing system, better and cheaper homes, and the elimination of private profits. At present Mr. Fraser was placing a Bill before Parliament on 'the matter, in view of the intention of the Government to abandon restrictions which must result in higher rents and more evictions. There was a shortage; of 9928 houses in the Dominion. THE FINANCIAL POSITION. After touching upon endowment to mothers, compulsory enrolment of voters, and educational matters, Mr. Holland referred to the financial position. He said Mr. Massey showed an accumulated surplus in March of £23,671,209, much of which was locked up in soldier settlement, which in the speaker's opinion would have to be reduced 50 per cent., as the valuations were too high. £7, 531,367 was included in the amount as cash. To-day Mr. Massey said they had no money to carry on with. He then started making rebates, and to cover these cut salaries. The attack was made on the Public Service, because Mr. Massey' knew tKey were the most inefficiently organised body in this country. Mr. Massey followed this attack by-the Amending Arbitration Bill, giving the Court power to tear up the old awards and make new ones as it liked. Labour considered thatl the proper way to get the money was b,y taxing the big estates i and large incomes. No legislation had I been brought forward to force down the high rate of interest, which was killing many of the small people and returned soldier settlers, or the cost of commodities. " Let me remind the Public servants and the public that you always\get what you vote for, and it is better :±o vote for what you want and not'"get it, than to vote for what you do not want to get it." '

On the matter of taxes, the speaker proceeded: " Mr.-. Massey's recent rebates -give the small man about £1, which is not much to pay off mortgages. The wealthy taxpayer benefits. The small man loses five times as much as he received, through the increased Customs. The bigger the tax the higher the percentage of rebate. If you have an incoriie of £10,000, you do not need anything back, at all; you could get along with what you had left." (Applause.)

If his party got into power, one of their first acts. would be to nationalise finance and credit, and to have a national bank". They stood for the State ownership of all insurance, and he instanced the success of the State Fire Office as an example of the profits that accrued, and which private offices were taking-to-day. In the matter of nationalisation he also mentioned coal mines; a shipping organisation to relieve the country_ v frpm the stranglehold by which the Union Company had taken millions from the country; and medical service. The right to work was one of their platforms. ,In a country like this, if there was unemployment, the Government was responsible and should make an unemployment allowance. Instead of making rebates, a housing scheme should have been undertaken with the money, and unemployment would then have been non-existent.

Concluding, he appealed to voters not to be influenced by any sectarian question,' the issue of which, he suggested, had been raised in the present Government. He was loudly applauded on sitting down after an address . lasting nearly two hours. The following motion, moved by Mr. J. Roberts, secretary of the Alliance of Labour, and seconded by Mr. Eeid, secretary of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council, was carried on a show of hands, without dissent:— <f That this meeting thanks Mr. H. E. Holland for his _ able and informative address, and desires to place on record its apprecia-*' tion of the work o? the New Zealand Labour Party, under his leadership, in opposing the reactionary legislation of the Massey Government in its naked class bias, its attacks on the living standard of the masses of the people, 1 its violation of the rights of the tradeunion movement, and its cynical disregard for the principles of democracy.

This meeting further affirms its conviction that the well-being of the great majority of the people of New Zealand can only be safeguarded by the dismissal of the Massey Government and the triumph of the Labour Party, and therefore pledges itself to give whole-hearted support to the Labour candidates in the Wellington constituencies."