"INCOMPETENTS"

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 83, 9 April 1928, Page 10

"INCOMPETENTS"

♦ GOVERNMENT CHARGED LABOUR PRESIDENT'S VIEW The greater part of the speech delivered by the president of the Labour Party (Mr. B. Semplc) at the commencement of the annual confe.renco of the party to-day was devoted to criticism of tho present Government's actions and inactions since tho last General Election. Mr. Scmplo declared that in the 1925 election a Press campaign of falsehood and slander was heaped upon the New Zealand Labour Party, and it was entirely due to the combination of the wealthy institutions of the country that the Coatcs Government succeeded at the polls. "They are now in their third year of office," he said, "and their brief political career has been a disappointment to their greatest supporters. Their leader has miserably failed to live up to tho rcputationi credited him by tho Press during the 1925 campaign. They have offered no national constructive policy of any kind, and their lack of administrative capacity has beeu transparent. They have muddled everything they have attempted to touch, and have no signs of statesmanship or courage. They .have never attempted to tackle one of the many problems that demand attention and solution in the interest of the nation. In short, the Coates Government will, I feel sure, be classed by the future historian as the greatest gang of political incompetents who ever occupied the Treasury Benches of this Dominion." UNEMPLOYMENT. Continuing, the speaker declared that the Government was to a large extent responsible for the thousands of unemployed. He.referred to the immigration foliey, which he said-had assisted i: creating a permanent army of unemployed, and to the reduced rates of pay on relief works, which he said had lowered the standard of living of those concerned to semi-starvation. If the Government was governed by statesmen with a policy and witli vision, with knowledge of the things that had to be done and how to do them, he submitted that there would be no need for one man who was willing to work to be out of employment in New Zealand. The greatest tragedy of all was that while men and women were unable to find work not a single effort was being made by tho Government to develop our secondary, industries in order, to create avenues of employment for them. Within the last five years over 13,000 people had been driven off the land through inflated laud values and high interest charges. That in itself, he said, was conclusive proof that tho Government had failed miserably to settle people on tho land. To the contrary, they had driven people rift' the land into tho cities, there to compete for employment with the already unemployed. One of the.Government's first actions was to increase the rate of interest on all State advances. This meant higher rents, and iit the same timo they had removed the safeguard of the Rent Restriction Act, giving the unscrupulous landlord power to increase his rents. PREPARING TOR WAR. Mr. Semple went on to refer to education. One of the first problems that should attract the attention of thinking people, he said, was the overcrowding of the schools and unemployment amongst teachers. They were, told there was no money for more schools and other improvements,'but the same Government could pledge the country to £1,000,000 towards tho Singapore- Base, thus assisting in creating a military machine that could serve no other purpost1 thun to croute racial antagonism and assist in promoting future wars! Wt; had wasted £8,000,000 in our junior conscription policy in New Zealand since the inception of the Act. In the light of modern military warfare, with devices to demolish wholo cities in a few hours, our method of juvenile conscription was as ridiculous as it was unjust, and even from a military point of view it was farcical. New Zealand and Australia wero the only selfgoverning parts of the Empire where peace-time conscription of boys was enforced, and tj^e sooner New Zealand riddod herself of such a costly, futile, and unjust law the better. It was said that tho only way to bring about peace was to prepare for war. He pointed to the huge expenditure in Europe in preparation for the next world war, and declared that llio only policy that would save modern civilisation was international disarmament, which could only bo brought about by the advocacy of peace in every nation in tho world.