HOUSEWIVES.

Evening Star, Issue 14788, 1 February 1912, Page 6

HOUSEWIVES.

PROFESSOR MTLLS AT SOUTH DUNF.DIX. Under the? auspices of the South Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Labor party. Professor Mil!.:, lectured on his unify proposals last night. Supporting the lecturer were Messrs Bedford. Arnold. Munro, M'Carthy, Ma-cManus, and Macphcrfon, ar.d aiKnjst the audience ucic the Hon. J. T. Paul, .Mr ,1. M'Ctilloeh. and members of the Representation Council. A full audience greeted the lecturer, and keen attention wis paid throughout, especially by the large proportion of women in record to the announcement that at last- they are being recognised .nnd appreciated. Professor Anils is desirous of forming a union of every group of workers not already in a union, and a federation of the, whole; and. paid he. the largest, t-jngle <rroup of workers in Xew Zealand are the housewives. "We want- those ho'.wewivfts, these women who pay the bnt<'her. the haker. and the grocer." he .said. " The man sells his labor, the woman buys the food, and once you can group the wonicn--nnce educate them up to the. meaning, the understanding, of trusts and combines: once show them how it is that food is dear ; once get them interested and working—and you will have the finest- union in the world. If food goes up in price the wome.i who have been let info tho secrets of the exploiters will demand the reason ; will find nut the men who are on her side—the eido of the home—and she will put them into power, fo that trusts and oonibiros will be swept away, so that one employer and onh' one, shall vxist, who will regulate prices and keep them down, ar.d givo her the chance to provide for her dear ones the substantial meal she is now t-io often unable to obtain. It g->os to a woman's heart to know her hard-working husband cannot get full value for hip labor, and f-o provide Ihe moans with which t/~- purchase necessaries It hurts her that her children grow tip stinted in rnir.\ tilings they need, and which she cannot, buy. 1/s net. she the one we want? is not it time the position wa~ altered, and by a union of tho housewives a change brought about? Surely. Give the women a chance, the home a chance. What is the right of the mothers? The means to purchase comforts in the way of food and clothing for their children at legitimate prices. (Jive/ me a. union of 1.000 woiiK'ti, ;in<l I will work wonders. And if you want to see a hard-working "man,"' do iiot look out on the farm for a farmer, but look om for the farmer's wife, the woman whose work is never done —irregular hours, irregular meals, irregular incomes, everything irregular. She is the. woman who needs help. Then give it. Join our union, and see to it that ere long the wives of New Zealand farmers will have a brighter outlook, and fair play. Give them what is their right. Every time tho employer, by means of the strike, pays a penny more to the worker he jwisses it on twe.lve.fold to the consumer. We must not surrender our right to strike, hut wo must remember wo cannot win everything with the strike. That's impossible,"

"A* a matter of fact." continued the lecturer, "I am opposed to the strike e-xeept in a last resort. You cannot start a public enterprise with the strike, and the public enterprise in every department of the industrial world ie what we are- after, as opposed to private monopoly for private profit-sharing." A hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer and those who supported him on the platform was carried. It is hoped to have a large attendance of women at the meeting to be held in the Trades Hall-on Friday afternoon.