LABOR CAMPAIGN BEGINS

Evening Star, Issue 17155, 23 September 1919, Page 4

LABOR CAMPAIGN BEGINS

V ■-- ..THE "FOTIR SEATS." SLOGAN. ADDRESSES BY CITY CANDIDATES. Labor is to contest- all four Dunedin assis, and last night three of the official candidates delivered preliminarv Addresses in the Grand Picture House. Theso were lho Hon. .7. T. Paul, now descending from the. dignified suretv of tho Legislative Council to fight Dunedin South for • the nartvj -Air John A Brown. busme» mail* and Workers' Educational Association enthusiast, chosen to break a. kneo xor possesion of the Dunedin West seat; and Mi- J. W. Mimro. the- party's hope for the Dunedin. Control Mat. narrowly missed bv him last election. Air A Waiter, M.P., who will contest the constituency ho now . represents (Dunedin North), was icsabu: to leave hi.i mrliarnentory duties to take part in this preliminary drive, which attracted a. full house to the hall. The object of the meeting was not so much to hear the fall views cf the candidates as (in tio words of Mr Munro) to "set a crew for the shin-"—to get everybo*iv ranged "on si'ia' for the struggle. Air J. "D. Smith presided, and, speaking as organiser for th* Labor party, said it was hi? job to see that their four candidates won the seat?. Four «eats was their slogan, and they wanted 25 000 votes. H<- was oorinus-tic enough to believe that thev could pet this vote if they worked for* it. There would no doubt bo a good* deal of misrepresentation by interest*" parties, for Labor had always been the most maligned of all parties. They hoped, however, to convince the city electors by jjtraiiiht argument, and not by mud' dincjhi", "that the Labor candidates were tho candidate who fhonM bo Tetuxned if the country was to get the clean government •needed at this juncture, with vital problems facing them, which must be settled some way or another at once. Before calling on the candidates, Mr Smith outlined" tb.3 orcaiKsatrm by which they ■hoped to bring everybody to the polling booths. DUNEDIN WEST. Mr John A. "Brown, who was warmly received, stressed the necessity for^com-

' plete and thorough organisation, statmt *hat closer co-operation and underntandms on the paiii of the community vras necesearv in ordjr to success f nil v solve tht problems eonfrentirrg them. It had beer consistently stated by the National Go Temmcnt, "and afterwards emphasised iron platform, pulpit, and certain sections o: ' the Press, that New Zealand was r>«vei more prosperous than at the present iime. It v.\ie very difficult to this point of view, and the influenza epidemic had ■liver, the Be direct to the generality oj th:--. statement. A shocking state of affairs Lad b«n revealed by the discovery ol several families living in one house, iri Fact ieveral in one room, without, even the hare- necessaries of life. This revelation coupled to our crude method of dealing with the land and our methods of finance. was surely sufficient to demonstrate the

i-tces.-ity of concentration. _ better understanding, and big organisation to successfully itw with the. situation. In every «"lectt:rate in New' Zealand thero was a bi-j majority of workers, tiros? who were obliged" to go to work every day, and yet they 'were represented in PariiaroeD* by less than 12 men who und'c-rstood anything about industry. It mattered little whether ■fheir was in an office, warehovse, or factory. The whole community was affected, and every worker was elieifclo for membership of the New Zealand Labor party. They had been through, this organisation the oppcrt unity of discussing these problem?. Free discission would -undoubtedly lead to rii:ht reason, and right reason would bring the birth of democracy a,<d national ideals. It would be rioted thai whenever conditions affecting the general welfare of the community were allowed to go unchecked dissatisfaction became general, and as a consequence of this industrial unrest became everywhere apparent. Whenever it ap peared the usual palliatives were applied, and sow that the palliative had been exhausted the ingenuity of our Government I»ad adopted the old schemes of platitude and catch phrwes. The latest antidote. for all the iffis of society was the new catch phrase platitude written up by our oldest r.nd wisest legislat ots, that there must he abetter understanding between Capital and Labor. No one had exactly explained in what manner this better tmderstaiidiing could be brought about, br.t this idea, ■which was very seriously put forward as the only solution of economic evil, could be written down as a caAehphrase. This catch phrase made the general commtvnity assume that their interest* were being materially affected in some mysterious maimer. As a matter of fact, there was no dispute between Capital and Labor at all. Labor could not be separated from , ihumsß beings, and when the term was used workers were implied. Capital was the roams of production, and it was ridiculous to assume that the workers had a dispute with the necessary mean? of production. JTb.9 whole issue rested on the power of the capitalist, so the dispute, a genuine and deeply rooted one, wa-s between the capitalist and the workers of the community, and the only solution of the problem was that the coercive powers invested in the capitalists and capitalistic jrroups most be nullified Mr Brown instanced the Meat Trust of America as an exaraple - of this power, stating that a group of five firms in Chicago controlled the meat supplies of the world, and squeezed a profit of twenty million pounds per annum out of the bvrsmess. New Zealand must safeguard her people against such groups, which were growing up -within our rnidsb, and the tendency to sacrifice the interest of the community to th© interest of private greed could not- be overcome .by catch phrases. Another solution offered" for consideration as a certain care was that to enable our Dominion to meet out financial obligations increased production was necessary. No ono would dispute that fact, but increased production must be along those lines which would give relief to the community. To-dav it was .unprofitable to grow wheat in New Zealand because of the high price of land and the greater return from other products. It was simply ridiculous to ad■vocate increased production without stipulating that such increase must be in essential goods. It was not exactly a greater increase that was required, but a better method of distribution, as would be Been by comparing the enormous increase in "the production of butter and ■cheese- Although butter was produced in abundance, the>e vraj a big shortage for home consumption, proving the necessity for regulation, and undoubtedly the. whole matter of exporting foodstuffs would require to be seriously • faced in tfie best interest of the cormriuuity. This broucht •into view the fact that the real problem* actually confronting them for solution "vere those connected with monopolies (land and finance), international trading (exports and imports), and the financial systems. Solution and regulation along demo cnttic lines of these three factors was the only possible way to seek relief. The speaker held that the Labor party's platform contained three planks, to which every member was definitely pledged, which would give tao desired relief. The first and moat important plank was land reform. and before thoro could be any hope or relief the whole of oui land laws, which permitted 'and aggregation, speculation., and inflation, must be revised. The second plank -to which: the party were defhiitely committed was the institution of a State Bank, then the nationalisation of essential industries. These three planks, together with a State medical service, -were the platform's main planks for reform, which, would be dealt .-with fully and dearly by the candidates at future meetings. " Mr Brown concluded with a Iratcer appeal for generous support and SO-operatkm.

DUNSDIN CENTRAL.

Mr J. \V. 2vl anro, who was. given agreat reception, said he itli like saying " Hew M 9 axe again, boy;?." (A Voice : >; " You are going &o get there_ this time.") He lad Been told every time since the last election: " Ycu stand again and you are bound to go in." (A Voice: "You went in la3t.tim<?; You were swindled out of it.") He had always tried to impress •upon everybody that i-ha election was not las, bat theirs, and ha hoped that they

would keep that in mind this election. He appealed to them to vote and work sor the whole Labor ticket. He might tell them what was going .to happen during this olectfoxi. I"hey -were going to* have the Religious Question, the Liquor Question, Bolshevism, and every possible side issue brought in. Their opponents wanted Labor to fight amongst themselves, so that the Hon. Mr Massey could got back again. Had any of them during the war period Tead the annual roports or our different companies! If they had dono so thev would find that the reports road on these lines : " The chairman of directors has great pleasure in bringing down the annual report and in announcing that we are able to pay our half-yearly dividend of 6 per cent, 'and a bonus of 4 or 5 per cent, freo of wax tax." Ho asked them to note "ireeoif war tax." The. Hon. Mr M«s«eT, Sir James Allen, and bir : Joseph Ward .would say to them at the coming elections : "Look at the vast amount of money we are taking from these wealthy people. . Thoy were not taKmg ono penny piece from these wealthy men. They were taking it from the working man. "Try and realise that, friends, and when you do vou will rise up in one grand army." There was _no . mi ». ta y question, no religious question—-in tact, no question on God's earth thai Should, divide Labor- In the past Labor had not had full representation, in _ Parliament. Thev should own the machinery of government. He believed in a democratic government. The working people of tins country were at least 80 per cent, of those who worked for wage, salaries, jr stipend*. They should all belong to the Labor movement, and tnen they would have full representation in Parliament. The only thins, as lie had said before, was to organise" and put there members m the House. "I am going into Parliament this time, and I want. Messra Brown Paul, and Walker to go with me. (Loud applause.) ,He would be very sorry indeed to go* without them. This meeting had been called for the purpose oi gettin- a crew for tho Labor ship. That ship could not sail unless they got a crew. Never before had such an organisation been attempted as the one that had been initiated by the chairman in order to ngiu the coming elections, and if that organisation was" thoroughly equipped with an earnest and sincere crew there wu.no possible doubt about the remit. With organisation he was satisfied that the libor partv could not lose. There was onlv one party, and that was Labor. Ho

said aeain: Organise, and then there would be no doubt of their winning the four Dunedin seats. (Applause.) COOPERATION. NOT EXPLOITATION, The Hon. J. T. Paul said he had one ambition only, and that was to help the workers-the useful people-to come into their own during his lifetime. It had been said to him that very day_: You won't stand for Dunedm South now (meaning now Mr Sidey was standing), and his reply was that there was neither influence nor money to kesp him out ot Dunedin South. His hat was in the ring, and he would be in too, with Brown, and Walker, and Munro, if Labor came into line. Labor stood squarely for taking the power from the exploiter in commerce, on the land, and not least in the political field; and in proportion as Labor candidates were or were not returned would the "conditions cease, or be perpetuated, which had defrauded the workers of their rights. He gathered from things said that there were some who were more or less impressed bv Sir Joseph Ward's long manifesto. Undoubtedly there were good things in it, but those good things should be not unfamiliar to workers, for the Labor partv had been advocating them for many years when Sir Joseph Ward was not in favor of them—the State Bank was an illustration. It was adopted by the Liberal Leader only at this hour when the Labor partv had made it a popular measure. Mr Paul proceeded to rolate how the Government had. fooled the people over the Cost of Living, appointing a Board of Trade, but not giving them power until lately to take action, though their futility without such power had been pointed out four years ago. Ho touched also upon the destruction of food, stating that cool storage, which should be a blessing to mankind, was becoming, in the monopo--1 listic hands, a curse. At the beginning ot this year it was reported that lamb killed in 1917 was still in the Burnside Freezing Works. Food was held in cool storage until it was so damaged as to entail loss all round. He had heard of tons of potatoes held for a rise, until the bags would not hold them. His opinion was that there should be legislation that would make that sort of thing a penal offence, whether committed by producer or food speculator. The country 'had just had a few butterless days, and he noted that Ministers replying"'to questions had given the following diverse and incompatible explanations : One said that the shortage of butter was mainly due to the unusually dry weather in the late autumn; another that care would be taken that sufficient winter stocks were kept in the country in future. He had before him the statistical abstract, whioh showed that while for the 12 months ended July 31, 1918, 406,352cwt of butter was exported, 415,228cw't was exported for the 12 months ended July 31, 1919 —the year wnen the weather was so dry that the butter became scarce. (Laughter.) Then there was land speculation in so alarming a degree that only wholesale bankruptcies could follow upon it. We were sending soldiers | (helped by public money) on to land ; where it was not possible for them to make a success. The other day Sir Eobert Stout heard a case in the North Island in which the solicitor appearing for one party stated that there were farms with three, four, and live mortgages on them. This was the position the country had drifted into through a wretched, " beg-gar-your-neighbor" policy. The Labor party "stood .for a peaceful transition from the rampant individualism that led to such things to a reasonable policy of cooperation. He intended to deal in later addresses with the Labor .party's land policy, a few leading principles of which were that the. value created, by the community belonged to the communty, and not to the land speculator; that it was not apod for the community that land, the basis of wealth, should be made a medium for gambling; and that the State must have- absolute control over transfers of ! land to prevent aggregation. The Labor party stood inflexibly for certain principles, and the candidates were prepared either to translate those principles into action or to get out and let others do it. (Applause.) The meeting was very orderly and quiet save for one persistent front-bench intorjector—an old campaigner—who became a sore nuisance. After the chairman had promised personally to thrust him out, and Mr Paul had admitted that his ability to " suffer fools gladly " had been worsted by the man's persistence, and a lady had attempted unsuccessfully the persuasive method of pulling the interrupter back into his ohair by the coat-tails-, he was finally haled out by a couple of men. He ; returned presently, but was heard, no ! mora.

A 'number of questions were asked and answered. Mr Munro said there was hot likely to be any alliance between the Liberal and Labor parties—this in answer to questions prompted by his statement that he had no doubt Sir Joseph Ward would be glad to lead the Labor party. Mr Paul expressed himself against the proposal to hold a camp of four months' duration, and to another interrogator denied that tho choice of one of the candidates involved a breach of the constitution of the uabor Representation Committee.