SOCIAL EVILS.

Evening Star, Issue 20029, 21 November 1928, Page 3

SOCIAL EVILS.

10 TAB EDITOK, Sir,—ln Monday’s issue of your paper appears a report of some remarks made by ono of the unemployed in Auckland: “To Hell with soup kitchens! I want work, and want it quick.” Then follows the comment of the Rev, Jasper Caldcr, saying “ho could quite understand a man expressing himself thus. Furthermore, he says he did not think it was the persons’ place to meddle m politics; all they had to do was to point out what was wrong, and then it was up to the politicians to provide the remedy. He then goes on to say the politicians had a wonderful chance of getting together, throwing overboard party politics, and combining to make New Zealand the grandest and happiest little country in the world. Thetirac had come, he said, for a true coalition — Government combining not only Reform and United Parties, hut Labour as well. Then he draws a very realistic picture of conditions as they obtain as regards unemployment and the awful conditions that follow in its wake — hunger, destitution, slums, and the hovels some of these people arc compelled to live iu as a result; and ho finishes by stating that ho hopes Mr Anderson’s seat will be lost, because he claimed that the deputation had only used this situation for party purposes. In the first place, let mo say right here I have the highest regard for men like the Rev. Jasper Calcler in the noble work of alleviating distress, etc.; but this, to my mind, does not get us out of the awful mess_ which the rev. gentleman so ably depicts. Ho only deals with effects as he sees them, and says it is the parsons’ duty to point out what is wrong. Just so, meaning, I presume, the unjust and inhuman conditions these people have to suffer under, and it is the politicians who have to provide the remedy. Does the reverend gentleman believe that it is possible to combine all three parties in one, and set about providing the remedy? If he does, then lie is sadly lacking in the knowledge of the working of the parliamentary machine. The rov. gentleman speaks of three parties, whereas there are really only two; and in proof of this is the fact that there are only two lobbies to vote in in Parliament, the ayes'and the noes, and if you cannot conscientiously vote in one or the other you must leave and get out, thereby disfranchising vourself and the party you represent, unless you are au Independent. Then you are a freelance, and no earthly use to any party; and most Independents, before they have been in Parliament long, ally themselves with one or the other parties already there.

There are nnly two interests represented in any Parliament. The first is that of the owners and manipulators of all the things that are essential to the people’s welfare—food, clothing, and shelter, including luxuries—and all these things, broadly speaking, must come i'om the land. The other interests represented are those which come under the designation of the useful people, mainly the working class, whether by hand or brain, who produce all those essentials of life. This large army are also, for the most part, the non-owners or disinherited party, and it is from Jhis army that all the distress eman-

ates. Therefore, we say between these two forces of owners and disowned thero can he no coalition of interests, and the reverend gentleman is only heating the air when ho suggests such a thing. The present system of private ownership and competition in the means of life is the cause of all this destitution and misery, and the substitution of such a system by social ownership and cooperation is the only remedy. The only parly that is pledged to nut such a system into operation is _ the Labour Party; hut until tho majority of the people aim favourable this cannot ho done, so our work is to go on educating along thes lines till tho people can truly say the earth is the inheritance-'of the whole people, not, ns at present, just a handful, and tho produce also rightly belongs to tho whole of tho people. This, then, is the road wc must travel if a better condition is to obtain.—l am, etc., P. Neilson, November 21