THE REAL BATTLE OF LABOUR.

Grey River Argus, 28 April 1910, Page 1

THE REAL BATTLE OF LABOUR.

Mr R. F. Way^otureSa at the Ai- ( hambra Theatre, Dunedin, on "The Real Battle of Labour." * Despite tne bleaE night, there was a large attendance, and the lecturei was accorded a hearty reception. Mr W. O. Patterson occupied the enair. The lecturer,, who illustrated his hour's discourse with humorous parallel, stated that for nine years he had fotight the battles of Labour an the Arbitration Court and on, the .platform, and during the whole of that period he had ever placed before the working class the hopeless impossibility of attaining a betterment their' "condition© by useless and tasteless palliatives. Indeed, at the present time they were face to face with this position. In effect, the' judge of the Arbitration Court had stated: "I have now given awards in nearly eyery industry in the colony, and I will not alter those awards unless the unions can show me some difference in conditions to justify such a course." They had repeatedly been tdld that the court ha<? nothing to do with rents and the cost of living, and the court had definitely asserted in fact, "thus far, no further." They certainly had a Wor&ers' Compensation Oburt, which -^ gave a carter £1 2k "per week if his ribs were broken twhile in jemployttneaxt. They also had hospitals in Auckland which charged iiim £1 15s a week to 4 paicb his ribs up so that he had 13s of a debit balance to keep his wifei on, and landlords would not accept a debit balance for rent. He sketched jit? results of years of Liberalism^, alncl

contended that in spite of all the alleged reforms human life in New Zealand to-day was not of as much value as the animal's. "We have in Auckland," said the lecturer, "aJ quarantine station Motu Hi. If a poodle were imported to the colony it was quarantined there under the supervision of a man paid by the workers' money. It would be a shame if this poodle brought in some disease which would poison the lay dogs of I the rich." We had State- paid experts I to attend to the cow, the horse, the I apple! crop, and the pigs ; but in spite of all our Pharisaical humbug about our humanity a woman of the working 1 class could give birth to a child in the back streets of our cities and we had no 1 State experts to save the 'ife 1 of the woman and heirbairnies. — (Ap--1 plause). The cow was a splendid national asset. They were almost wheei*ng the babies in perambulators with a bucket to extract this wealth from the cow; but he demanded that human mothers and human babeß or the Working) .class— the producers) of all wealth— should at least be treated with as much kindly solicitude as the eterna!'. oor'c * r ' He , Ported out how* the capitalistic system had produced poverty, unemployment, degradation, and starvation in every country in the world; and the same capitalistic system would inevitably produce the same results here, it had already done so. The only hope of the workers lay in the sweeping away of the present system and the institution of a scientific system founded on justice, reason, and truth— the Socialistic system. "Rise up from your knees.. You have grovelled long enough at the feet pf your masters whom you have feed. Stand up on your feet as men and women, and l march onward with intelligence and determination to the attainment of the goal of freedom, liberty, and the highest possible civilisation. You 'produce the wealth of New Zealand. Go and geti it for yourselves, that is your battle. Fight it like men, unblinded with prejudice and hate, but determined to sweep from New Zealand once and for ever a system that has made you slaves, that will enslave your children and their children after them.