The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1928. LABOUR’S NEW HUMILITY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 20 July 1928, Page 6

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1928. LABOUR’S NEW HUMILITY.

Delivered every evening by 6 o'olook In Hawera. Manaie.. Kormanby, Okaiawa Eltharn. Mangatoki, Kaponga. Alton, Hurley ville Patea. Waverlev, Ho. oia, Wdakamara. Ohangai, Meremere. Frasei Road, and Ararata.

Before tire .present jwasi'om: of Parianment .opened, members of tiro Lnihour Party i toured tire counltry making speeches -by which they sought ,to eon* vLnteo the elections that the .present Goveiimmeint had outlived its usefulness and it'haJt the only hope for the future of. this Domini on- lay in th;o return: to power of the Lab our Party. The principal argument employed by (these speakers wais the Goveram-enlt \s- “failure to And a solution of the unemployment problem-. ’ ’ Because it -eannot 'devise out-of-haird a remiedy for ai state of affairs common to almost every 'civilised country in the world at the present .time, itho Labour Party would .have the electors believe that it he Reform Party is 1 ‘ bankrupt of ideals, ’ ’ implying at the saline time that if the Labour Party were 'given the reins of office, it would simply bubble with ideas and the spectre of unemployment would disappear from the lam'd. Unfortunately for the prospects of Labour at the General Election', the public has not been overoaiger to -accept the high testimonial Labour lias given -itself in the same breath a's it has condemned the Go vernment, but, like the man from Missouri, has “.wonted .to be shown.” Evidently Labour dis 'coining a little (nearer to understanding the people of New Zealand, for it has realised that the unemployment question is ,n-ott going to provide it with really effective ammunition for firing at the Giovornmenit at eliectf.ion-iti.me unless Labour itself can paint, to any eianistinreituivio -contTiibultiou of its own- to .the unemployment discussions. Thus it is wo have Mr Peter Fraser, Labour member for Wellington Central, introducing to the House an Unemployment linlsuramieo Bill.'' The humility with w-hivli Mr Fraser submitted this measure for the consideration of members was amusing, consdidered in can junction with the speec h els made by members -of his parity -outside the House. Ho explained that’though it was intradiuiccd as a private memberV? Bill, -it was based on a priinieiplo “ardently desired! by the Labour Party throughout the Dominion”; this 'statement, removes any suspicion-, which a. perusal of the terms Of the Bill might engender, that the measure is the child of the brain of siom-e dreamer lately arrived from. Russia.. Mr Eraser was also good enough to state that he ‘ ‘wished- to be perfectly frank ’ ’ and “admit that even if n; Txubour Government were in power now it would not be able ENTIRELY to escape ibh-o problem; of unemployment! ” It is to be hoped that the Reform Party will be appropriately grateful for this generous admission, coming ois it does on the eve of the General Election. But Mir Eraser’s mew-found humility went -even deeper than this. He said, that the Labour Party had asked the Government for an organised -scheme-, but had

aiskdcl in vain; he did inot 'Claim anything more for his scheme, than Ithait it 'was worth n (trial-—short of its trial he “despaired of anything being ii'ccJonipdishod”; he did not expect his Bill to pass, but he did 1 hope that als a result of the idiisloussdlon the Goveiuimient “would bo bo impressed that it would this session bring dlown fu Bill which would! deiall effici'ently wiith the problem.’’ Am import interne© iamd a. 'compliment is offered Itihe Government in itiho last sentence, Mr Eraser presuming to •iimply that the Government cannot be awakened to the seriousness of the position without the assistance of Labour rhetoric, and, at the same time, allowing ■the public to 'see that he, (feels that the Govcmimont Painty can 'produce a. is’chemc more worthy of cOnisiidenartioin tha.n that, which he liimselif htalf-hoortedily puts forward'. It is evident that Labour has •found already it is one thing to propound beaaitifuil theories - relating to .methods of government and quite another to apply those theories ,in practice. Wo shall take another opportunity of dealing in 'detail with the proposals of Mir Fra'ser’s Bill; in the meantime We think the country can congratulate itself upon its good fortune in having revealed to it the ''worthlessness of Labour’w airy idealism without having first paid dearly for the knowledge by a term under Laibonr-in-offi.ee.