THE NEW ZEALAND LABOR PARTY

Maoriland Worker, Volume 10, Issue 447, 1 October 1919, Page 5

THE NEW ZEALAND LABOR PARTY

IN THE HOUSE

By __J_£W_-n_ro.

The House; is working long hours, and indulging; in the ruinous habit of all-night 'sittirfes. This is an insane way of doing business, but it has precedent in its flavor, and precedent is one of the chains that the Briton dearly loves to hug to his bosom. Work done by artificial light and through the night is not good work: cannot be good work. Of course, the wovk of Parliament is mostly talk, cheap talk ai that. The art of speaking, the political oration of the past, which had at least the merit of being literature and rhetoric, is gone, and in place thereof we have the fustian of the ordinary, ill-educated, unintellectual member of Parliament. The standard of modern Parliament is low, so low, as a German philosopher said, that men of any attainments have to stoop in order to reach it. * * a «- One of the all-night sittings was taken up in dehaiiir.. ihe Government's proposals for compensating to some extent the returned soldiers. This, of course, was debated politically, as was to be expected, and the pure merino patriots who express disgust at this fact arc 100 unsophisticated for this world. There is no such thing as pure gratitude, or pure patriotism. In fact, the virtues of the race do not shine out in the atmosphere of Parliament, which is distinctly cloudy. The politician who will look at any proposal from the standpoint of right or wrong, is not likely I to be in a majority in the House. J Politics being a game, a man must play the.game as it is understood, or he stands no chance. The debate, as usual with political debates, revealed the fact that most members of the House see a subject, not as whole, hut in parts. * * * * Every member regards his vulgar fraction of the part as being greater ;han the whole. To see any question steadily and to sec it whole is a gift that is not possessed by members of Parliament. Bach of them represents . fraction of tbe country, and each of ihem focuses bis attention on a fraction of the subject, and the result is he crazy-quilted thing called a debate in the House. It is the British !vay of doing things; to talk around _tenj and about, to attach more importance to parts than to tho whole, ,nd finally to resort to the perfect system of counting heads! This is he triumph of Constitutionalism, on vhlch British liberties are built! To lueation the superstition that it is .erfect, but could be improved upon, s to be regarded as a blood-thirsty Jplshevik, eager to march through •apina to the disintegration of a soiiety founded on wag-e-slavery and he survival of the worst. « # 4. * The demand for compensation havng taken the unfortunate shape of a noney grant, nothing could keep the lebate on a high level. It was a duel )etween those who supported the Government's proposals and thene who tesired to give the soldier more gonerius treatment, to which he is entitled, ill*. Holland said the Government ihould have embodied its proposals in . Bill, so that it would have been

In and Out of Parliament

amenable to the usual methods of the House. Whether this would . have been a benefit is open to doubt. He pointed out that T.abor had championed the cause of the soldier, and that the Party would support the demand for 4/- a day, half of this to bo paid in cash, and half in war bonds bearing- 5 per cent, interest, and redeemable in five years. The Labor members held that the compensation should date from the time each man went into camp, and cease at his discharge, and not from the time of disembarkation or the singing of Peace. He made a point of the profits of monopoly, during the war, reckoned it total £200,000,000, and said ths country should be more than willing to make a fine gift to the soldiers. „ * -;•;- -7: Then why not make it in land. There is precedent for this. ' Land is the natural reward of those who fought for their land. Money has a way of shifting freely from hand to hand; land is not so liquid a form of property. The soldiers should demand free grants of land, an abiding and enduring stake in the country. If they do not, then they rate their servicer, at a very low -value. To got a beggarly dote of money, and have to pay the bloated price.-; that are being asked for land to-day is practically accepting a shilling in the pound for saving the country from bankruptcy. Cash in hand may seem something worth while, but it will be of little permanent value to the soldier, and will be taken as a receipt in full for all claims on the country. * * .:• •-• Solicitude for the soldier is a domij nating feature in the House at pre- | sent, but the thing can be overdone, and some suggestions which are brought forward do not recommend themselves to the returned men as a whole. For example., there is not likely to be much'sympathy with tha idea of Mr. J. Vigor Brown, the effusive member for Napier, that those who remained in camp in clover to perform instrumental duty, should be placed on the same footing as those who risked their lives at the front in regard to the gratuity scheme. Mr. Brown seems to be under the impression that all Ihe officers retained here were dying to get to llic front, and that in being compulsorily retained in camp they were the sad victims of misfortune. There is no doubt that some of them were most anxious to sec active service and were kepi back | on account of their exceptional skill as instructors. Others, however, were not at all disappointed that they were not subjected to the discomforts and serious contingencies of the field of battle. In fact, it has been asserted that on one occasion several of those for whom Mr. Brown is now pleading, when given the opportunity of going forward, declined to do so. A point ; for consideration is that these same j men were given privileges that those jon active service did not enjoy. The ; gratuity scheme in quite sufficiently i expansive indeed in including those who went on the bloodless Samoan voyage and others who never got a look-in at France. * * # * It is to be feared that the conservative Tory influences of the. Upper Chamber have gathered thickly round the Hon. W. Earnshaw, who, in recent ; years, has come out with some remarkable utterances regarding the

fell designs of those who happen tc toil with their hands. "It was not sc in my day," is the frequent burden ol his song. He is a lover of the gooc old times when the employer had ii all his own way, and to be an omployee meant that you had always tc approach your boss, cap in hand, ano with a demeanor of whispering humbleness, ready to accept anything an-1 to be treated like a door-mat. His latest effort iv aiding the legislation of the country is to discover that the greatest profiteer in the whole Dominion is the miner-—-"the working man who is going slow." Said Mr. Earnshaw: "The working , class is the class to which I belong, and I ana ashamed to see so prevalent in this country this thieving , and P , ' of the workmen in not game and giving goods equal to the value of the money they get." If Mr. Earnshaw had more than the brains of a butterfly he must recognise that the average miner only gets paid for what he actually does, for at present he is on piece work. Where, then, does the theft and profiteering come in. Go to. Brother Earnshaw! Linger no longer superfluous on the stage. «• « w * Speaking iv the Lords, Mr. J. T. Paul uttered some wise words on Labor unrest, as follows: —This question of industrial unrest is not to be settled by talk. It can only be settled on the basis of industrial .justice, and no amount of criticism will ever get over the difficulty. 11. is not merely a rjiiesUon. of houesL leaders, as has h?pn suggested. I believe that every man who is a real man must speak the I ruth as ho .sees it. But, unfortunately, iv politics it is beyond any question that a man is not applauded for speaking the truth as he .sees it. lie is condemned and handicapped In many ways, and whilst you have that state of tilings one nerd not b*> surprised if the majority oi' men choose the easy way, an<! do not speak the truth as they see il. # •:■:• ,~ * The Budget delivered by Sir James Allen, the resuscitated "Reform ,, Minister of Finance, in the House last week was remarkable for its dreariness and almost total lack of policy, j Taking two hours in delivery, it. was mostly an oppressive rerital of administrative detail. Its general tenor was an inculcation of the fossilised Conservative idea, "Learn to labor and to wait," expounded by Sir Harry Atkinson when the Dominion was in the doldrums many years ago. This was before the freezing and dairying" industries came to the assistance of the Dominion, and the unwelcome task confronted Sir Harry Atkinson of having to levy fresh, forms of taxation, in the present, instance there is an uulookod for Hurpliis, yot there is to be no remission of taxation. Sinking funds are to bo juggled -with to provide for the settlement of discharge:! I soldiers, and only vague suggestions aye made, as to what may be done regarding needs oi' ibe hour. Sir James has been described in relation to his Financial Statement as having assumed the role of a modern Micawber, but with his doleful personality, the cap of the optimistic Dickens' character hardly fits him. Something suggesting dismal inactivity would be more to the point. No hope is held out of reducing: the cosf. of living:, ?.nd the housing problem is very lightly skimmed over. But with a very barl Government example the goppel of national thrift is preached. With millions going to militarism, the soldierfascinated Treasurer sadly declares: "There was never a time when the necessity for national thrift .arta-itT ib.,n a<. ;ho present." The revenue for the year is estimated at nearly twenty-three millions, and a surplus available for supplementary estimates is expected of £478,000. Many members went to sleep while the statement was being delivered. We wonder how many people read the extended reports given in the daily Press. With its woeful want of interest it seems to have established a record of dulness. vs* 'X* v? *ii ' Mr. T. K. Sidey, the member for Daylight Saving, has been prevailed upon by his Liberal colleagues to give his constituents the chance of availing' themselves of his .services once moic. Sidey is a harmless chap, well meaning and entirely wanting' in the gentle art of humbug. He is as lean as a rake and as solemn as an o\vl. As honest as dayJighl, but no earthly Uo« in Parliament. This should nut be. regarded as a malicious remark, in fact, it. may be ta.ken u-.i a compliment, but its purpose is to show that, there is freemasonry and camaraderie amongst members of the House, who, after all, arc human beings, although at times they give themselves the airs of Supermen. Even allowing for this, it is hard to sec any reason having the remotest ielation to "the business of the country" for desiring Mr. Sidey to come back to the House, unless he can induce it to talk during daylight, liuis savins the health of members and the time and money of the country. To do business by moonlight is necessary to the burgling fraternity, but there is no earthly reason why any sane body of men should do i<. "A* ',\, -..* '.> On Friday night the House debated tli£ Women's Parliamentary Rights Bill, fathered by the Prime Minister, and blessed by all who spoke for it. [t is a two clause Bill, drafted in a hybrid language, a cross between the language of Parliament and the language of commerce. Mr. Holland put Labor's official seal of approval on the Bill, and pointed out that hitherto women had been classed with, bankrupts and lunatics, but he modifled this somewhat by remarking that it was a political fiction thai lunatics could not sit in the house! .Mr. McCombs recalled the fact that in 19.18 he had tried to secure justice for "the sex," as Burns called women in general. Mr. R. A. Wright, who is nearly always wrong, was of opinion that women's presence in the Housu would not do much to stop war, as claimed by some Labor speakers, an;?, unfortunately, there ia some truth i;i that view. i\Jr. Wilford, who spoke in tones that would cany conviction to those who do not know him, said he was as strongly in favor of women entering Parliament as be was againr.t chem being given police work to do. Ho did net say whether he meant old or young women, but spoke of chivalry and the broader outlook given to political life by the events of the last few years. If the broader outlook does not show itself in more decided ways than giving women the right !o speak in Ibe House, the New World will remain in the clouds, and all tlu eloquence of lawyer-politicians will rf not. bi'iojj. it dawi\tp ear ,O£ course,

> .Mr. Wilford did not say that; this i present evil world is jiood enough for : nim; be can earn a decent living in I it. -;c- >t * * Visor Erown, elderly member for » Napier, is a successful man. He docs l not look it. He has interests in beer, • house property, Napier, and the Wel--1 lington "Times." He has made money ■ out of all of them, except perhaps the ' "Times," which, although run for pro- ! _tt™political profit-r-is not altogelhw a paying concern, although its guiding genius has nothing to complain about, being one of the best-paid men in thcountry. He wondered how a woman with a baby would .be able to sit in j thc House and talk. This is a f air i "samp'i.- of the amiable nonsense Mr. Brown, who has reached his second childhood, talks in the House. He is famous for this, and noted for his white top hat, which he uses as a waste-paper basket. He used to'be the butt for the gibes of "Tommy" Taylor, who, no doubt, found it hard to forgive the member for Napier his connection with the beer interest. * # -A- TT Mr. C. H. Poole, of Auckland, is a "iiis fellow, with a robust voice, a .<i-c_y, jovial manner, and a Hibernian accent. He trifled humorously .with the Bill, and said he knew of hh aspiring female who had her eye on his seat. (Laughter.) It is this kind of thinjf, and thc billiard room, the tea rooms, the library, and general perquisites of a member of Parliament that prevents our legislators from being bored to death with "ihe business ol ibe country." i Hemplc followed in serious vein, and championed thc Woman's cause. He spoke well, as he can do when he likes, and keeps the rein on his too flamboyant temperament. It was a neat little speech, and the peroration suggested that if "Bob had taken the trouble to develop his natural gifts, he might have become eloquent. •k- # « -:•: The Prime Minister said the Bill had been so well received t'!..■< be fait I justified in proposing tbat i r !■><. taken lin committee forthwith. vM'-h was done. Mr. R. Mcn'aHnni, <-!' Wairau i (farmer, lawyer, pnd nn'UiHnn of sorts) objected to 'lie ••.•livi'iig of (he vital clause of the Dill. v.hMi reads: "A woman shall not In- di- >:'.._.'itied b> sex or marriage from being appointed or elected as a member of the Legislative Council, or of the House of __.- pi .scn'.atives, or from sitting or voting as a member of either Ho.use of Parliament, anything to the contrary in the Legislative Act, 1908, or in anyother Act, notwithstanding." _.IeCailuiTi is what is called an "educationalist,'' and poses, of course, as an authority on education. Ho thought the wording cumbrous, and suggested thai the Dill should give full parliamentary rights to every elector, a thing, of course, no Act of Parliament could do. Mr. Parr, of Auckland, another lawyer, said tho clause was a model one. and that Bills should bo drafted so that people could understand them. "Kiarosku.ro" records this statement as phenomenal; it is the most radical, thing he ever heard a lawyer say. If put into practise th. effect would be revolutionary, and might cause a serious decline in the .earnings or g-ettings of men of .aw. However, the advice of the "educationist" from Wairau was not taken; thc House does not take Mc.'allum nearly so seriously as he takes himself. The Bill was passed, but readers of The Workes. are warned not to expect a sudden slump in war as a profit-making enterprise, or any too great a change for the better in the House. Women arc no worse than men, but as members of Parliament they will be just as bad, if not better, than the average male member.