MR FIELD AND HIS MINER CONSTITUENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, 14 May 1917, Page 6

MR FIELD AND HIS MINER CONSTITUENTS

ADDRESS AT DEEP CREEK. On Saturday evening. Mr T. A. IT. Field, M.P., "at the 'invitation of the Wak.amarina Miners' Union, delivered an address at Bar, Deep Creek. Between forty and fifty persons were including practically all the members ;of the Union, The President of the Union, Mr R. S. Hedgland, was proposed by Mr Field as chairman. Mr Field, who spoke about two hours, was accorded a. most attentive hearing, the only occasional interrupter being a visitor, who. it was stated, was not a member of the Miners" Union. Air Field, at the close of hi's speech, answered a large number of questions with patience and courtesy. Mr Field, after being briefly introduced by trie chairman, the President of the Union, said that he had only addressed one meeting at Deep Creek liefore, and he had carried away with him the pleasantest recollections of the courtesy of a Deep Creek audience. He only got ten votes there—but that was nothing—everyone was entitled to his own opinion and his service.* were always at the disposal of the people ! there. He was invited to give -an address on any political subject. He considered that* at the present time, every political subject began and ended in the war. Mr Field dealt with the war in its various aspects, and on the manner in which it affected the people, of New Zealand. Referring to compulsion, he said that for a trade unionist or Labour member to object to compulsion to proclaim himself illogical. Trades Unionism, said the speaker, was based on compulsion—compulsion to join the union,—compulsion on employers to pay at least a certain wage ; compulsion for hours of labour per day; compulsion of i members to strike. Compulsion on men and compulsion on employers. "If you object to conscription because it is compulsion you object to the basic principle of all trades unionism." Continuing, Mr Field asked : What does a Trade Union do when it has declared a strike? Does it not resemble war? The executive of the union takes control just as in war the Cabinet takes control and makes regulations. If a member of the union objects to the strike and thinks it foolish and refuses to obey the commands of the union, what then? Is he not. boycotted, insulted, perhaps ruined? Why? Because it is treason to the union. Why is it said this is right for a union and wrong for New Zealand? Treason in war-Tnust be punished with the extreme penalty, for it is the betrayal of the men fighting and dying at the front. The Secretary of'the Union gave figures showing the membership of the Union, which worked out at an average membership of 69, and he pointed out that no less than S3 members of the local Union had volunteered for service since the war began. He said the miners were prepared to make further sacrifices, and asked if any other class was prepared to do as much? Mr Field said he was very pleased to hear the secretary's figures and statement. He believed all classes were prepared to make sacrifices. He pointed out what the women were doing here and in England, and said at the last session of Parliament members told the Minister of Finance the people were in an heroic mood and willing to be taxed and to make sacrifices. On the motion of Mr O'Keefe, seconded by Mr Wickes, a hearty vote of thanks, caried by acclamation, was accorded Mr Field for his able and lucid address, and a vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the meeting.