NEW ZEALAND'S DANGER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14806, 9 October 1911, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND'S DANGER.

: LIMITATION OF FAMILIES. "Woman, Man and the State" was the subject, of an address by Mr. Edward Tregear, late Secretary of Labour, at the • Wellington Opera .House last week. Mr. D. McLaren, M.P., presided over a small - attendance. . , , ■ ~ The greatest of all problems threatened rvew Zealand, said Mr. Tregear, the dan--Ser that not enough children were being .reared to take the place of those now at w orb. There were 2000 fewer young 'people in bur factories to-day than a few years ago. Either children or immigrants • must "come to inherit the'country, or the Asiatic would come. The blight which affected the human tree in New Zealand .was due to the existence of economic conditions which made babies unwelcome. Ho „; declined to o'elieve that any young woman ;ref used to cherish tho ideal that some day /.-she would be queen of her home and tpother of lovely children. But the lot of the. working father . and mother was one of grinding self-sacrifice and poverty, and he sympathised with them too much fo suggest that" it was their national duty io keep the.State alive, Let those who "were protected by. the State . take the responsibility, for he did not see why the jlow-paid workers should bear slaves for the -making machine. About 65 per cent, of New Zealand's taxation was in- '- -.direct, .therefore, the man who had a wife and five children paid three times as much taxation as his single mate working alongside. By old age pensions, the State. had partially relieved the workers of the burr. den of the aged. Some attention was required at'the'other end of life. The should refuse to recognise pallia stives, but should steadily work to secure ;"a system of direct taxation. When a man Fpaid;. 9d for a stick of tobacco .he got "2d Worth, of tobacco, paid Id profit, and 6d in duty. . The speaker declared that . Tie would have free trade for everything that could not bo made or grown in the he would not erect a tariff wall to help local. industries, but would absolutely prohibit importations of things which could be made here. If rings grew "3ip inside the country the Government could "meet j the difficulty by competing with the ;rings- in the same industry. He was a •labour man and had been so for 20 years. .He could not stultify.himself-by declaring that there had been no good work done. - After enumerating a long list of humanitarian measures passed by his • friends'in the Liberal party, he declared - that he was going on while the Liberals appeared to want to stop still. For the .Conservative party he had nothing but a of war. For 20 years they •; had waylaid the worker, maltreated him ■-and stolen his dinner. No matter what >their promises Mr. Massey had at present a Socialistic veneer Opposition 'bank closed with the elections and their 'promises would not be honoured.