PLATFORM OF LABOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21468, 17 April 1933, Page 11

PLATFORM OF LABOUR

" WOBLD'S ONLY HOPE" failure of capitalism PRE-CONFERENCE RALLY The policy of the Labour Party was vigorously expounded and its opponents were roundly denounced by four prominent Labour leaders at a largely-at-tended rally of the party held in the Prince Edward Theatre last evening. The meeting was in the nature of a preliminary to the Dominion conference which is to open in Auckland to-day. The keynote of the speeches was struck by the chairman, Mr. B. Martin, who declared that the policy of the Labour Party was the only hope of the world to-day. The speakers, all of whom received a very cordial hearing, were Mr. M. J. Savage, M.P., the Rev. Clyde Carr, M.P., Mr. J. Thorn, national secretary of the party, and Mr. P. Fraser, M.P . Mr. Savage said he was not among those who thought that New Zealand could not help herself in the present crisis. The wages bill of Britain had been reduced by £10,000,000 weekly in the years 1920 to 1922, and from 1922 to 1932 it fell by £11,000,000 sterling weekly. Yet wiseacres in New Zealand were trying to discover what had happened to make the bottom fall out of our export market. The position was obvious. It was the result of the con-, tinuous policy of reducing wages. Monetary Reform There was no other reform so much needed as monetary reform, unless it was the raising of the standard of wages. The ,control of the monetary system had to be revolutionised, and that meant public ownership and control. "We can and will deal with New Zealand conditions with your authority," said Mr. Savage. "We cannot do it without." Labour's policy was to increase wages and reduce hours of labour in keeping with the introduction of machinery. Mr. Clyde Carr said the blame lay not in the form of government, but upon those who were exploiting the facilities provided for just and wise administration at the woeful cost of the great mass of their fellow-citizens. The present Government had deliberately shattered the constitution. It had been elected for three years and had "dug itself in" for four. Put the Labour Party in power, and where the machine was faulty it would mend it. "Enough laws have been enacted in this country to govern the world," declared Mr. Carr, amid applause and laughter. The first thing the Labour Party would have to do if returned would be to repeal all the enactments of the Coalition Government. The platform of the Labour Party was the practical, inevitable, logical consequence of the application of Christian principles in the political sphere. High Praise lor Russia Denouncing the means test, the speaker quoted a description written by a Roman Catholic priest of the test as applied to the Carpenter of Nazareth. A wholehearted tribute to conditions in Russia was paid by Mr. Carr. In speaking of world-wide distress, he said that conditions were not the same in Russia. "Hush," said a voice from the audience. "There is no hush so far as I am concerned about Russia," retorted Mr. Carr. "The people of Russia have solved one of the greatest secrets of human existence. They have discovered a substitute for war, a substitute for hate and passion, jealousy and rancour. Instead of dying for their country, they are living for it." When the people of New Zealand made the same discovery, there would be an end of "this disgraceful mess in God's own country." The National Income Mr. Thorn said that as a matter of fact conditions were just as inequitable and unjust here as they were in England. Professor A. G. Fisher's examination of the 1926 census showed that the total adult population of the country was 611,000 and the total income of the people was £137,000,000. Those who had an income in excess of £7 a week numbered only 61,000 and the 61,000 took between them no less than £45,000,000. They repesented a tenth of the population, but enjoyed a third of the income. The great mass of people were living in poverty or on the verge of it, and that was in one of the years of New Zealand's prosperity. The Labour Party said that this maldistribution was the direct result of the capitalist system of society. While food was urgently needed for nourishing people here, it was being sold by our farmers 15,000 miles away at a price that was bankrupting them. The Labour Party desired to have banking made, through a State bank, a social service, instead of a private monopoly. Mr. Fraser said the Labour Party had constantly pointed out that the effect of modern developments and inventions was so drastic that a crisis was bound to come. It had come, and it was capitalism that had failed. The problem of getting, for instance, milk from the farms to the mouths of the children who needed it seemed to the present Government an insoluble one. Unless the new machinery was properly controlled it was going to produce only injury to mankind. , ECONOMIC RECOVERY ADDRESS BY MR. HOLLAND [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, Sunday Methods of improving New Zealand's economic condition were suggested by the Leader of the Onnosition, Mr. H. E. Holland, in an address at a largely attended meeting in Hamilton this evening. The speaker advocated the construction of national assets such as economic railways, extensive repairs to main highways and secondary roads, the construction of access roads to rural areas and a comprehensive land settlement scheme. He considered that 1,000,000 acres of Crown and private land should bo taken up and the service of departmental advisers co-opted with a view to bringing about closer settlement. He said that there should be a comprehensive planning of production and distribution with definite reciprocal trade agreements, first with Great Britain, and then with the other Dominions, with guaranteed prices to the farmers by the Government of New Zealand, on a basis of five-yearly moving averages. By this means the farmers would know what their incomes would bo. Mr. Holland said that against national assets such as economic railways and roads, social credit could be created and, if necessary, notes could be issued against these social credits. He also advocated support for secondary industries, with regulated prices, so as to prevent monopoly. These proposals, if adopted, would go a long way toward solving the economic problems of New Zealand. The speaker was accorded a vote of thanks.