PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8189, 2 August 1912, Page 4

PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH

In an interview in Christchurch Mr Arthur wuhy. Organiser ' lor tne A unrated Proiession Workers oi die Umteu. Labor Laity. said mat his tour had been very satisiaotory. At Timaru the .Labor people were discussing proposals to join the United Labor farcy, anti a canvass was being made for signatures to a petition to bring in the principle of rating on the lunmproveu value, a subject that was being much discussed in tne borough just now. 'There nad been a considerable boom in building in Timaru. Land values had increased in consequence, and there was a fear ’that if the tendency was not checked by the introduction of the unimproved value principle there would be a slump. In St. Hilda, near Dunedin, the Mayor was taking round a petition in favour of the new system of rating. A petition for a poll was also in circulation in. Dunedin city, and if the reformers were successful in St. Kilda it would help the movement in the larger centre, in Dunedin a branch of the Land Values League had been formed, with the Hon. J. T. Paul as president. The United Labor Party was making excellent progress in Dunedin. The House-wives' Union there was doing good work. A branch of that organisation had been formed in Invercargill, with 106 members, which was very good for a town of Invercargill's size. By establishing a system of co-operative purchase, it had reduced the price of milk sufficiently to meet the expenses connected with the union, without diminishing the return bo the producers. It was hoped that by the same means the cost of coal would bo reduced by Gs or 7s a ton, and that reductions would bo made in other directions. East Invercargill and Gladstone, which had been taken into Greater Invercargill, were now under the unimproved value principle, and a considerable reduction had been made in the rates paid on workmen’s houses. There was a movement on foot to extend the principle to all rates in Invercargill borough, in accordance with the provisions of the Act passed last year. Miramar, a Wellington suburb, was the first borough to take advantage of the Act. A similar movement was now on foot in Christchurch and Wellington. In Gore also a petition was being signed to extend the system of rating on the unimproved value. The application of the principle had been beneficial in Mosgiel, where the holding of vacant sections had been discouraged, and building had been encouraged. It had been decided to form a branch of the United Labor Party in that town. A. live branch had also been established at Alexandra South, several members of the Federation of Labor submitting their names as members. In his travel he had learnt that a number of the rank and file of the federation were beginning to see the weakness of the strike first and confer afterwards policy, and were steadily tending towards tlio sound constitutional policy of the United Labor Party.