WELLINGTON CENTRAL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10081, 20 September 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON CENTRAL

NOMINATIONS CLOSE MONDAY SEVEN CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED Nominations for the Wellington Central seat close with the Registrar. of Electors for Wellington Central at noon on Monday next. Mr L'en McKenzie has definitely decided not to contest the seat for Wellington Central. To a "New Zealand Times" reporter Mr McKenzie said: "Owing to business reason s I find it impossible for me to comply with the requests of my many supporters to contest the seat."

Supporters of Mr T. Hildreth (official Government candidate) gathered n large numbers at the Native Association's Hall, Tory street, last evening, in order to make preliminary arrangements for the campaign. Considerable enthusiasm was shown by those present .who formed themselves into committees to work the various districts. Mr Atmore .announces that he will address the electors next week on a number of important matters, as chief among which he names the necessity for a general election, the cost of living, the land question, reservists and their dependents, repatriation of soldiers. State control, education, etc. LIST OF CANDIDATES. Following is the list of candidates who have stated their intention of contesting the seat:— Mr W. T. Hildreth, National Government candidate. Mr P. Eraser, Labour. Mr M. J. Maek, Independent JUab'.ur.

Mr J. E. Fitzgerald, Independent Liberal. Mr H. Atmore, Independent Liberal. Mr C. T. Tanner, National Democrat. Mr L. J. F. Garmson. Returned Soldier. The election will take place on October 3rd. MR MACK'S CANDIDATURE. The intimation that Mr Mack will contest the Wellington Central seat is not being received >vith unanimous approval by rail way men. At a meeting of the Petons branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants on Wednesday evening a unanimous protest was made against 3lr Mack's action, and it was decided to wire the president of the A.S.R.S. asking if the Dominion executive had civen Mr Mack permission to contest the election. Further action was deferred pending a reply from the "president.

Mr Mack's action will be considered by the Thorndon branch of the A.S.H.S. at a meeting to be held on Sunday afternoon next, when the following motion wi?l be moved:—"That this branch of the A.R.R.S. emphatically I expresses the opinion that at no time in the historv of the Labour movement in New Zealand has the necessity i for absolute solidarity been so obvious; that in this connection it behoves every member of the community who has the interests of the workers and the country at heart to loyally and enthusiastically support Mr Peter Eraser, the official Labour candidate, at the forthcoming by-election for Wellington that the candidature ' of Mr M. J. Mack, general secretary of the A.S.R.C., is in tho interests only of tho enemies of Labour: and that this branch calls oa 4he executive of .the A.S.R.S. to request Mr Mack to withdraw from the contest." A WANGANUI PROTEST. Press ARsiciatioti. WANGANUI. September 19. A meeting of railway men at Eastown workshops to-day resolved in connection with the Wellington Central election, that the interests of Labour will be best served by leaving the contest to the selected Labour candidate, Mr P. Fras«r. LABOUR CAMPAIGN OPENED MB, ERASER AT ALEXANDRA HALL. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT CONDEMNED. Mr P. Frasor (nominee of tho Labour Representation Committee) opened his campaign at the Alexandra Hal] (the little hall in Abel Smith street) last night. Mi- A. Parlane (president of the Labour Representation Committee) presided over a good attendance. Mr Parlano said that they wero there to fire tho first shot in a campaign which was destined to add a largo slice to Labour territory. (Applauso.) The Labour party, however, greatly regretted the occasion for the by-election. They had always greatly respected the late member, Mr R. Fletcher. (Hear, hear.) Indeed, Mr Holland had rotired from the field at tho election when Mr Fletcher was elected, so that the progressive voto should not be split and a Conservative elected. (Applause.) Mr Eraser was tho candidate of the Labour Representation Committee, which numbered upwards of 8000 workers. If there was another candidate standing professedly in tho Labourr interest, he invited them to ask the candidate who were the mythical mombors of the phantom unions who had asked him to come forward ; also whether he had any secret socioties behind him; and, if- so, if elected, would he, in case of a conflict of interest between these secret societies and labour, stand by them or by labour? (Applause.) An apology for unavoidable ahsence was received from Mr M. J. Reardon, president of tho Wellington Trades Council, and'presiding at a meeting of that body. Mr J. Road (who, like Mr Reardon, was one of tho threo Labour nominees voted on at the preliminary Labour ballot) strongly supported Mr Eraser's candidature. They might, he said, hear of an Independent Labour candidate—("Rats!") —but the only genuine man they could support a 6 a straight La bour man was Potor Fraser. They would ho told that tho Liberal candi date was "as good as a Labour man/' but ho was standing as the nominee of tho National Government which, ovnr since the war started, had been on the 'side of the "fat man." (Applause.) LABOUR UNREST. Mr Eraser, who was received with applause, said that tho whole atmosphere seemed charged with labour unrest owing to tho inadequate way in which tho National Government had dealt With tho cost of living quos-

tion. There was trouble in connection with the miners on tho "West Coast, and he hoped that the terms arrived at would be satisfactory to the miners. (Applause.) In Wellington there was ' trouble with the - tramwaymen, who were certainly inadequately paid. They were having a passive contest with the City Council at the present time, and he hoped they would win the day. (Applause.) He stood as the accredited ! candidate of the Labour party, a party ' prepared to deal in practical fashion with the immediate problems affecting the lives of the people, while keeping in mind the ultimate Labour ideate, the economic and social emancipation of the workers. NO ROOM FOR INDEPENDENCEThere was no room in the Labour movement, he contended tor independent candidates. What did independent" mean? It meant independent of control." Why, they already had a Government that was independent 'of control. At least, in would not give the people an oppoituuity to control them or to throw them out. (Loud applause.) Ho stood for the objective of the Labour Party, which was also the objective of the United Labour Party, to which the man who now called himself the , Independent Labour candidate had | once belonged, and on.who.se platform ho stood at Parnell at the general election of 1911. If that platform was good then, why was it not good now ? (Applause.) Labour in the past had had so much experience at men getting into Parliament as Labour men and then throwing over tho party, that they had determined to have government of tho party from the bottom up, and not from the top downward, and to have their members controlled by the party. Whatever decision tho Labour Party came to, the Labour representatives must take their instructions from the industrial body and act accordingly in Parliament and on the political field in the country generally. Every Labour candidate would pledge himself, if\ returned, to act on those lines. "POLSON GAS." He expected that for the next fortnight they would have the guns of the press levelled upon them, and not altogether in accordance with the laws ■of civilised warfare. (Laughter, and a voice: "Poison gasd") Yes: there would bo abundance of poison gas from the pross. But they were out to destroy, among the other evils of the capitalist system, the superstition known as the power of tho press; and they wero doing it very effectively. (Applause, and laughter.) The press were out to tell them that the Labour candidate in Wellintgon Central was a revolutionary and a Bolshevik, ot course. (Laughter.) He hoped they would not leave that out. They would miss a good deal of the fun of the fight if they left "Bolshevik" out. (Laughter.) "Bolshevik" meant, in English, "majority," and he should bo very glad, though not greatly surprised, if ho proved to bo the majority candidate. (Applause and laughter.) .. Tho Liberal candidate, who would have to carry the accumulated sins of. the four years of -National Government, was led out to the sacrifice in Wellington Central; and ho congratulated Mr Hildreth on his courage in coming forward. (Ap> plauso and laughter.) As for the other candidates, they represented only themselves, and. some of them even misrepresented themselves. (Laughter.) Ho protested against the short time allowed for the'enrolment of electors—a shorter, time than was dovotod to the choice of the Liberal candidate —and the whole system of the enrolment- of voters, which, he contended, s hould be carried out in the same way as the census was taken every live years. (Applause.) The Labour Party stood lor proportional representation, not for "first past tho post," nor for the s econd ballot; and they stood also for tho initiative, referendum, and recall. Tho liquor question would be settled by the referendum; and on that question Labour stood for the widest possible referendum and the most democratic method of voting. (Applause.) They stood, too, for' the full civil and political rights of every civil servant, oven for those in the Departments of Justice and Police. In Labour legislation and in denying full citizens' rights to women, New Zealand was behind Mexico, in that they did not allow women to sit in Parliament. (Applause.) "^ MALADMINISTRATION OF WEALTH. The estimated total wealth of New Zealand was some £338,700,000, or roughly, £3OO per head-*£6oo for each man and wifo, or £ISOO for each family of five. They of the Labour Party were often twitted with wanting to divide the wealth up equally; but that was not tho case, though they did hope to arrive in time at equal incomes. Of 10,500 people who died in a recentf year, 3200 left £7,800,000, while 7300 left nothing worth mentioning. Again, of the 3200, 58, leaving estates of £20,000 and over, left £2,500,000; 232, leaving: estates of £7500 and over, left £4,300,000; and 428, leaving estates of £4OO and over, left £5,30,000 • while 2796 out of tho 3200 left only £2,400,000. That showed a woeful maladministration of wtSilth. and Labour stood for a fair and equitable distribution of wealth. (Applause.) Further, the total yearly production of wealth in New Zealand in the last year quoted in the Official Year Book was £45,300,000. Tho cost of materials was £31,300,000; wages amountod to £6,600,000; a total cost of production of £37.900,000. That showed a profit of £7,400,000 for the few who did nothing, as against only £6,600,000 for all the useful people of New Zealand who produced all the wealth. Quoting figures as to how the land of the country was held, Mr) Fraser said thaf 400.000 adults owned 'not an inch of what they called "their country." From 1892 to 1916 the land values of the country increased by £146,000,000. That value went mainly into tho pockets of the few big land monopolists; but it was produced by the community as a whole, and Labour held that community-created values should be taken for the community. That was why they stood for tho steepest possible taxation of land values and also for the steepest possible graduated income, tax on the wealth exploited from the workers. (iVpplause.) WAR PROFITS. Quoting from Mr Holland's book on war profits, Mr Fraser said that the primary producers in New Zealand had taken advantage of the greatest calamity that ever struck humanity to exact £45,400,000 of war profits—£l7,4oo,000 taken from meat, wheat, wool, butter, and cheese, consumed locally, and £28,000,000 on similar products sent Home for the starving people in England and for the men in the trenches. Even a burglar would blush to rob starving people in that way. (Laughter and u,u»lause.) And £1,215,-

000 of those profits from sheepskins, which, were specially put up in price when it was found that they were needed.jor tho, men in the trenches. ("Shame-") The Union. ,Shipping Company had done- very well out of the war; but that name was only a bit of camouflage now, for the Union Steam Ship Company was now part of a world shipping„ combine. And, since, that world shipping combine would at-; feet the farmers' .interests, the farmers i —oven including Sir James Wilson, who seemed 4» be a sort of dictator-m----chief to the Massey side of the National Government —who had always opposed Socialism", in the. interests of the workers, now dbmanded State-own-ed ships in tJ«if» own interests: (Laugher and applause.) The Union Steam Ship Company, according to Mr Russell, had got for the hiro of their ship's lor war purposes, or about three times the wofth. of tiro whole fleet, according to Josepli Ward's estimate of its value'. Tho, Government, he contended, whoV did not hesitat© to *ake the lives of the men for tho good of the country, should not liave hesitated to take the ships for the good of the country.. (Applause.)\ According to the Government Statistician, food prices had increased 39.35 per cent, in New Zealand,, although he contended that tho rise' was nearer 50 per cent.; while in Queensland the increase was only 32.4 per cent. ' That was under a Labour Government. (Applause.) Comparing the high rents in Wellington with those in other centres, ho declared that the Government's legislation on the rent question was an absolute failure, and urged the people of Wellington Central to enter an emphatic protest against it. (Applause.) There was, he maintained, no'solut'o.i for tho cost of living problem, except the Labour solution —the ownership by the people of tho means of producing all the "tilings the peoplo required, and their production for use instead of for profit. (Applause.*) That was the .solution for normal times ;•■' but in time of war, he contended, tho, food should be commandeered by. tho New Zealand Government for the people of New Zealand as it had been commandeered by tho Imperial Governments for war purposoes. But, of course, tho Government would not do it, because they wore the Government of tho big landowners and squatters. Referring, to. tho coal question, he sajd that tho control of coal had been placed manly in tho hands'of'thin great jboal merchants. Like putting the sheep in charge of the wolves I (Laughter and applause.)

The Government, he declared, had shown themselves,throughout a Government f6r-tho! exploiters; and that was shown, t00,; 4h their educational policy, iiyhich, he said, aimed at making the children 'of. the wol'kers more efficient slaves for the capitalists. (Applause.) The Labour l>ariy, on the other hand, stood.for any; and everything that would uplift tKe people, and give every one of the people the fullest and freest opportunities development, physical, mental, and, if Hhey would, spiritual. (Applause.) That .they could not get from the Liberals,!, nor from those who thought so much Labour that they stood independent 'of Labour.. (Applause and laughter^ Mr M:. J:' Reardoir, who came in at the end 'of "the speech, moved, "That this meeting approves of the >. candidature of Mr P.Frase-r as the- selected Labour candidate for Wellington Central; and; • undertakes to do all. in its power to secure the return of the Labour man on election day.'' On a show of bands being taken, the chairman declared the motion "carried bv 900 to 1 -"