WELLINGTON CENTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10087, 28 September 1918, Page 8

WELLINGTON CENTER

.. * THc GOVcrttiMcNT CANDIDAU HIS .OPENING SPEECH. There was a crowded attendance at tot. r/eter's Schoolroom last oveiiing to hear the iirst adaress o.i Mr ». T. xiiidreth, thc.Goveriiment candidate Tho meeting to a large extent. was antagonistic, apparently in tho direct Labour interest, but Mr> Hiklretr gave a good account of himself —in fact, he showed unwonted strength—and he was able satisfactorily-to meet all interrogations piit to him. Mr J. Hutcheson occupied the ciiairi - ■ •-' lii his opening Mr'Hiklretlf expressed regret' that' the death 'of his'' old friend and comrade, Mr R? -l''etcher, should have rendered'"the" present byelection necessary. ' First""'oF' nil he wanted to meet a chargo'"that "had been levelled at him that he had employed cheap black labour. The circumstances of ; which v use -had■■■■■been, made were simply these':"'-'"He ■ had occasion to load 200 tons of scrap-iron. He tried for two days to get; labour on tho wharves, and he>'onty-.vgot'.» two mem where eight were needed^-'-dfri • nis dilemma ho employed some-.Hindoos, to whom he paid l s lOd an hour. !..He had explain-jd tho matter to"''Messrs Glover and Bruce, of side Wo¥kofs" ! Union, an'd" , 'MF*Brucb* : had acknowledged that.. Jn.:.., circumstances thero was. nothing>elao.. left-for him to do. . ~,.,.•.,

Mr Hildreth passed on to-industrial matters. . In his. r opinion .the .Arbitration .Act had proved afallacy... It,/was impossible' for the permanent, arbitrators to understand the details of every trade. ■ Conciliation " Commissioners; should be appointed for* each" branch of industry: .-,-,,,.,,..,„.,.„,■,• ; . A voice: Tramways. Mr Hildreth said he .would deal; with that matter later on. , He, considered that a referendum should-bo, taken on the liqnor question immediately., ■ 'He -was not in-favour of" three, issues on the voting-paper. He«,TVOuld iavo a straight-out poll on State cohtroL or prohibition. He also, believed., in » general election without ; delay. That . iva s - one of the difficulties -he was in. At the, last election he bought-.against, -;3Kss,ey}sm>4|^ ifio.2 f arije'i; artillery,.,., ,A.- fe S9Wp,acjt, Jiad to be observed botw.eea,»tho,.tsvo. parties forming the National Government, So far as the present situation wag concerned, country members would certainly be re-elected. -., (Cries- of- ' "Trai-tor."),-.--He . t bolie,v,e(L><:in maintaining fhe present system .of .education,-v. but there-was no question : that»the teachers were-, wretchedly ©paid. •What -about,:- other --workers-?-):. --The ■ teachers be better '.paid) buijd-; ings sß6u]3 the play*-. . Uou*. ',m >\§JSi? e « and had saved us from-; something, of, thetrotible which had'occurred in Russia. He-wa3 certainly in' favour.' of.'a' Stateowned line of ships.,, : ' Thb;.' :coastal marine and the overseas should be owned by the State. ~* As soon as the war was over the Govern- I ment ought to attend to this matter. The same with regard to Stato colljgrje.s.s - "Hie-, coal resources .of the country slapuld be nationalised. A Voice: What is coal? (Great laughter.) ; ' y Mr Hildreth continued' that jJnvate profit in the traffic of cool 'should be eliminated. Ho knew it would be said that coal hewing did'nofrpayy'hut ho also knew what the watering of the coal companies meant- " The repatriation of soldiers was.». most important subject. Present - operations-, in *«this \ coijne<jtion did not go far■', enouh. Theraishould be a central, bureau with, agencies capable of- placing returned soldiers in all avenues of employment. I They could not all "be put on' the"land. It 'was 'only right; that iuSorStfria 'witnesses 'called to court should; get adequate recompense for the time they lost. Warders in the iail as well as teachers should receive more payment. A national pension scheme should not be left to local bodies. With;, the late Mr Fletcher he had been instrumental in framing the Harbour Board and City •JCotm'cil superannuation schemes, but these should be extended on a national, basis. He was in favour of pen sions„„.to,the widowed mothers of soldiers. In connection with the present system of pensions thero were a great many anomalies arising; which need-J ed rectification. From Dannevirke to Hastings estates.„Bhoul c l be cut up for the accommodation of returned'soldiers. There must be drastic reduction in the cost of living thciugh'New Zealand at present compared 'very favourably with other countries in this respect. New Zealanders were not doing so badly and had, not felt the pinch of the war so much as other countries. So_ far as WlqUinztop,. was,, concerned,. rents...were certainly high, but with the congregation of soldiers and relatives he did not see very well how matters were going to be morided for the time being. He was going to quote Mr Fraser," al-though'"he-was" not-popular just now. (Cheers.) The Mr Fraser who had been cheered: was not-the one he referred to. He wanted to refer to the Government Statistician," who had supplied figures to show" that''the cost of living had gone up 39 per cent. Still sugar was lower in price,in .New, Zealand than in any other place on tho. face of tho earth. (Uproar.) Ho was not there 1 to apologise for the sins of omission and commission on tho part of the Government, but -still {hero were some commodities on which prices had been kept down. He frankly acknowledged thatt the-present Board of Trade had proved a dead failure. Thero should oe ; a"r/oHrd 'with Labour and commerce represented'to sit daily-'With the press present to -prevent exploitation. (Applause.) ■ Prices could be controlled on primary products. The increased price of soap was due to the fact that the value of caustic-soda bad-gono-up 200 per cent. There hat T-been-control of the cost of meat and butter owing to the efforts-of the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald. Importations of wheat from America and Australia had -been limited because-it was full of weevils and mice. An attempt had been made to hoodwink the electors in a letter which had been written to tho "New Zcaluud Times." . The .endeavoured to show that the, price of living had gone up 82 per cent., but his arguments wero ridiculous. He wanted to make out that the weekly groceries of a house included all sorts of chemicals on a wholesale- scale, including 52 bottles of Jeye's Fluid and castor oil. (Great laughter.) . . Mr Hildreth said ho adhered to the list of promises which-he had announced by advertisement. Ho had lived thirty years'in tho district, and he hatl' been'for ten years on, local bodios.,*lse.\wa*«a Liberal,

and whenever a split occurred with the National Government there was no doubt as to the side on which ho would be found, it was the duty of the people to stand by the National Government until the war was finished. Tho only man he was fighting in tho election was the nominated Labour candidate. He was against that man's destructive utterances. He wanted sane Labour. Were Mr Fraser's policy to come into operation there would be sometliing akin to what now prevailed in Russia. (Interruption.) It was necossary to save the electorate from the insanity of those who now led tho Labour party. At heart Labour was loyal; the leaders were not loyal. A voice: As a soldier and a loader of tho Labour party, 1 challenge that statement. (Immense cheering and ..•ries of "Apologise!"; Mr Hildreth maintained that the doctrines preached by the leaders of the Labour party were not such as could bo endorsed by those who were loyal to King and-country. He had agreed to stand to test the loyalty of tho constituency. In answer to questions, the candidate declared that it was a barefaced falsehood that he had ever engaged black men to work at 7s a day. His books for the last two years would show that he had never paid less than 10s a day. It was not a fact that ho had turned down a returned soldier in his bottle department. As to the price of butter, if tho farmers had been allowed to chargo what they wanted, tho people would have been .called upon to pay nine million ■ pounds . more : money. He favoured a-general election' to clear the air, but he believed the National Government would como back sound. The leaders of the Labour party had _opposed conscription, and - advocated uisloyal doctrines. <. When Mr Fraser had been questkmed ho had baulked the question of loyalty. He (Mr Hildreth) unhesitatingly asserted that opposition :to the doctrine of conscription in the present condition of affairs was abso-lutely-disloyal. (Interruption.)A voice: Then Australia must bo disloyal. (Uproar.) Mr Hildreth: A statement has been made that the majority of the soldiers in the trenches voted against conscription. I have yet to learn that that is true. . .. Replying to further questions, Mr Hildreth said he relied upon a board of two Labour and two commercial .men tq prevent exploitation in the drapery and other trades. He was one ot : the two men who had stood by the tramwayman on the City Council. The reason he advocated compensation in regard to the liquor traffic was that it was tho cheapest way out of the business. Tho question should be settled on a direct issue, and he favoured tho Efficiency Board's recommendation.- Conscientious objectors j who were in jail to-day were not genuine. They were cowards. There were,men who had sent their boy 8 out j of athe country to escape conscription. ! I As'to Labour being represented in the Government, the party had been offered a representaative and had declined. I On the motion of Mr H. Turner, a vote of thanks was passed to tho candidate for- his address. MR MACK AT W LLIS STREET . Mr M. ■ J. Maok (the Independent I Labour Candidate) addressed .a crowded and orderly meeting at the Willis street School last night. Mr J. R. Burley, who presided, said that Mr Mack represented what was called the sane side of Labour politics. He had tho courage of his convictions, and he would put up a clean fight, and would, the chairman believed, make an admirable member for the constituency. At the opening of his speech Mr Mack said that since he last addressed tho electors he had heard with great regret of. the death of Mr Will Hampton, ono of the sanest men who was ever in the New 2o»land Labour movement. (Applause.) Ho asked the audience to show their -respect for Mr'Hampton and thoir sympathy with j [ hi 3 widow and family in their sad loss | by all rising to their feet. j Dealing with the claim of the LaI hour Party to stand for proportional j representation, Mr Mack asked how ! that squared with the constitution ot the party. A body which joined'the Labour Party could not havo n representative at the Labour Conference if it had less than 350 members. Tf it had over 250 members, but under 1000, it had one representative. With 1000 to 2000 members it would havo two representatives; with 2000_ to 3000, it would have three; and with 3000 to I 4000, four representatives, but over i '4OOO thero was no increase of representation. That meant that 7250 men in four organisations could have ten delegates at tho Labour Conference, whereaß his own organisation (the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants), with 8230 members, could only get four delegates Was that proportional representation? (Applause.) And when it was urged that they should vote according to card of memberfchip, the Labour Party said •. "Oh, no; we're not going to be bludgeoned by the big unions." (Laughter.) In ■ short, they were for proportional representation when it united them, but not when if. did not. (Applause.) I The Acting-Minister for Finance hnd told them the other, day that the war was costing New . Zealand about £2,000,000 a month; and that they had borrowed some £50,000,000 for war purposes. Well,, between 1918 and 1917, the unimproved value of the land of the'Dominion had increased by £88,000,000, and up to date they had probably increased by £50,000,000 ainoo 1913, If the Government had the sanity and -the courago to tax that increased value created, not by tho land monopolists, but by tho people as a < whole, at the rate of 5 per cent., that 5 per cent, would set off the £50,000,000 tho country had'borrowed for the war. (Applause.) But tho Government had not done that. They lot it all go to the land monopolists. He stood for an educated democracy; and, therefore, he stood for better-paid teachers,- smaller classes, and better Bchools, with free education from tha primary school to the university. (Applause.) He regarded tho children as the greatest asset of tho country. Therefore, ' hii ptoud for subsidising parents so that they could bring up their families as they ought to bo brought up. He also advocated free nursing and medical assistance in the homes of the people. (Applause.) In that connection, ho stated that tho friendly societies had had. very great demands made upon thorn''in connection with the war, and he thought that tho time had come when tho Government should properly subsidise tho friendly societies, and not allow them to go bankrupt. (Applause.) ■ A number of questions were asked and nnswerotl, and u hearty voto of

thanks to tho candidate, the National Anthem, and three cheers for Mr Mack closed tho meeting. RAILWAYMEN'S PROTEST." Press Association. DUNEDIN, September 27. Tho Otago branch of tho A.S.R.S. passed a resolution condemning Mr Mack's action in contesting the Wellington Central by-election as an Independent Labour candidate, and calling upon him to resign the position of general sccvotary of the society. THE RADICAL CANDIDATE DEALS WITH TRAMWAYMEN'S WAGES AND COST OF LIVING. At the lunch hour yesterday Mr Harry Atmore. the itadieal candidate foi Wellington Central, addressed a fairly large number of workers in the Post Qiiice square. The candidate, in referring to the wages paid to tramway employees, said that he had in his possession a time-sheet which showed that an employee, working ordinary time, received the sum of £5 13s 2o for two weeks' work. Tho Government Statistician had presented a table which disclosed tho fact that. the purchasing power of the sovereign, on the food groups alone, had decreased by 6s 5Jd. This meant that the tramway employee who received £5 13s 2d for two weeks' work did, in reality, only receive £3 17s 3d. as the sum of £1 15s 6d had to be deducted from tho gross amount on account of the lowering of the purchasing power, when these, facts were fully considered it would be found that the average weekly wage of a tramway employee was £1 18s lOd per week. Rents were high, and if an employee paid £1 per week for rent ho was left the munificent sum of lis lOd on which to support and clothe his wife : and family. The tramway employees were not, in hs opinion being paid anything like a living wage. The question was one for tho citizens, and if their representatives on the council would" not deal fairly with the position pressure should be brought to compel them to do so. Air Atmore reviewed at length the rise in the cost of living, and pointed out that it was not fair to compare the rise in the cost of. living in Groat Tlrifiain and "tho European countries with that in New Zealand. Great Britain was not self-supporting, and the enormous price demanded for wool and other products bv New Zealand, as well ns by other countries, was the main cause of the rise in the cost .of living in England At tho outset of war the Imperial Government offered New Zealand a 45 per cent, advance on the prewar price of wool. This did not meet with approval, and when Mr Massey went to England he got tho price raised to 55 per cent, on -re-war prices. 7"Tie cost of living in England had risen 108 per cent., and it had been pointed out that in New Zealand the rise was 38 par oent., but this percentage only provided for tho four main food groups. Clothing and other necessary additions were not considered when the Government Statistician arrived at the percentage basis. There had been no material increase in production in tho Dominion, and it was useless for the profiteer to trv and delude the public that tho wage received by the • working man was adequate when he was reducing the purchasing power of monoy. He was one of those who believed in winning the war. so that militarism might be broken down, but he was not one of those persons who considered that the war could he won only by the Tory Government. The inaction of the Government on tho food question was notorious. The storos were bulging with the commodities of life, and the Got eminent should at least allow the goods tt> bo sold to the community at the prices at which they were sold to the Imperial Government. Had thero been a Government in Dower which represented the people tha necessaries of life would be sold at pre-wai prices today. The time had arrived when the Tories should be nut out of power, —{hear, hear) —and to that end a general election was urgently needed. Ho deplored the fact that sectarianism had been introduced into Now Zealand. It had nothing to do with tho 'economia position which tho people were liable to overlook when considering the religious question. He stood for Democracy, and while a member of the House had never voted against a democratic measure. The speaker received a patient and attentive hearing, and was accorded a vote of thanks at tho conclusion of his ' address.