A LABOUR M.P.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15053, 28 January 1911, Page 8

A LABOUR M.P.

LECTURE BY MR J. HODGE.

" LABOUR AND POLITICS IN THE

HOMELAND."

Mr J. Hodge, Labour member in tho British llouso of Commons for the Gorton Division of Lancashire, delivered a lecture ill tho Ai't Gallery llall last niglst on the political questions of the day, inoro especially from tho Labour point of view. Mr IJodgo speaks with deliberateness, in clear, incisive language, can tell a good story to emphasiso his point, a.nd was listened to with tho greatest attention by tho 260 pcoplo or so who assembled. . Tho speaker was introduced by tho Hon. J. T. Paul, who apologised for the unavoidblo aibsence of the president of the Trades and Labour Council, who would otherwise havo occupied the ohair. Mr Paul stated that Mr Hodge was mainly responsible for tho organisation of the steel workers at Homo, and' that his constituents had shown their confid'onco in him by returning him again to Parliament during his absenco from his constituency.

Mr Hodge, who was received with applause, said, as tho chairman had remarked, soveral members of tho Labour party had visited these outlying portions of tho Empire. Ho had come out to tho colonics for rest, and had got it while ho was in Australia; but, with the exception of his visit to Rotorua, he had not secured it in New Zealand, as tho various Labour Councils had commandeered him to address various public meetings. lie had been very pleased to accede to their requests, because ho thought that both in New Zealand an,£ in Australia misunderstandings existed as to what was taking place in the Homeland, whilo they in their turn were quite as ignorant of what was taking place in Australasia. Tho speaker said tho conditions of life out hero were very much better than those prevailing at Homo, but in saying that ho did not mean to assert that Now Zealand was quite tho paradise it might be. Still, he had l not observed tho slums here which wore to bo seen at Homo. Tho speaker then stated that ho had noticed where a distinguished Auckland gentleman, who had just returned from a-visit to the Old Country, had been interviewed. This gentleman saw no poverty, ho did not sco any starving women and children, and found that even tho agricultural labourers wero working under wry good conditions. The Auckland visitor had certainly not been taken where ho could see the awful conditions prevailing in tho great City of London. Most assuredly thore was no other eity in tho world' where tho conditions of tho population could bo woiso than they wero there. Ho was one of thoso who believed that the Lord helped thoso who helped themselves, and if you wanted anything dono you had got to do it yourself. That led him to say that in the 0;d Country the Labour party had had difficulties to contend with in seeking even a partial solution of the social problems which did not obtain out here. In regard to the Arbitration acts, and what the workers got and what they deserved, if they wanted anything better they would have to tfiko some other means of scouring it. If the people wanted good legislation and good administration they needed to holp tho powers that b" up to the scratch, and that could only be done effectively by continually placing before them tho wrongs that required righting. Those, in his opinion, were tho conditions out of which tho Labour party at Home sprung. Tho lecturer related a storv of a man who was travelling in America, and was askod by tho conductor to come off the platform on the last carriage, whence the traveller was viewing tno scenery, in that, as he explained, it was only for "getting in on." His experience of politics in tho Home Country was that political parties had platforms, but tiiey, too, were only for getting m on. As far back as tho Chartists (said the sneaker) old-ago pensions were one of the things dazzled before _ electors, But after the candidates l>ad got into i arliaimont thc<o pensions were forgotten. Lie then went on to relate that Jfc Joseph Chamberlain had stated when the LibciJ b were in power that the granting olold-ago pensions was simple as A B O. \\hen the hot), gentleman go-t> mk) oificc ho Ihad been aisicod to briing forward pension proposals, but tlhon, replied that it was a. most intricate position. In 19C6 the question of old-age pensions figured oil tho LwCT|U, Conservative, aind Labour plat-forms. The Labour representation in the House of Coinmans was 29, whilo in 19C0 it was only two. Referring to tho important rolo the Londoni Timet had at one time, occupied in loading public opinion, t-fie teturer stated that it had now been purchased by tho proprietors of the Daily Mail. Any weight The Times might havo had had now been entirely lost. However, The Times before those ilayr» lnid influenced opinion in high places by sta.rt.ing a crusade against tho lazy British workers. The opinions of the judges were afTeoted, and they lhad had tho famous Tdt Vale decision. .The lecturer related how the passing of the Trades Union Act of 1871-1875, had come to pass; how an iron! puddler who could -not get work in Wolverhampton found his way to Worthiiagton, and secured work. On his child dying the father .returned to Wolverhampton to bury it, and alltousjh at tihe time lii.f loft this town there was no work for him, lie was arrested at tho instance of his former employer whilo at the funeral of his child, tried, and put in prison for the breach. The employee liad to go to prison for a • broach; the employer only paid damages for a similar breach. The articles of The Times about the wickedness of tliet lazy British, workma.ii wai> the causo of the judge-made laws in the Old Country at the present time. There was no mention in the King's Speech k 1906 of old-age. pensions, amd his party immediately decided to move to liavc the question ad-deld to tho Address. It was considered'extremely immodest for my member of tiho House of Commons to aidirircvs (I'm llouso before he had been tilrcra two years. Every member of tho Labour party, however, " had his speech oft' his elicit bcfo'nsi ho had been there two months."—(Applause.) When they traxl to get the pension scheme introduced they pointed out that whilo the Govccnimeiirt could mot give £10,000,000. to savo life, £250,000,000 had been spent in South Africa for the dwjtiruetion of life—(applause)—mnd £3,000,000 had been given in compensation to tilic fanners for tho loss of thoir annuals owing lo swfflo fever. He considered it would have been better to havo spent this money on, the old men and women who hud been tho creators of the wealth of tho country. The apeakctr then refonred to tho harassing coiidtitions which had been tried to l)e placed cm those eligible lo reoeivo the old-ago pension, and how they had been removed; how the Labour marty had, after many delays got the Necessity to Feed School 'CMldren: Bill through the House, lie had noticed in tho papers recently that the cost of providing 9,600,000 free meals to children had amounted to £153,000, and remarked how tlm effects of starvation ultimately helped -to fill the prisons and hospitals. Tli© money spent on bmrping up these latter was greater than feeding tho fomrata) in tho first caso. There wwo 12,000,000 people in England living under tho .poverty linio, said tih® speaker. He referred to Hie reciprocal visit,-; mado between the Labour parties of England and Gerinamy, and said there wero 25,000,000 trades unionists in that country. At the time of tho ww scar,:' of two .years a,go a party of Laborer mon visited all the centra; of Germany. Thtey met tlliciir Gorman brothar.-, ami tlio meetings wero attended by ]«ulin£ politicians and promiinent men in the Fatherland. It was tho unanimous opinions of those meetings that war between Germany and Great Britain would bo a crime wgaiiist civilisation and humanity. Referring fc> the House of Loivfa and the Veto question, the speaker stated that he believed tho House of Commons was " going to havo no more nonseni-e from the llouso of Lords, and wo aro not soing to have any nonsense from people higher up than tho House of Lords. They had taken the head 1 of a King off before to-day for frustrating the will of tho peoplo. The wli.x'ls of progress could not stand still." The speaker then referred to tho sale of Fort Matilda and Rosyth to tho Government. and stated that tho former plaoo, which was purohasod for £1,801,000, was not worth a halfpenny, and tho snmo remark applied to tno latter place, Ho wont to rofcr in vnkmtpry cowriliatfoii they

had had in connection with tho stool workers for 25 years, and said it had given 20 times bettor conditions than all tho strikes and lock-outs. Strikes and lock-outs were an economical mistake. In New Zealand mon and women had the vote, and they could make their acts exactly a? they liked. If the workers in Now Zealand only exercised their power they might nrake New Zealand what tlx) whole earth was intended to 'lie—a paradise. They had heard a groat deal about the heaven they were going to inhabit wlion they left this earth. Ho believed that -Christ intended tlm earth to 'ho a heaven for man. ' If they did not nniko i,t that it was their own fault, and they need not blame anybody else. Spooking of the Oborne judgment, the speaker referred to tho state of things which prevented men from doing as they liked with their own money. He, emphasised the fact that the people should get their own representatives to do their woi-Jc instead of leaving it for others to do, and remarked on tho municipalisation of various industries in Dunedin, 6tating that that was the principle Socialists preached, and Socialism did not mean if one man had 10s and another 2s 6d the two sums were to bo put together and divided again. It was simply collectivo ownership. In concluding, Mr Hedge said tho life of Christ was contained in tho New Testament. Was He always taken up with men's oouls? He went about doing good. That was the kind of politics that ho believed in. If we followed in His precepts wo would revelutioniso our country, so that the earth would be the paradiso God intended it to be.—(Loud applause.) Severn! questions were nsked and answered by the speaker, and motion moved by Mr W. Wan-en thanking tho speaker for his able lecture was carried by acclamation.