THE LABOUR PARTY'S OBJECTIVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23202, 28 May 1937, Page 6

THE LABOUR PARTY'S OBJECTIVE

tO I'HE EDITOR

Sir,—A correspondent, writing under the above heading, is very much hurt, indeed, because his relief pay has been altered to suit his changed condition, but of course he is astute enough to omit the real facts. For instance, he cannot induce anyone to believe that a Torv Government would give him £3 4s" per week if it was fortunate enough to get into power again (even with the country in the improved condition it is in to-day). As for saying that the unemployed are almost as numerous as when the Tories were in power, well, I do not believe it. I remember lining up for weeks on end from 9 a.m. to about 3 p.m. in Moray place nearly every day trying to get a job from the Labour Department. I had to walk over seven miles to town and seven miles back. None of us got "a bean" for months on end. I For one was before the court because I was too hard up and couldn't pay for my food. The same, I guess, happened to thousands. Just quietly, I might let the moaners know we didn't get £1 19s a week. May I ask how many of a family this man is maintaining and also how many are maintaining him? The order of the day before the Labour Government altered things was a queue before the charitable institutions with sugar bags My wife and two children received 2fls per week for a start, and we got promoted to 295. We had " stand down " weeks, and if we got a day's work this was docked off us. Before I left town the Labour Government gave me £1 17s a week on sustenance. It is funny that the counties could give and find work for us when Labour was not in power. No. Sir. in spite of all ycu have written to the contrary, I declare the slump ceased from the day the election results were made known. Why, even across the Atlantic a slump is in full command even now. As far as the workers and the shopkeepers in this country are concerned, the slump was a thing of the past from election day. To return to the letter to which I have referred, the 8d loaf was the result of price-cutting which was made possible bv the employment of cheap labour. Perhaps "H 10" would like to see us live as the Japanese dowork for long hours, get very little for wages and buy with what you get only iust the food and clothing you require Let me tell you. Sir. that when you gloat over the difference in prices such as butler, which was lid and now is Is 4d I gol sid for my butter-fat, whereas now the farmer gels around about Is—and what is more, he needs that and more. With reference to cheese, which was 6?d and now is lid, will "H. 10" just imagine what the poor old " cockey " getting up at 4 a.m would get at that price? Let me explain why "H 10" does not know the price of meat I think it is because he gets a ticket like some of the unemployed in Dunedin which entitles him to so many pounds of meat at Id or Jd per lb The sooner the worker begins to understand that he has to battle for his class and not for some other class which has not got any time for the worker, the sooner he will better

his own condition. I agree with everything Mr MacManus has written. He need not battle for the worker because he is a farmer, and according to the farmers, he should be a Tory. I reckon he is genuine. When the Tories were in office I could not buy sacks to cover myself with to Keep me warm in bed. No, Sir, things are dearer here and elsewhere, but now. thank God, I am able to buy butter, cheese, bacon, eggs and blankets. While I think of it. there are certain people growling because the youths can't get jobs. Nearly 21 years ago I became 21 years of age and what happened? I was snapped up and sent overseas to fight for the "powers that be." and who were.they? Not the workers. And what happened when I came back? I was too old, too, for my trade, and now I am a labourer. I will ask you, Sir, if you are game enough to have a column in the editorial page given up to the Labour viewpoint in answer to any of your anti-Labour outbursts. If so, I think the Labour Party will easily defend or present its view. Personally, I am afraid I do not see why newspapers should not be under control of some sort.—l am. etc.. Labour Again. Kaitangata. May 26. I The space which we have given to "Labour Again" for the publication of his long diatribe is a sufficient reply to his question whether we are ' game enough" to permit the Labour viewpoint to be stated in our columns. There has been no denial by the Daily Times of the expression, within reasonable limits of space, of views contrary to its own. No Government in New Zealand, it may be added, has been granted a more extensive use of the columns of the press than the present Govern-. ment has. A controlled or censored press, such as our correspondent apparently desires, would be a press to which the public could not -confidently look for a truthful presentation _of facts It is such a press that exists under dictatorships in certain European countries where freedom of speech, as we understand it, is not known. A censorship of the press is the first step towards the abolition of the liberty of speech-Ed. 0.D.T.1