MR J. T. JOHNSON AT MOSGIEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2849, 21 October 1908, Page 34

MR J. T. JOHNSON AT MOSGIEL.

There were about 300 electors present hi the Volunteer Hall. Mosgiel, on the 19th Wst., when Mr J. T. Johnston, who is contesting the Taieri set in tne forthcoming general election, delivered his first speech In that town. Mr H. H. Inglis (Mayor of Mosgiel) was chairman, and briefly introduced the speaker, asking for him a fair xnd impartial hearing. Mr Johnson, who was cordially received, said that he came before the electors as one who had been a supporter of the JLiberal Government since the Premiership pi the late Mjr Ballance. It seemed to him that of late many of those who had been supporting the Opposition were realising that tho Opposition as a fighting force ■was defunct, and were turning -round to Liberalism in order to retain their seats, and it was becoming more and more apparent that these disguised Conservatives -were having such an effect on the^ Liberal Government that the Government's policy was less progressive than it should be. It ,was therefore imperative that true Liberals should come forward, ac^ give tne people the opportunity cf laying whether they xfesired to be governed by Liberals or by ciisguised Conservatives. He did not purpose wearying his hearers with a statement "of the points, on which he was in unison with the Government, but rather to place fcefore his hearers his own policy, with an occasional reference to. the policy of the present Administration. It was his intsn-' fion to return to Mosgiel before election ■day, and on that occasion* ■would mafee the fighting speech of his campaign and reply •to criticisms that might fee levelled against Irim. INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION. The- present defect, to his mind, in the industrial conciliation and arbitration system wa« that the jurisdiction of tne court ■was too narrow. Under the system as it •was a strong union could withdraw from its jurisdiction altogether, whilst a number of callings in which workers were engaged .were not able, for various reasons, to form unions and come , tinder tba act. It was therefore possible, under existing^ conditions, that the industrial iaws applied only to the middle class of workers, because of the fact tha-t the strong unions could draw out, whilst the unorganised workers could not come in and seek the assistance of that power which Parliament had set up as the ostensible .helper of the underpaid. All •workers, said {he candidate, should have the chance of going before the Arbitration Court, ~-r respective of their being unionists or noDuunkwrists. As a matter of fact, he did not think it was necessary to .appeal to the Arbitration. Court at all, because the question of a living wage 'was not one •which rested between tho master and the employee, but between the community and the master. The community practically handed .the industry over to the master, and said that be could make as much out of it-« 6 lie was able, but at tha same tim<> tho community Jbad ihe right to say fcka-fc he should not crash the worker or pay a irage less than was sufficient to live on. WAGE-EARNING. The only satisfactory basis on which to •rest the wage system vras to have a minimum ■wage law enacted by Parliament, and to 3>ave that law administered, not by the Arbitration Court, but by the Civil Court, if desiredr One advantage to workers from 4he arbitration and conciliation system was that from the administrators of the court they should be able to obtain information of -what was a living wage' in the various industries. The Hon. Sir .•Millar, speaking on one aspect of industrial disputes, had 6a|d that if the present system failed ■workers would hav-a to fall back on the old eystem of strikes to 6etfle their disputes. "That showed a defect in the arbitration •system, and emphasised the necessity for a living wage for all workers being established by law. PROFIT-SHARING. Over aiid above the living wage, the question arose as to how far the worker was entitled to share in the profits of the industry in which he' was engaged. In this ©on-yection, said Mr Johnson, various factors oa-mo into play.. The various sources by which power could be generated — etoam, water, and electricity — had to be <$>nsidered, and before any definite finding could be come to es to what should be paid to employees it must first be ascertained what was the cost of production. When the cost of production was ascertained the industrial court which he advocated could easily decide the matter of the minimum wage of those actually engaged in the industry, and if that was not possible then the State could come in and work -that trade for the benefit of the community as a whole. * After having outlined his ideas of what should govern industrial conditions of employment, Mr Johnson went on to refer to {lie ideas on the Land Act, and generally ■upportea the measure of the Hon. Mr Jt^Jab, with the exception that he advocated a £5000 limit of land tax exemption, jmd also a form cf freehold under which the owner and his heirs had the right in perpetuity, until such time as the present owner desired to sell, in which case thesale must be to the Crown at the original purchase price, plus value of existing improvements. T»E LICENSING QUESTION. The no-lioense question was one about which there was a good deal' of controversy, and lie might state at once that he thought a very necessary alteration in the licensing laws was the elimination of the reduction vote. He "had discussed the matter with the leaders of both parties, who had stated that they regarded the i63ue as being superfluous. He thought the fight should be a straightout fight between license and nolicense. — (Applause.) He was opposed to the bare majority proposal, but he thought a three-fifths majority too much -to ask. Instead, he advocated a 55 per cent, •majority — and suoh a majority should ejways be asked for in such questions as i|ie liquor question. In no-license districts ■at was obvious that while the traffic was diminished there was a considerable illegal traffic in liquor going on, which could not %kj eradicated, and the question therefore 4krp3e whether there was to be control of this traffic or no control. They would find tJiat if this traffic were not now controlled it would drift into channels recognised 6's ihe- regular channels in the drink traffic. There should therefore be some recognised system of the control of the sale of liquor in no-license areas. He objected to voters io a district where no-license had beon finally carried having the opportunity of voting for restoration, which. was illogical and absurd Once no-licence had been rarried the people should be bound to

abide by their own decision, and, aS subsequent elections, instead of being .allowed to vote for restoration, that; issue should be eliminated altogethsr. and the people should bo asked to cay whether they would have State control of the liquor traffic or total prohibition.— (Applause.) EDUCATION. The whole question of education was made up in the matter of introducing- different systems of memorising. While memorising might be carried too far, it was ako possible to go too far in the ether direction. The faculties of children were very acute, and while young it was possible to train them by a proper system ol memorising. But whrt-n thay were o^cr it was quite unfeasible to train them by thenpowers of observation alone when they were grouped in large classes. Different children had different traits of character, and it was obvious that tho only way to teach them was by individual teaching. In- their desire to get away from the system of memorising, they were getting into ridiculous methods. The teacher should try by every means in his power to demonstrate the physical basis of any lesson that is being taught. The question of individualising and specialising should form a part cf the studies of mature years, and should not be includ-ed in what was taught in primary 'schools. In conclusion, he would not occupy them with a longer statement regarding his position. He offered himself as a supporter of the Government, and was prepared to fight out any of the questions en which he had -expressed himself. If returned, he was prepared to stick to his party, and if he did not see eye to eye with* the latter was ready to concede that there- might be just as wise men Un it as he. — (Applause.) QUESTIONS. Mr G. M'Laren said that during the next, session of Parliament it was almost certain that a bill would be brought down making „. military training compulsory. Would Mr Jojjnson support such a measure? Mr Johnson eaid he was in, favour of compulsory military training for all males under 21 years of age. The training should be commenced in school ar.d continued afterwards. Under our Militia laws all males between tha ages of 15 and 60 were liable to be called out. This was a law made in the days of the Maori war, but it would not Jie undesirable if use were made of it to-day lo strengthen the Militia and make it -effectne. He believed that if the colonies had an effective system- cf defence thsy woukl r.ot be nearly so liable to invasion by foreign nations, and the Empire woukl be tho more strongly consolidated, fif favoured the German system of conscription, whereby every man might be called upon in the hour of danger, and the army corps were so arranged that the young nren under 30 "years of age would be in the first line; men between 30 and 40 wouid be in the second line ; between 40 and 50 would Ire Sin the third line, and so on. If we amplified that we would have at our disposal an effective army. With regard to I the naval subsidy, he 'thought that a- very 1 lazy way of providing for the defence of the Dominion. The £100,000 voted by t New Zealand was very 6mall indeed when ■ it was remembered tha* Britain's naval budget showed between fifty and sixty : million pounds expenditure for one year; whereas were the amount of the subsidy employed in equipping our Joca.l defences New Zealand would be in a much better position in the event of war. A strong class of beat might be procured, suitable for mercantile as well as for fighting .purposes, and when not required in war such might be utilised as ordinary passenger or cargo boats — might run against the Union Company and attempt to break up the monopoly it held _of tha ferry service between Lytteltcn and Wellington. Mr Heath stated that a rumour wasl current that Mr Johnson did not propose to go to the poll at all, but proposed, in) the interests of the Liquor party, to withdraw from the contest at the last moment. Was this true? Mr Johnson said he had heard the statement for the first time that evening. It was not true. He was going to .carry the campaign through to the poll, and they would find him there on election day. Even should he be prevented from further conducting the campaign, he would go to the poll. In the places he had been in ho had received a much larger share of support than he had expected, and he thought he would give a good account of> himself on election day.— (Applause.) Mr John Wright moved, seconded by Mr A. Dixon — "That a voto of thanks be accorded the candidate for hh addr^s." This was unanimously carried, and a vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the prcoeedings.