DUNEDIN WEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2850, 28 October 1908, Page 15

DUNEDIN WEST.

MR J.W MUNRO' S ADDRESS. ' Mr James W. Munro, the Political Labour League's candidate to represent Dunedin West in tho House of Representa- i tives, addressed a meeting of about' 300 ! electors in the Alhambra Treatre on the 16th inst. Mr G. H. Weetiwood, immediate past president of 'the Ot^tgo Trades and Labour ! ! Council, who occumed the chair, said that he had bean working with Mr Munro for several yeare in the Labour anovement. and could give him a splendid character. Every ; on© of his actions had been clea.n and , j above-board.— (Appla-use.) Mr Munro had ! been selected as Labour candidate to con- I test Duroedin West against the Hon. Mr j Millar, and the party hoped h© would give a good account of himseM. It was true that Mr Munro was a master baker, and he was such because that positon had been j forced upon him. Thante to Mr Munro ! the bakers' combine had been broken down, and the people of Dumediin had been eating bread at 2d per loaf cheaper than would have been the case had Mr Munro not been in the trade.— (Appdauae.) Mr Munro, in opening, said perhaps the chairman had gone a. little further thai he (tibe speaker) would have liked as to his being vdobi-rndsied. -He had always been able to fijpht hie own battles, victimised or not victimised. He stood there to contest whs* he believed to be •one of the hardest seats in New Zealand on beball of Labour. It was not a position, he woudd have chosen had he had hie wish. However, the workers had ohosen him to contest tiuis election, and he took it to be his duty to do what the Labour party asked him. — (Applause.) He might not be able to do as well as he could wish for the Labour party, but he would do hie best — (applause), — and if he diii noteome up to *liciT expectations as a contestant for political honoursj so far as his platform utterances were concerned, he would ask their sympatfhy and patience. He would like tk) go back to the past history of the Bsllanoe and Seddon Governments, and to poi-nt cS6t *he reason of £H& great power these Governmente had wielded. He took it that the great power the late Prime Minister wielded was due to the humanitarian principles he advocated. He believed that one wish h<» had was to try to uplift humanity and try to make them better men and womeji.' That was the ideal of the Labour party to-day, pnd had been rt« id&aJ since the Labour movement was first initiated in this country ard in other countries. We had arrived at a civilisation to-day thait was largely due to the solidarity of tine Lafcour party in the past. — (AijpJause.) , The Seddon Government haid been practreally the same a 6 the Government of to-day so far as party was concerned, and the power it had wielded in the past and the legislation it had introduced had been largely o^ing to the Labour vote which it had behind it. WANT OP CONFIDENCE IN THE GOVERNiMENT. It would be asked why the Labour party saw fit to run a canddate against a member of the Cabinet, and tihere might be a diveraty of opinon ac to the wisdom of euoh a course, but while the Labour party had had every confidence in die Seddon Government it had not tlie sa.ru© confidence in the present Government. — (Loud applause.) The Government, to their minds, had got into a state of marking t ime. It was not progressing steadily and surely towards legislation that made for tho betterment of the people of the Dominion. Tli-e policy of ihe past Government, which bad for its objective a co-openvm o commonwealth, wa^. they roah^cd, beginning to be lo^t sipht of. Iho wcrkeis seemed to have been losing ground. anJ that fact was being brought home to them That \va^ ' the rea-on of their want of confidence m^ the present Administration The\ had tonic to the ro^i-lu-ion ihat. if lal-onr vas 'to make an\ further ad-ahco. lal-oui wou'd n-"od to put in a jiarty of r- own that , would not be at the beck and call of am particular parly that might he in power. — (Applause.) If tho\ looked at the LEGISLATION IN THE INTEREST OK LABOUR as brought down by the Minister of Labour, though he had po-«l a- a. fnend of the workers, who had really placed him in power, they would find in hi* amendment of the Industrial and Arbitration Bill of last year a spirit and influence j behind it that was in the interou- of the | Employers' Fedeiation and the Farmer- t Unions. The Minister had complained | a-bout the ingratitude of labour, and alaigc ' section cf members had doni the ' but labour had \ indicated it-elf and I Trades and Labour Counci 1 - had cpn- ■ demned the bill from one end of New Zealand to the other. — (App!au c c.) Tlie Labour party would have bt-cn quite willing to help the Minister if it had not l>eeu for eonio insidious clause^ introduced mio that bill— some clauses that were coins: to b"> to the detriment of labour ano irado- union- Ho referred particular! \ : jo --<t'um 53 in the fir.-t bill brought down 1 piohibitintr an\one hfing an officer of a j union unlc-- he wa»» enpra"^ in that par- : ticular trade. That wa.<- a. direct t-lap 'at what \un callod the agitator. They • know perfectly well that a large section | I of the unions had to rely on someone outbide their ranks to take the secretaryship

of their unions. Another phase of the ' matter was that there was a. .number of unions in the"coitn^y, and it would be a hardship upon them to have to pay* one of their own number adequately, and they would not be able to protect him as a large- union -would. Therefore that was., an insidious attempt to strike a blow at the official* 'of- the unions. Another sec;;tio i n*' was-; as •> 'to -trades unions registering-" under the - act^ of 1878. That wou^d have; .meant 'fhat had unions ffotf register**} under Ohe Conciliation and Arbitration Aofc they would have been wiped out altogether. There had been j great dissatisfaction as to the administraI t^pn';ofjthe"iA»rbjtration Act, and a^ 'to the • | insnner in --which the ooiir.t-tad. heard dis- | putes. There wa« a growing dissatasfaction j right -through, the. country that tKey were ; not getting justice at the "hands of the court, end the Minister, of Labour was seemingly determined that Labour should be put in its place. Ho seemed determined to get tliis' section into the act: that "if a union did 'not come under the act it had no legal standing as a union a* all. Referring to another section. Mr Munro said that meant that smaller unions would have to cHsmies their .present seorMtoics. ' A number of small, unions had on« secretary among them, as I hey could not afford to • Have- one eacih. and the Minister, in introducing this okuse, was trying to get a ; direct sla.p at them and at' so-called agitators. ■ No doubt' ho had forgotten -that at one time th^re w&fe no greater agitator in the Dominion ikan himself.— (Applause.) However, he (iir Munro) supposed it was to some extent only what they migh* Jlcok for. " When a man' gradiiatfT eTinroed" up and got into a. positiou of safety he gener- ( aHy " tried to *iclc the ladder ' uway by which he had climbed, and that was the view of the workers of -this Dominion. One sentence in the Arhrcratior. Act— or, rather, ' an amendment of it— was, .\o thought, very i drastic, and "that -was that whereas a titiion could previously be forruocl with members it now required 15. That was anotiier-slap at trades unions. The Government thought seven too few. but he did not think the workers ever thought that.— (Applause.) Surely a Minister of Labour should have seen what was in the best int teresta of Labou-r, and he (the speaker) was quite satisfied that an increase of from seven to 15 members to form a union was not in the interests of Labour.— (Applause.) It might be in the interests of the employer, but certainly not of . the worker.—(Applause.) the S E C ONI> BALLOT. 'Tfce Second Ballot Act of- last session, to his mind, showed that' the desire of the Government was to make the conditions of candidature as difficult as possible. •jNeitiier the Opposition nor the. Labour party had *»lced for tfie second ballot, and so anxious were the Government to have it. on the Statute Book that it gave one the impression that there must be »me ulterior motive. Sit Joseph WaTd was astute politician enough to foresee thai a Socialist- • Labovtr party was coming into tfoe field; henoe his anxiety to' get the "provision for the second ballot enacted.. To block the movemfent of the Labour parry, the Government had brought in and passed a measure that had distinctly on it the brand Made in Germany."— (Laughter and applause.) i They had been told that this system had I worked well in Germany, but in Germany to-day the social Democrats were finding it one cf Hie srreatest obstacles they Jiad to overcome. At the last elections in Germany the Social-Democrats poUed ov« 2,000.000 votes and obtained 43 seats, the i Centre party polled over 2.000,000 votes and gained 105 seats, tie National Liberals polled 1,570,836 votes a-nd gained 55 aeaie, the' Conservatives polled 1,499,501 votes and j gained 83 seats, and the various Radical | groups polled 1,211,304 votes and gained 51 ; seats. That showed distinctly that under ; the second ballot the majority at the polk , got the least representation in the Parliament. When they analysed the position . they could readily understand it. Supposing, said the speaker, -There were htanding for . Dmiedin West three candidates representing the Government, Opposition, and the Labour-Socialist parties, and on the first ballot the Labour-Socialist and the Oppositiou candidates were on top. They went to the second ballot- Would the support of the Government candidate go to the i Labour-Socialist who was in the lead on the | firet ballot": Not it. Both Government and Opposition would vote solid to keep Labour .oat.— (Applause.) With all the protestations of innocen&s on the part of the Governmeat, he firmly believed that it had »een that position even more clearJy that he [Mr Munro) could put it to his audience. ! The old system of Voting had >een very J «atw£act«ry, and if 'a change had been j desired ft eurely was to be expected that j the Government should have devised sometiling better than a system " Made in Germany." — (Applause.) -, THE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM. Dealing with the- endeavour of the Government to induce people in Britain to como awl settle in New Zealand, Mr Munro said ho admitted that what this Dominion wanted was population, but Now Z^ajaavd at the prc-scnt time had not work for its own people. The Trades and Labour Council had proK^tod against tli-e immigration policy of the Go* eminent, but t h-e em-plo.it-rs Jukl I:coii "t-allirig out for cheap labour. That wa~ all a pertain .-ection of i!i« tomniunitv was enncrrrd ab-iut. Emplojcis did uoi try to unoi-i-Maiid the iii'A i hat the lo*w. wair'-- were the w<jr^ wa^ the condition of the countij- He did ikj( s;<y tliat all wotild, but many of iho cm- , ployn^ yiouH lmiKirt Chinamen if they ' i hari'tn^ir way — (AppUi-.-j.) Wlwit they h«<l j lo ti\ to <-lo wa- to form, .slowly but t-uroh, ! a co-opekatiyj: commoxwkalih. j There wj- no aitc-ir.-uive The woiking { I pvojile to c'>aj" l>a«.i iLb'olui«ly made up j ■ their miiv 1 - thdt the sytoni of v, age skuory j I h-id to go. anj it wa- only a qut'-uon of j [ time when tha* would be realr-o-d. They j 1 educated their ho\ « and gi rN. and •expected 1 tlu-m to i-oni^)ii ui.<i'--r riic- economic conditions that obtau.od 50 \ear, a;ro The late Mr .Sedrlori wae acti-.-toinetl to say, •'TRUST THE PEOPLE." and \cv\ often he wa= iri earnest wi^eii he u~cd~ the o\pi'c%-ion. but it <-eemed to the -p«aker that tho rootcJ opinioh of the j pif-cut Aduntii- r iaticn wat; that the p<>op!< v. ero nor to be trusted. He maintainetl that liad tlie worker^ been allowed ' to o'-iaiti the full logical benefit of lh« ' Ai!) it ration Act there would ha*e been J none of the strikes that had taken place , of late. The recommendations of the Trades and Labour conferences had been disregarded, and the present Minister of. Labour, whilst a private member of the House, had, by a tp-acch on Mr Arnold's

bill, dealt the death-blow to preference } to unionists, although, as a matter of fact. : ■he vote^Jor the bill. ; A SEPARATE LABOUR PARTY j The history of the Labour movement -n i England proved that labour could snake no progress ,sb. long as- it* wus . allied to ! Liberalism. There ver6 -wealthy men, i I laY,ge employer^ and capitalists,^ in ; 1 Labour ''party /iand the .interests' of -.the j capitalists -au,d the Jrorkea*- could not' be ! identical.— (Applause.) " Lt the dhidends . of the employers were encroached upon it was the employe© .who had co" suffer.- -'The hope of the Labour party, was that the ' time would copij vhfit- 'eTe'rSLjiian^-^ l^^ i have . the. right" to work, riot^as' s ,Jftvou*». j but by virtue of hie manhood. — (Applause.) I TAT A FIGHT OF LABOUR. ....' ! He wanted to impress ujfciu the workers , that it was their, contest. It was the fight 4 of~ Labour — (loud aftplanseK— and &> fa* as- j hid '-personal ability went he was nortnatch for the Hon. the Minister of Labour. He recognised the Minister was a man: of ability, but h& wanted to impress upon them that it was not only a labour fight^ but^ a national labour ' fight.— -^LoSA "■ apS? plau&e.) He wanted to impress upon them that it was not whether he went into" Parliament, but whether .they went into - Parliament. If the r«sult was that he went fo Parliament, and did not come up ' to"* their expectations, he knew they would v wipe him. out, and he would not blame them. His whole reason for standing for i the House was that Labour might ; be reI presented. He bad called for a. committee, and the resporise had not been such as it | .should h*ve been, but he was not going to V^utik this fight. Let them-.iiot make any mistake about that. He was afraid it was 1 them who were going to iu<nk it. They knew he was an untried political quantity, and he could only offer them the best h« frad T that was honesty of ptxrpo&s and sim- * cerity of conviction.— (Loud applause.) I POLITICAL LABOUR LEAGUE'S ! PLATFORM. 1 Before concluding, Mr Munro submitted toJ tho meeting the fighting platform of the | Political Labour League, as follows: >J i 1. Sta-te Bank.— Establishment of a • Stftte^ j bank, with sole right of note issue, which shall be ieg«2 tender. •_''<" 2. Land Reform. — (a) Abolition of ivfche.««.le c ' of Crown lands, (b) Periodical revaluation of all Crown loads held on lease., subject to fair compensation being allowed for any variation of the lease. . Such revaluation not to apply to existing leases until the death of £ke present leaseholder or tire wans- ;■ iex of the lease to another, ox whichever ; occurs first. (c) Resumption of land for closer settlement to be *t owner's valuation. ! for taxation purposes, plus 10 per cent. ' i (d) Tenants' l absolute rig^t to their improvemenis jr ?. Local Government Reform. — (a) ParJiamentaary franchise to apply to the elections of all local bodies, (b) Every elector to have.! ■ the right to vot« on any 'question j to a poll. "' . *"• 1 ■4. Democratic Government. — (a) Referendum | with the initiative in the hands of the people, fb) Abolition of the Upper .House, (c) Elective Executive. 5. Statutory and Unconditional Preference of Employment to Unionists. 6. Cessation of Borrowing except for — (a) 1 Redemption, (b) Completing works already authorised by Parliament. 7. Nationalisation of the Land and Means of Production and Distribution. 8. Trusts And Combines. — State control oi trusts and combines in "the interest i>i tb« people. 9. Education. — The maintenance of our State educational system — secular, compulsory, and free from the primary school to the university. 10. Immigration. — (a) The further immigration of Asiatics to be absolutely prohibited, (b) The importation of labour, male -and female, undar contract, to be restricted. 11. A White New Zealand. 12. Workmen s Dwellings. — Establishment of State workmen's dwellings in all centres of population. 13-xOia-Age Pensions.— That the Old-age Pensions Act be amended by increasing the pension to at least 12s 6d per week, making it payable at 60 years of age, and unconditional in all respects except time of residence. 14. G-eneral. — (a) State recognition of the right to demand and obtain work. It shall b» -the duty of those in authority to provide work for every citizen who applies for it. (b) Immediate extension of the function of the State for the purpose of supplying the people with th« necessaries of life, and the establishment of State farms and nournnlls. (c) Civil servants to have full political righto of freedom of speech and public action without prejudice. (d) M«le and female workers to receive equal pay for equal work. (c) A uniform set of school. books to be printed by the Government an 3 supplied free of cost to tiie public schools of the Dominion. (f) Public defenders to be provided in oaaes 0/ indictable off eucas and misdemeanours. (g) That the Government provide free doctors and medicine. The Labour party was not against th« present (joverument in particular. They wanted tho Labour members to be free, not only to support the planks of their platform, but to introduce them in the Uoii'o and fight for them. Until they had) a tl independent Labour party they might a~ well not have their political liberty. — 1 (Appau-,0.) i Mr Munro, who epoke for about an 1 hour and a-ha!f, had a most attentive and' appre< lative hearing, and resumed his seat amid-t loud applau'-e. In reply to a questioner, tlie candidate &aid that work on the Otago Central rail■v\aj should not oease until the line wag pushed right through to Pembroke. On the motion of Mr Brown iCajpenteirs' Union), seconded by Mr A. Walker (Bootmakers' Union), it was unanimousv reBolred — " That this meeting considers Mr Munro a fit and proper person to represent i}k- electors of Dumedin .West in the House of U-^pres^ntatives."

A ferret which escaped from its locker at Laindon. Ewsex. killed three geese, five ducks, and 12 chickens before it was captured. Victorian undertakers* employees and the ministers of religion have for a long time been agitating against Sunday funerals, and they recently a^ked the Minister of Labour (Sir Alex. Peacock) to utilise the faetori.es and shops legislation to prohibit funerals on Sundays, except In special instance. He hae submitted the request to the Health Department, with the suggestion that an amendment might be made in the Health Act providing that funerals should be conducted on Sundays only when the laws of public health demanded that they should not be postponed.