THE LABOUR PARTY

Otago Witness, Issue 3556, 9 May 1922, Page 47

THE LABOUR PARTY

ADDRESS BY MR HOLLAND. CHRISTCHURCH, April 30. Mr H. E. Holland, M.P., Leader of the Labour Parliamentary Party, addressed a public meeting at the Choral Hall last night, when the attendance was about 300. He said that_ in Parliament to-day there were two main patties, the Government and the Labour Parties. There was also what had been the Liberal Party, numbering about 14 in all. The Labour Party would support any motion of censure on the Government, because it had no confidence in Mr Massey, but that did not moan it supported the" Liberal Party. Mr Holland predicted that as the elections drew nigh Mr Massey would say there was no need for a cut in wages, but if the Labour Party failed to make any material advance he predicted that one of the greatest offensives against wages that New Zealand had known would be launched after the elections. Tie predicted that the coming session would be one of the most strenuous ever held in New Zealand. The one outstanding feature of rhe session would be the fact that the real Opposition lay in the Labour Party, and that if the Labour Party were not there there would be no bar whatsoever to the despotic legislation that the Massey Party generally stood for. No matter how Mr Wilford might protest, no matter how many Independents endeavoured to stand between the parties, the real battle next election would be between the Labour and the Massey Parties. Votes for other parties than Labour would mean votes for the Massey Parly. Mr Holland said he wished to see all the working men, manual and otherwise, from the North Cape to Bluff linked up in one big industrial organisation, and lie would insist that the Post and Telegraph workers be included in that organisation. If Labour throughout New Zealand had tile same solidarity as its eight representatives in Parliament had last session, they would soon make their strength felt in the political field. It must be recognised that the Labour Party was the ojiH party of the future Mr Holland received a hearty vote of thanks and confidence.