A STRONG PROTEST.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 1407, 1 June 1916, Page 8

A STRONG PROTEST.

'AGAINST HIGH' COST OF LIVING.

The meeting convened by the Labour, organisations at the Scottish Hall las't'j night to protest againsi the high, cost j of living, was well attended. Mr. A. i IS.' Richards, who .presided, , expressed J appreciation at seeing such a _ large number present. The question to bo considered was not always an inviting one, but when the six speakers,, had laid their views before them jthe'y'" would agree that they had spent a profitable evening. Continuing, he said the question of the ed'?t .-'"of* living invited thought. r It. seemed to him that something was.seriously wrong when ir:, New Zealand.

with one fortieth the population of Great

Britain, the question of the cost, of Hying "arose, and they were forced to ask':

"What was the matter?" One was apt to wonder, whether I, Nlie cdipitry had passed through something akin to famine or drought, or that, the cost of production had increased, or that the cost

of distribution had increased. These were not tho reasons. Ho was*, convinced that never in the history oi\New Zealand were ihe means of production greater and better than at present ; and never were the facilities for distribution better. (Hear, hear.) The main reason was bound up in the political parties and problems. (Applause.) To suggest to a housewife th&'t New Z«a-

land had failed to produce sufficient to provide for all was to /suggest the • ridiculous. The fault was in. the mal-adnr'n istratinn of the country. They could not separate the political i element from the breakfast table. From the. fuss the Government, were making one would" think the party in. power; were .making

an effort to deal with the awful state of affairs. He said "awful" Realise in this town there were families who, were denied the privilege of enjoying to the full and plenty the necessities of, life, owing to the high cost of living. One man had told him he could onlv afford

a joint on one day a week. Such being tlie case the. time bad -arrived when those who had regard for their fellow creature should deal with the question. Tlie Government had set' up a Royal Commission to go through the country at the State's expense; it had hot occurred to the powers that be to give representation to Labour on that .commission, but it comprised men of affluence, who knew nothing about the. position. They, therefore, did not recognise the commission, but desired to bring influence to bear on Parliament tq. do something. ( Applause. ) The ' question affected everybody. Mr. Bickford, secretary, of the Freezers' Union, snid he wished tq refer .'to four articles of food, which, he alleged, had been exploited .in t^u'a. town;; Ho said a short, time ago local- mercha'hts met and fixed the price of coal. Atone t^ime' they got ' a bag ■ of."' Coal foi* 3s 6d, and then -for 4s. Latter- a. new; ••-price-jist , was published. # This was after "'tile : wharf labourers .received, ah "increase -of wages, biit that* did' hot" justify the "increase of the price of coal to 4s 6d and 5s a sank. Referring to bread, he said, a 21b ,l0af ;was_ .sold 7qr.\4£d,..t'hr; same as- iii Auckland, Wellington ."and Oamaru: ; In other places it'-waa 4d;a'?nd ; sri-.. . This showed there -was. a "ring" operating, fixing the price of foods. Then there was, butler. Three.. years ..ago the summ-?r price for Okitn butter -was Is 3d a^ lb and Kia Ora Is 2d. It "gradually advanced during the wnvter; Iq Is 5d and Is 6d. 'In the summed '■' If ' -again .dropped to Is 3d .and .Is 4d. and now it had., advanced : to. Is 7£. .' There was. nb, reason. for this. . There, were 500

boxes "i'h the Freezing Works' awaiting , shipment, and it was sent away at Is 5d per lb. There was " no reasbii Why the' cOmpahieav could, not sell it locally for lssd. (Hear, hear.) Another item

was sugar. A few weeks ago a 561b bag was lis 6d, and now they pajd 15s fpra 701b ba'e. ' This Y worked but at 6d ymoro for 561b of sugar than when' it was sold in 561b bags. They L , had. to .buy 701h bags now. Referring;' to' 'the retail meat' shops, he quoted ' figures taken from- the Labour returns; and. said' th©'- average retail price in 1 Gisborne >vas higher than in any other town in' N^w Zealand.' This should not be. They: did not get the best. /of meat in shops, a*-.d yet they were to pay more than the juice they should get prime meat; tor. A j present, there were approxintatelv 150,000 carcases of mutton and 12,000 quarters of beef in the freezing works awaiting shipment Home. "I venture to say," he declared, "that meat will never be sold in town here; it is too good.'' ..{Laughter and applause,.) t .Beef iii "the shops, lie* said . "cost' 9d a r lb I ,' and the Government paid 5d for the very best. The Government bought prime lamb at s£d, r and could they get it in the shops. jfor les.v than. lb£d? The. price of muttbn to the Government was 4d and 4Jld. If the Government could

buy: meat, and the producers icduld sell it tq the' Government, at these prices, why could they not sell it to the public pt that price?

Mr. Ji H. Hall' said the meeting would be of • the one opinion, . .that exploitation existed in this country to a shameful degree. He could; not attach the whole hlattie 911 the present Government. (Hear, hear.)' He was prepared j to give tlie present Government credit for their courage and audacity in maintaining their loyalty, to the, clasa they i*epresented. (Laughter and applause.) He was not prepared, to cast blame, on unintelligent portions ipf tye community ,* tlx© class he (Wjis;. prepared to cjist the wl»ple blame on ''was. the/intelligent class yyho knew they were being exploited, yet did not assist ar*. organisation to overthrow the unsatisfactory state' of conditions. Mr, Massey said recently, that '.M..Per day per child , for the children ••of the country's . defenders was a suffi:;cfenX allowance. Tliat. Said thp speaker, ■•"would not cover th'e f ptfpe, demanded by .^exploiters over and above the nominal •^price of commodities •necessary for the of the children, .It meant the 'government wer e not doing anything ...Tor the maihteriance' of the childneij of the country's defenders. The- 6d -came from State coffers w^rich they and* he contributed to per medium of' Customs' duties, etc. The Government had 'connived at a scheme of legalised robbery to rob public accounts which were- for the benefit of the: . people: To say, , the country could not word to increase the allowance was a lie; of the 'worst character. If this, qouptry could not 'feed its people Avhat were they fighting 'for? (Laughter.) They had first to fight the enemy within-^tlm exploiter. Ignorance was also a great, , enemy, , and the only organisation that set, out, to'. combat tliat was the Social. Democratic.; Party, '^nd he urged them all to assist that party, ,an{j[ they would find in due time tyhat «the people would speak. (Applausfc.) Mr. Bartram said -it was difficult to say much that Was 1 fresh jitf fact it was unnecessary to do so. They all knew they were suffering from wrongs, and that they wer e being exploited, and that they -wene right in protesting. It- was -absolutely no good holding protest meet-, ...ings unless they resulted' in . vfodrous action afterwards. (Applause. 1 ) He . re-, ..ierred to a protest meeting .-held"- some months ago against the Borough Council. "After.we had smitten the enemy," he added, "we went liome, went to bed, wcnj> to sleep, and had been sleeping; ever since. (Laughter.) And the ras'cals we thrashed, have pursued the even tenor of their way ever since, and have been nejoicjng in the toughness of their hides." (Renewed laughter.) They, should do something, but what were . ™«y going, to do? (A voice: Sleep!). Were they going to look to* the Govfe •mrent for redress? He thought not. They . knew the party in power. Mr. Massey had promised to do something about tho cost of living, and so did Sfr Joseph Ward, but at last they united. Ihey got married— (laughter)— $nd as tile result, he said, they produced the Board of Trade Commission. Yes, it is aK lovely child. (Laughter.) Just like its But hot only is it lovely-^---it is very and will not stand the pubhc to gaze upon it. (Loud laughter.) It keeps behind closed ! doors. But there were previous commissions. Ihe facts disclosed at one commission were so terrible that it was smothered. Ihey could not hope to get redress frorii the Government in power. Where else could thek look for it? (A voice: The , ballot-box.) Could they : l Q ok to the commercial class for help. Mr. Bright Chairman, of the. Chamber of Commerce'

said if it. could !.>" proved thriy was a monopoly he would do his little Lit against it, but. he was not going In interfere with fi-c^ compel iiioii. Th. n:was no free oniipetition where workvis Were concerned. (Applause.) When the . Borough Council was recently ap

preached I'm* 'a 10 p n r cent, war bonus. one councillor said there was no poverty, ir, Oisbqvne. But. said the speakn*-, there wore families wlio could hardly provide a decent meal, and a worker could not get. a decent, respectable shanty to live in without paying a 'third of -His .inepmo for it. Supposing it were true there was no poverty, there was no reason why a woman should ho deprived of the price of a picture ticket, every time, she buys two pounds of butter or a bag of coal. They must, rely upon themselves ; with the power of their class they must work out their own salvation. (Applause.) There wa* a ! "possibility of getting out of the difficulty, and the only way to fight a trust wq-s to form a people's trust. (Ap plana-?.)

Mr. Gilchrist said if there was one thing that amused him more 'than another it was the sotting up of commissions. Proceeding, he quoted figures gleaned from Government statistics to shpSy that the purchasing power of a so'ver-sign was considerably less now than it was a few years ago. He also referred to the production of butter, the price of which, he said. 'before the wai--was Is 2d per lb, and since it had risen to as high as Is Bd, which meant a wav profit of £400,000. The price would yet be 2s 3d a lb, which meant a profit of one and a-quarter million pounds, and that at a time when they were producing three times as much as required for consumption in New Zealand. Mr. Gilchrist also quoted extensively to show the increase of prices of other commodities, and.^said it could be proved they •syere being exploited by comparing the profits of companies before the war with the profits they were now making. The only key to the solution that he could give was, not attending a commission to give evidence, but that the people should mvn and control the whole means of. proil^ction and distribution. (Applause,},/, The Chairman announced that Mr.D. W. Coleman was to speak, but as time '■vvas getting oh Mr. Coleman desired that Mr: Parry, of Auckland, should be called on. y

Mr. Parry said one of the most important questions agitating the minds of the people was . the question of food, shelter, and clothing. So far as he was personally concerned-, and the Labour forces were concerned, the question of food exploitation was easily understood. While the means" Avhereby* people lived were monopolised by a few people, so long; would, they have exploitation atone iend and' poverty at the other. (Hear, hear.) Some, would tell them that 'was a.; "Bed ' Fed" statement, hut they had never been able to 'get a clear definition pt what that meant. It was .time the people who were compelled to -"Vork" for 'a. wage realised that .tliey could hardly efxpect a "square deal" from the party ill power. After criticising both political parties; for;! failing' to deal with ■the question, Mi*. Parry said' there should he -no need for commissions to ob'taii) details. The fact that every gazetted company .. in New -Zealand had increased .th^ir. profits ,hy' c thoiisapds of pounds should bo sufficient ievider.ee. for Ithe Government to act upon. The people who monopolised the commodities of 'life, he said, were worse than the Huns! (Applause.) These people were able to %'mg "God Save' the King"' and wave the flag, but the.otlier hand was deep down,' robbing the toiler. (Applailse.) They had' never experienced a greater period of prosperity, and at the same time never experienced a greater period of exploitation. The Government was grappling with the difficulty of getting ships to take produce from New Zealand, and yet the price3 were so high. Notwithstanding tlie fact that the Country'was going tliroiigli a period of great , pr&sperity, ? the war waged by the housewife .was just as keen as of yore. (Ap■plau^e.) The Government was absolutely dead to the interests of the people. Continuing, Mr. Parry entered upon a lengthy and trenchant criticism of the taxation systems, and said, so far as till e cost of living question was concerned, there was not a 'possible chance of the Government dealing with it. because 'they represented the class of people who were responsible for exploiting the people/ of the country. One of the things Rua' was denounced for was his banking scheme, in connection with which he gave 15s for levery £1' he received from the natives. Yet, when a woman went to town on a Saturday to spend £1 on 'necessaries of life* she only got 15s worth. Where was the difference between this and what Rua did? (Laughter.) Of course, the business men said in their case it was a matter ! of business. After denouncing conscrip-*---tion, Mr. Parry made air 'eloquent appeal for a higher manhood and sisterhood. (Applause.) . Mr. Deal was called on to move the following resolution r— V "That this public-, meeticg emphaHi--cally protests \against what we consider to be an unwarranted increase in the cost of living, and condemn the j ' .-Government for not taking steps to protect the people against the ruth•iess exploitation of "the food monopolists of this country ; and, further, contend that the setting up of a Food ''Commission to sit iii' camera is a mas- .,.. terly attempt on the part of the Gov- " «rnment to shirk .their promise made to the people last election, that they - -would deal promptly with the 'in- \ creased cost of living." 'In seconding the resolution, Mr. T). W. Coleman said the matter had been fully goi?|Q into. It had given the Labour Unions a good deal "of concern, for it concerned Labour Unions most' of all for the workers were the chief sufferers. Wages had been decreased bv the price of. .fpod-stuffs being increased time and aga'ift. , Now the workers were feeling the pinch, ' and the tether hVI come to breaking point. They were not speaking against ' the shopkeepers, for they were hot' the people responsible for 'tlie increase in the cost of living. There was more being produced in ihe country than leyer, and yet they had to pay more :' because ' the monopolists had hold of it. They were protesting 'to^ the Government,. not that thev expected ariy relief from that -quarter, but it was the people, who put the Government Hn. and who' could 'put the Government out! They must take ho' chances, ' but ke'ep protesting, arm" 'when' the Government saw the _ people were in dead earnest something, would be done. (Applause.) The resolution was carried unanimously. ':.'■:". '-:'i ,; . , '