LABOUR'S AIMS

Southland Times, Issue 19502, 17 March 1925, Page 8

LABOUR'S AIMS

THE COMING ELECTION MR HOLLAND’S CAMPAIGN ADDRESS IN VICTORIA HALL. There was hardly a vacant seat in the Victoria Hall last evening when Mr H. E. Holland, M.P. for Buller, and Leader of the Labour Party, delivered a political address on Labour’s aims in the 1925 Election. There were fully 750 people present, and considering th»e fact that the excitement usually associated with a political campaign has not yet manifested itself, such a large attendance must have been pleasing to the Executive of the local Labour movement. Mr W. J. Thomas occupied the chair and briefly introduced Mr Holland and Mr Munro to the meeting, at the same time expressing pleasure at the fact that the supporters of the Labour movement in Southland, and the electors generally, had been privileged to receive a visit from the Leader of the Party. AWAKENING THE PEOPLE. In opening his address Mr Holland said that part of his mission was to awaken in the minds of the people generally, but more particularly in the minds of these associated with the Labour movement, the importance of the election which was to take place at the end of the year. Some people were of opinion that the election would take place much earlier than that, but he was one who believed Parliament would run its full course, but nevertheless the Labour Party had got to be ready to enter the contest at the shortest notice. It was his belief that the coming political fight would be the most important in the history of the country. He claimed that the policy of the Party was not made by the leaders as was the case w'ith the other two, but by the rank and file of the party whose proposals were first of all put forward in the branches, and were then sent through to the conference which formulated the policy for its representatives to carry out in Parliament. The party, he claimed, was democratically constituted, and was the only one that was prepared to trust the people to the extent of giving them a voice in the political affairs of the day by setting up in the place of the present Legislative Council an Advisory Committee which would consider and report to the House of Representatives on any legislation proposed. Labour aimed at gaining possession of the Treasury Benches at the next election and the very least that they could obtain was the position of the official Opposition. It was his desire that evening to deal more with the economic aspect of the Labour platform, said Mr Holland, and therefore he did not propose to make more than passing reference to the land question, which had been dealt with fully in his address in the rural centres. MORE HOUSES REQUIRED. Another very important question w'hich the Party stood very strongly for, was a vigorous housing policy, in order to relieve the present congestion throughout the whole of the Dominion caused by the shortage of houses. It was essential that the Government should provide a house on such an economical basis as would enable a worker to secure a house at a rental that would not exceed more than one day’s wages per week. Many working men in Wellington were paying as much as £2 10/per week for a five-roomed house, which was outrageous. In a paper recently issued by the Government Statistician it was shown that in the whole of the Dominion there were over 24,000 overcrowded houses, while no fewer than 170,371 persons were affected as a result of this overcrowding. HEALTH SERVICES.

Another reform which Labour desired to make was the nationalisation of the health services of the country, which was of supreme importance in the life of the community. The Party proposed to cut New Zealand up into different districts, and have medical men who would have to be well paid, placed in charge. The present infantile paralysis epidemic pointed the way to the need for such a service, and also for the public to be educated along right lines from a medical point of view. NOT OPPOSED TO IMMIGRATION. The Labour Party was not opposed to a proper immigration policy, and was ever willing to hold out the hand of comradeship to those from beyond the sea, Mr Holland continued. He believed that it was the Government’s obligation to find these new people proper housing accommodation and also a permanent position, and if that guarantee could not be given then the State assisted policy in respect to immigrants should be discontinued. PENSIONS LEGISLATION. Dealing with the legislation in regard to pensions, Mr Holland held that the pension should be paid to the old people eligible to receive it irrespective of the small income which they might possess. Mr Anderson’s Bill certainly provided for some increases, but they were pitiable ones and were so hedged in with restrictions that very few were able to take advantage of the Act. Changes had certainly been made in the widows pension and while it was only right that decent provision should be made for the soldier and the epidemic widows, yet it cost the widow of the average working man just as much to keep herself and her family as the others. He maintained that society owed the same debt to the child of one widow as another and therefore they should be placed on the samel level as regards the scale of pensions. The miners’ phthisis pensions and the pensions for the blind also required to be properly fixed in order to make some provision for these unfortunate sufferers. MOTHERHOOD ENDOWMENT. Continuing, Mr Holland spoke of the Motherhood Endowment scheme which the Party desired to have brought into operation, and so remove many of the penalties imposed not only on the fathers and mothers but also on the children of every Education was also a subject which the Party desired to have improved and what was more it believed that the supply of books should be done through the State instead of the parent being required to spend a large sum annually for books supplied by private firms. What the school should teach was the story of human brotherhood and human love, instead of the lessons being taught to-day of national hatreds. Economic history should also be taught and the children shown the trend of humanity. More artistic school buildings and surroundings were also -required to appeal to the artistry in the child mind, and to give them a love for the beautiful. Mr Holland then spoke on the question of workers’ compensation and gave figures to show the difference of a State managed office in Queensland as compared with 35 companies operating in New Zealand. THE COAL MINERS.

Mr Holland also commented upon the coal mines of the Dominion, and after quoting figures of the quantities of proved coal available he stated that notwithstanding the huge supplies available, the Government had been bringing coal here from all parts of the world for the past five or six years at the rate of 520,000 tons per annum, or in other words 25 per cent of the coal consumed in the Dominion was being brought here from overseas, while many of the miners were standing idle. In order to overcome this unsatisfactory state of affairs it would be Labour’s aim to nationalise the coal mines, and to have a Board whose fundamental duty is would be to have New Zealand coal used for New Zealand purposes, and steam coal kept for steaming purposes. At the present time there was an indiscriminate usage of steam coal for household purposes and vice versa with the result that shortages had often to be experienced. At the present time the miners were the worst paid, and worked

under the worst conditions of any body of unionists in any country and their history was written in letters of blood. FINANCE AND CREDIT. No great economic changes he contended, could be possible in New Zealand unless the Government entrusted with the work of making the change had full control of the organisation of finance and credit. To ensure this control the Labour Party would set up a State bank which would function as a social utility and not to make profits for private shareholders as was the case with the Bank of New Zealand at the present time. The principal work of a State bank would be to provide the necessary credits for public works, local body works and for the furtherance of primary and secondary production. There was, he said a financial dictatorship operating in the Dominion, and in proof of that he asked his hearers to look at the grip which the banks held to-day. He further quoted instances to show how farmers were in the grip of mercantile houses and said that the tyranny of trade unionism was not a circumstance to the tyranny of the financial dictators. MR MUNRO SPEAKS.

Mr J. W. Munro, member for Dunedin North, said the papers generally told the public that Mr Holland was an “extremest,” but having listened to his address that evening, he for one could not see anything extreme in the views which the leader of the Party had given utterance to. more, the Press would say that Mr Holland was keeping his foot on the soft pedal in order to try and win political distinctions but in his (the speaker’s) opinion, Mr Holland was following in the footsteps of John Ballance and R. J. Seddon. He had found in Southland a great fear expressed by a number of electors that if the Labour Party ran a candidate in the electorates to be contested by the Reform and Liberal candidates, it would allow Mr Massey’s representatives to go back stronger than ever. VOTE OF THANKS. On the motion of Mr T. J. Stokes, seconded by Mr Thomas O’Byrne, a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Holland for his interesting and educative address was carried by acclamation. Messrs Holland and Munro will leave Invercargill by the afternoon express to-day for Mataura where an address will be given this evening. The visitors will then proceed further north and give addresses at Balclutha and Milton before going throught to Otago Central.