THE_ COLONIST. Published Daily-—Morning. Nelson, Monday, Feb. 19, 1906. THE LABOR PARTY IN BRITAIN.

Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11557, 19 February 1906, Page 2

THE _ COLONIST. Published Daily-— Morning. Nelson, Monday, Feb. 19, 1906. THE LABOR PARTY IN BRITAIN.

D urine the elections in the Mother Country the question of extending the franchise to womea was a good deal in evidence, and the advocates of women's suffrage were responsible for disorderly scenes at several meetings. At one of Mr Churchill's meetings at Manchester a young woman bearing a banner inscribed "Votes for Women" stopped the meeting till she had asked whether the Liberal Government would give women votes, whereupon. Mr Churchill replied that having regard to the treatment he had received, and the destruction of great meetings which he had witnessed by advocates of women's suffrage, nothing would induce himto'Vote for giving women the suffrage, though he subsequently modified this statement. In connection with the elections, too, the Social Democrats' Federation issued a manifesto, in which was put forward a series of "paliatives of the existing capitalist anarchy," and of these the three regarded as of special and immediate practical importance were as follows: —The State maintenance of children ; the organisation of the labor of the unemployed; and pensions for the aged and incapacitated, instead of workhouse pauperism. The manifesto set forth that ' ' the maintenance of children during the whole of their school . life is "more necessary than their gratuitous education in order to enable them to take advan-

tuge of the free educatioa provided, [ the cosfe of such, being charged, not on the/ rates, but on the national funds.*' As to the unemployed, the Federation pointed out that there are now many unemployed, even during good times, and they added "charity is worse than useless; emigration has proved wholly futile; the Poor Law as now ! administered, is manifestly both harmful and cruel. There remains only the Socialist plan— namely, to organise the unemployed co-opera-tively on the land as well as in the factories and workshops aad on buildings and afforestation, '* The elections resulted in the return of twenty-nine ofthe*sl candidates approved by the Labor Representation Committee, and the Party of Labor will occupy a praotically independent position as regards the two I great Parties, and will strive for definite objects irrespective of the rise or fall of 'Cabinets, though it will act in sympathy with those who support Home Rule for Ireland. Of this Labor Party, Mr Kier Hardy is the leader, and in the course of a recent arUoiS m the; ♦ ' National Review, ' J he emphasised J the sudden, apparition <6f the Labor! Par^y, <*attnfc and grim, knowing! [neither Liberals nor Conservatives, : i save as opponents "to bb guarded against, ami added that the common people of Great Britain, for weal, or Woe, like those, of the world generally, had entered into a final struggle with the upper classes for supremacy. ■ ■ We. leara through the cable 'ftiKt at a conference tfr6 fcabor Representation Committee has resolved to favor the -extension of the franchise to | women, and has defined a definite policy as to labor, with a view to securing a readjustment of taxation so that; social reforms, as well as ordinary expenditure may be provided for by the taxi fig o£ unearned incomes. The drastic reforms in connection with education referred to in the message fro doubt refer to providing for the necessities of school children in the way of food and raiment, while the question of old age pensions is sure to t'e brought prominently forward, for Mr Kier Hardie already charges the Government with betraying its promises, A correspondent of the London "Times, " writings before the elections, remarked : "The rock ahead of the Liberals, to avoid running foul of which will need more cautious ( strategy than they usually display, is the certainty that, sooner or later, the Labor l*arty will emulate the ! example of the Nationalists, and . . . . act as^nvowed opportunists. . . . The idea of pursuing a detached policy, irrespective of front bench aspirations, having once taken root, a new departure cannot be deferred. When it is attempted in sober earnest it must, in the natural order of things, prove more harmful .to the Liberals than to the Unionists." The Labor Party will, apparently, act rather as delegates from the Representation Committee than as representatives of so many constituencies, and the fact is likely to strengthen them in the line of action that is being adopted. By the lengths to which they propose to go immediately they are sure to arouse the bitter enmity of the interested classes, and this in return is likely to call forth demonstrations on the part of Labor, the unemployed, and the aged. The manner in which the Social Democrats attacked the Right Hon. John Burns at the time of the election indicates that thera will be no kid glove play, and there are serious prospects of the British Parliament witnessing scenes of strife such as have never before been seen. It has been a disgrace to the wealthiest countiy on the globe that so many of her people have continued compulsorily idle and on the] Verge of starvation, and now the danger of demands exceeding reason will in all probability have to be faced.