MR FISHER. HIS PARTY, AND PRINCIPLES.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12772, 19 April 1910, Page 3

MR FISHER. HIS PARTY, AND PRINCIPLES.

A NEW ZEALANDERS APPRECIATION. Our Christchurch correspondent telegraphs .-When Mr T. E Taylor, M P was in Australia some time ago, he met Mr Andrew Fisher, and ho speaks of him, his party, and his work in terms of very high praise. He lias a very attractive personality, ->" Taylor said to a "Lyttelton Times" reporter. "He impresses people as being a man almost devoid of pretence,but is a man who is thoroughly earnest. As far as appearances go, he might be taken for a skilled mechanic rather than for a political or a commercial man. In the courso of conversation with him he told me that He would be very pleased to mit JNew ealand and address public meetings b^re, but I presume that duties connected with the., .position he holds make it hard for him to undertake work of that nature. I am delighted to learn that tho Labour Patty in tlio Commonwealth is in a position whicli will enable it to carry .out its policy without the concessions and compromises forced upon it on the two occasions when it held the reins previously. I believe that Mr 1 lsher, his party, and his platform are just what are needed in Australia. ' _ . "The Labour Party m tho Commonwealth (continued Mr Taylor) came into existence on account of the indefinite nature of the-policies submitted by other political sections. Mr Fisher and hiß colleagues are opposed by the Socialist faction, because or the moderate character of their platform, but when. l was in Australia I found thau men iii all walks of life regarded the Labour Party's policy with favour. Doctors, lawyers, .bankers, shopkeepers, tramway employees, artisans, and members of many other sections of the community smiled at the suggestion that the policy was too socialistic 111] its tendencies to win the approval oi ( the Commonwealth electors. The present contest seems to have justified that view, and I feel sure that tlio policy of Australia for the Australians, which includes tn.- cultivation of the national as opposed to the dependent spirit, will receive a great impetus under the Labour Party's rule. I am confident that the ideals of Sir W T ilfrid Laurier's party in Canada and those of Mr Fisher's party m the Commonwealth arc identical. They have the same views in regard to defence. In regard to preferential trado both parties believe that it is better to establish and expand manufacturing interests under the best sanitary and economical conditions than to bolster up British manufacturers >at the expense of the skilled artisan classes of the'two. countries. Perhaps tho principal significance of the Labour Party's victory in Australia lies • in the fact that it stands unhesitatingly for progressive taxation upon land values as a means of forcing, closer settlement. Ido not look upou the party as a socialist party, but there is no doubt that its ideal is to mak© tho legislation and institutions of the country more social and less selfish than they have been in the past. The temper of th© Now Zealand people may be fundamentally different from that of the Australians, but I venture to predict that the same startling surprises as the Australian elections have given to the conservative element •there await tho conservative element in this country at an early date unless the 7 present nebulous . policies of Mr Masjsey and Sir Joseph Ward are replaced by something that will give to •the "majority, of -'tho people a much moro definite share in the country's concerns: tlian they now possess."'