THE LABOUR PARTY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13461, 6 December 1907, Page 2

THE LABOUR PARTY.

INDEPENDENT 'POLITICAL . IiiAGUE..

An address was given by Mr Jam's Thorn in the Assembly Rooms last evening, to .an-audience of about 70 (of whomthree were' ladies) in the interests of the Independent Political . Labour League, •ilie chairman of tlie Timaru branch, Mr T. Hawkev, presided, ~ Mr Thom congratulated Timaru on having determined to- form a branch of the League, and' especially as it was doine under the auspices -of. his friend. Ma- McCidlough. He was.-told when: .lie came '•first to Timaru to try and rouse the workers to a sense of the necessity for their, being represented in Parliament by members -of their ".own- .class, and ■he .would be delighted if lie could do something in ' that direction;.. .by. arousing ;an ;• appetite, for politics . among them. The id;a of forming an Independent Political Labour •League"'originated, with.; the Trades and Labour Council meeting at Christchurch in 1,904, flod -rliei -idea was to use the existing trades unions a? the machinery for working .up. a. political paivy. Trades unions' were useful for forcing up. wages and improving the conditions of work somewhat, but these things did. not; go far became the employer class managed ,to ' raise the .cost of living, to, a still; higher degree man the ■ gains . achieved. The only remedy was. legislative, action,. and they' must have a party for this purpose. Another reason for the, promotion of such a party .to- that the former "Liberal" ;party, had changed iis character, and now was •composed, of incongrous cliques, Tories, Moderates and Democrats. \ the : last tied "hand, and foot .by party alliances, and'believing in all sorts of democratic things, in principle, but not acting on their beliefs. Tlie resultwas a series of deplorable compromises. : The Land Bills for example, from which all forts of fine promises were excluded. Because the Farmer's' Union and Conservatives agitated : against it one principle after another had been flung overboard, at the instance of members of the so-called Liberal- Party. The Government should have gone ito the country rather. tin an have accepted ■ the dictation of the Conservative section of the party. Mr . Thom next, quoted .the; treatment y p : i Mr McCullougli as another reasion forf waii; of ' confidence',-, in the Government. Ihe rule that a Government servant must not- open his. mouth in any public capacity w as. utterly absurd. The .workers .needed...'a party of hard and fa:i principles, not; a party of ; and representatives iwiho ' were representatives' and hot: bosses. Among j.he demands of ; the party-was abbdlu/tfa /tenant squatters had been complaining about to the . Conciliation Board . for. the laJi tdiree

vMzka. An Independent Labour (Party would give it them. He. quoted the planks < of the platform, and claimed thai, all were democratic. He proposed to. speak of two of them: State Bank and ' the cessation , of borrowing. 'Dealing 'first with the latter, he said the public debt was about 68 millions and the interest about millions. The present Liberal party got into power sixteen years ago on a platform ..which included two planks, "Self-reliance," and "No more Public Borrowing." Yet they had borrowed 25 millione , and paid milliorjG in interest on that borrowing. Last year they borrowed 2£ millions and paid 2£ millions in interest. And -afi'-er. all, the borrowing brought no money into the country, but only credit on the banks 'in this country, which were carried on by means of notes (which they were allowed to issue at.the rate of 2 per-cent., and'" ihe Government took the credit and paid the; banks up to 4 per cent, for the same notes to pay the State workmen with). Mr Thom drew a ..humorous picture of the monthly, draft on the credits, by tailing Gome ui the notes the Government 'had allowed the banks to issue:. ',■ : 'The folly of allowing a few men to control the finance of a country was well shown by the panic in America, which had affected New Zealand very seriously (in: spite of the Premier's ".reassuring message" that it would not do so), by bringing down the price of wool to such an "extent that there would be a million and a quarter l«es money to spend. There weiie reports all round that money was becoming "tight," arid interest -must rise,' yet they were told that it was "not going, to affect the dominion." To make the State ?and' commerce and industry safe, they must take the control of finance out of .the hands of the private banks. Mr Thorm next took as a text a statement made to the Conciliation Board that day, that New Zealand was the best country under, the sun for the working man. It was, bub that was no reason for. the working man being content with his position and opj port-unities, if he. could improve them. And they could improve them by united action. Ho quoted the income tax returns for 1906, when 90C0 people paid on, i incomes (plus exemptions) amounting to! nine millions. Then 15,000 people paid land tax on land valued at 75 millions. Adding exemptions this would be 100 millions.. The total national wealth was estimated at 250 millions, so that some 24,000 people possessed half the national wealth of New Zealand. In contrast with this he quoted a statement made by a. Christchurch clergyman a few days ago, that notwithstanding- the abundance of land for expansion, there , were slums in Christchurch as squalid, degrading and soul-destroying as in any city of the Old Land. And when" in Dunedin at the Trades and Labour Conference the other clay, he and another described a, collection of "slum cottages they had seen—2s houses on a quarter-acre —and the newspapers tore their hair about and said they were mad and fanatics. Yet within three weeks the City Inspector visited the place and condemned "the whole bally lot-" There were—everybody knew it—slums as bad in Wellington. In such a country, "the finest in the world for the. working, man," there should be no such thing as a slum. The remedy lay in ,what was meant by " that terrible word "—Socialism.

He advised his hearers to learn what that word meant —ownership of the land by the whole p?ople, and of the produce of the earth; and the securing to all of all that was necessarv to the full development of bodv, mibd, and soul. He urged the workers of Tinuwu to quit " flopping around," and to unite to return a man who possessed a fixed principle and woutd stick to it. The workers produced every-. tiling, and therefore were entitled t> everything; and they could get everything if they were united. At the -close of the address questions

were invited, and one was asked: What was the attitude of the League at Christ--church towards the "sturdy democrats, Messrs Ell and Laurenson? The reply "iven was a. non-committal one. ° Mr Whiting, a member of the Parai Labour Conciliation Board who '-Mas present, moved a vote of thanks, and .this was carried by acclamation. A vote; cf thanks to the" chairman closed the m«tr in £ , ... \