MEETING IN VICTORIA SQUARE.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14837, 1 December 1913, Page 8

MEETING IN VICTORIA SQUARE.

SPEECHES BY MR P. C. WEBB, M.P., AND "PROFESSOR" MILLS.

The strike meeting in Victoria square on Saturday night attracted a large crowd of between four and five thousand people, who listened in an attentive.and orderly fashion to tho speeches by Mr P. C. Webb, M.P., and Mr W. T. Mills.

Mr Hiram Hunter occupied the position of chairman, and in introducing the speakers he facetiously warned tho people of Christchurch to be very careful how they smiled, and not to emulate tho lambs' in tho fields and say '.'Baa!" when a special constable was near. He expressed astonishment that tho people of this country seemed content to put up with a tyranny from the Government comparable only to "Red Russia." He regretted that in Christchurch the response by the Drivers' Union had not been as unanimous as was desirable to the call of the Uttion, but he was very glad to be able to say that during the last few days a far better tone was apparent among the men, who had announced their intention to stand solidly together to the end. A move had been made to form a new Drivers' Union, but be contended that the formation of that organisation was absolutely illegal, and in directopposition to the Arbitration Laws of the country. . " s Mr P. C. Webb, M.P., warned the crowd that the strike was by no means ended yet, in spite of what had been said in. the capitalistic Press of the country. After the first few days of the strike every paper in New Zealand pronounced the death of the Federation of Labour, but the ships were still in the stream, and on the few that were at the wharves very littlo work, was being done. He recounted how he had seen the men of the Corinthic and the Maunganui walk off their ships; he considered that'this was a splendid example of the fine - spirit shown by the men, and he hoped the -electors would follow. ,their example, and -give • expression to ..heir convictions at the ballotbox when they had the opportunity.. He hoped that he .would have the pleasure of welcoming another "foreigner" to Parliament in, the person of Mr James MeCombs. ; The speaker reiterated a considerable portion of-his former speech, in which he declared that the Prime M* ms ter was but the tooland the mouthpiece of the Employers' Federation. He had said in tho House, and would say it again, that Mr Massey did not govern New Zealand, and asfar as .tho members of that House wero concerned he contended, that they only represented the minority of the people. Speaking.;on strike matters, Mr Webb said that as V soon as•/ the trouble threatened to' become a. national affair the Federation' had made peace overtures, which had'been consistently refused by the Employers' Federation.. This organisation had,refused the offer of -the workers to go back on the old terms and Ho accept Mr Justice Williams as arbitrator, and he thought .that they were too, wise to accept the latter ;offer ; because their operations in connexion ,with the strike would not bear impartial investigation. The employers were deliberately out; to break up industrial organisation, because they knew that if they broke up the industrial organisation :of ■ labour' they could break up the political organisation also. It was costing the Government of New Zealand £200,000 a week to fight the battle for the employers, and it was the fwople who were paying ■ the piper. A ew weeks ago it was difficult to get a little money from tho Government for a> bridge or** other necessary work, but they seemed to have little, trouble in getting-money for the rotten defence system* and for the special constables. The speaker concluded with an eulogy of; the platform of the ' 'Social-Demo-:crat.,'' and an appeal to the audience to return Mr MeCombs at the head of the poll in "the forthcoming/ election, "Professbr" Mills spoke fervidly for over an hour,_ and kept the crowd amused. The allegations that have been made that he was one of the unwanted foreigners he repudiated. He. stated. tli_t he had come to New Zea-' lan_ at the invitation of organisations representing 75,000 : of the people of New Zealand. " He had been told that he was to be deported, and that he was to be arrested just .as soon as the authorities could find somo charge to arrest him for. ; He did not believe that, however, for ho knew tho Government did not need to have any reason before they arrested a man in thia country. He was intensely interested in the problems -that presented themselves in New Zealand at this'time, and had made a patient study of certain of the factors which were cnu.Cng tho present "war." On the one hand the three aggressive parties were the "Squatters' Farmers' Union," the Employers' Federation, and lastly, the Merchants' Association. He maintained that the first did not repre.on. tho real small farmer, .hut the farmer whofarmed the farmer; in other -vords the big squatter, the money-lender and the speculator. The speaker **p«-nt much : time in explaining that th. only way a farmer could increase his income was by reducing the cost of handling and,distributing his produce. a.-> the actual price of the primary products was fixed by"■'.. international competition., T*>e farmer must get his land _Ucaper, his stock cheaper, pay less on storage and freights, and less to the Union Company which recently had doubled its rates oh some lines again.t the very men who wero sending down special constables * to help the monopoly that was exploiting tbom. He advocated the Swiss system of State enterprises which assured to th. ainall ._.n_-r tho largest possible return from the products of the farm. Why did the Farmers' Union not do something for the good of. the farmers? Because it did not really- represent the small farmer, at all, and because its members were-shareholders in these monopolies. The speaker then turned his attention to the Employers' Federation, and said that it was not truly representative of the employers in New Zealand. There were 46,000 employers in the Dominion,

and barely a thousand wero identified with the Employers' Federation;.-"Th© Federation worked in the dark, and it could hold its annual conference in a room so small that it was hard to find it at alll The Employers' Federation was comprised of the private owners of the great mining monoplies, tho shipping companies and the great manufacturers. (A voice—"Boots!") He heard someone say "Boots," continued the speaker, and he know, that certain manufacturers of boots worried the Government so that they could get a tariff, their ostensible reason being to enable boots to be manufactured in Christchurch. When they got the tariff they still imported boots from other countries to compete with the product of New Zealand labour. They "threw down" the labour of the country for their own ends, and these were the men who had imported special constables so that they could pick the pockets of the workers more and more. The Employers' Federation was an organisation which was using the political power of the country, to crush any organisation that was opposed to it. Mr Mills next had a fling at the Merchants' Association, which he said was not an association of merchants, but an association of international freebooters who were skinning the genuine merchants, and concluded with a rather remarkable peroration in which ho ■urged moderation to the strikers, and voiced a firm belief in the justice of their cause and their ultimate victory. The Chairman said that there were no motions to put to the meeting, and thanked the public for attending.