BRITISH PROBLEMS

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1006, 22 December 1910, Page 7

BRITISH PROBLEMS

A LABOUR VIEW. INTERVIEW WITH MR. J. HODGE/ THE VETO BILL. Mr. John Hodge, Labour M.P. for tin electorate in Lancashire, arrived in \\ ellingtoii yesterday by th« -Uceraki from Sydney. Speaking to a press representative, he reviewed tha political situation in Great Britain. The interviewer opened fire with the ques- , lon ' Y.hat line of" action' is Mr. Asquith likely to adopt jn reference to the Parliament. Bill dealing with tie Lords?" Mr. Asquith," said the member for (xoiton, will simply have the Parliament Bill presented to the House of Commons, put through all its stages and sent to tho House of Lords. If they reject it ho will demand that the iving»rnake as many peers as will pass i ! Alternatively, he may present tile Bill in the House of Lords jirst. Mr. -Asqtiith is determined thai the' Parliament Bill shall go through, and I am certain that lie' will take nj : other course than the one I have out.' Imec.. I really believe; lio'.vever, thai the Lords will swallow tlje Bill, and will not run the risk of new peers being, created. The old families don't like tlie idea' of the ordinary manufacturer be*' ing made a peer. The history of England shows that, in the latter end, thr Lords have always given way, and they are all tho more likely, to give way now when two general elections have taken place on the same issue—the curtailment, of their power of veto. I conskier that the verdict of tho electors has been finally expressed.. They have returned a majority of M 6 against tile Lords. • r Tho Osborne Caso. Of the x Osborne case and the con. troversy to which. it has given' rise, Mr. Hodge takes a very decided view, The point -was, when he left England,' he stated, that in the last Parliament, a great many Liberal members made representations to the Government thai" they were not- prepared to support-a; reversal of the Osborne judgment. With- ' out the support of,the party, Mr. As-' quith could do nothing. "He then said,", Mr. Hodge continued, "that it had been''.' suggested to him as a way out of tha difficulty that an Act miglit be framed ' putting political action forward as ono of the tilings in which a trade union could engage. -The Act would contain a clause making it wido enough .to include county councils, town and city' councils, and in fact all local administrative bodies. The-Act. so framed,' however, should not lie put in operation for. six months after-its passage.. : This; would givo existing members ..of.-. unions an opportunity to declare that' they would not permit of any of their, contributions to oe diverted to political purposes. On tho other hand every, member who joined after-tho. coming, into operation of the Act would join.) knowing that a majority of the union. • were willing" that a portion of their money should be devoted to political: purposes. An Act of this nature," pursued Mr. Hodge, "would by and by/' restore to the unions the power tliey" possessed previous to the Osborne judg-t ment and wore supposed to possess— and had used—from the passing 'of the Trades Union Act in 1875, onward. The custom of devoting union funds to political purposes existed, as a matter of fact, prior to the passing of these Acts. Labour men were run under the auspices.of the unions.as far back as 1868, ■tlie. expenses 'coniirig out of union funds. In arguing the case with Mr. Asquith wo pointed out that the-Liborals might as "well object to taxation 'imposed by-a Tory Government they did not believe in. as'tertho use of trades' union funds for political purposes. Why, we asked,, should not .a trades' union; by a majo-': riiy, do what it'liked with .its own funds?" ■- '■ •

It Las been suggested. ;emarked the interviewer, that the unions'might 'as. justly support financially any one reli-' gious- -sect, as'support a..political body.- •*• "Why not?" replied Mr.. Hodge, "are not politicians' always!;''forming-' coalitions to serve their parties?"

"Cagglng tha Majority." . '"People here," the Labour man won* on, "don't seem to understand the full : bearing and extent of tho Osborno judg. meht. It goes so far that if only one man. out of 10,000 objects to . tho use of ; his contributions, tho remaining 9999 are prevented from spending any portion of tlieirs, no matter'how willing they may be. , If the decision is sound, a trade union does an illegal act in paying the expenses of a deputation to a Cabinet Minister to ask for soma legislation; bearing on social or la'bour problems. As a consequence," continued Mr. l Hodge, "of tho fight on the Lords question, the long-continued demands for Welsh disestablishment, and a probable, demand for the redress of. the education problem—redress' which, the Lords blocked—the Premier will, have his hands filled for. this session. Hence, probably, his reason for postponing a settlement of the' dispute raised by the Osborno case, until the follow-' ing session. If there is no early prospect of a ■ General Election, the postponement of a .settlement for a year won't do trades unions any particular; harm. It will do some harm,- of course, but wo liavo fought three General Elections and gono back this time fortytwo strong, instead of -forty. Wo are not going to be short of funds for a couple of years. . v . "So far as the Lords' question is con- : corned," Sir. Hodge replied to another question, "the Labour party is behind the Gipvernment all the time. This from the fact that if we had our way we would extinguish tho House of Lords, and never talk about curtailing their 'power of veto.. We follow the" Government on some questions because tl\ey follow a line that wo approve. If a Tory Government were in power we would do exactly the same'thing.' If they took the right road, we would'' support them. ' The Labour party,' however, is perfectly independent. Foi' example, it has consistently voted - against the enormous and increasing' expenditure on armaments. Wo be-V liove that all that comes out of the workers. ' ' 1 : "Every Mother's Son." How does the party .stand in regard , to the fiscal issue? was the next question. ■ "We are all free traders," replied Mr. Hodge, "every mother's son—and wo won't change. • Tho cry for fiscal reform lias not coine from tho pc-ople. , What we would like to get is.a list of subscribers to the fiscal -reform move--inent- If that were obtained, yon' would find all the German Jew financiers in Great Britain behind it, and all the 'fakirs.' If Tariff Reform was likely to improvo the lot of the workers it stands to reason that the Labour men would be behind it, not against it. But tho first issue is taxation of food. That means that life is. going to be made harder, for tho great masa of the poor people in tho Old Countrvand,wo won't staud that."