MR. JOHN HODGE, M.P.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1007, 23 December 1910, Page 6

MR. JOHN HODGE, M.P.

AT THE TRADES HALL. THE IDEALS OF HIS PARTY. AFFAIRS. AT HOME. - A welcome was extended to Mr. John Hodge, Labour M.P. for the electorate of Gorton, Lancashire, by trade unionists who gathered in the Trades Hull yesterday evening, Mr. E. J. Carey, president of tlio Trades and Labour Council presiding. In welcoming Mr. Hodge, Mr. Carey ..said ; that by a happy chance (hey had been able to meet such leaders of tho British Labour party as Messrs. Kamsay Macdonald and Kier Hardie. Now it was their good fortune to welcome Mr. Hodge, another Labour member of Parliament. Each visit of such men increased New Zealanders' admiration for tho English Labour party and the elec-J tors who were brave enough to send Labour members to Parliament. Now they wero'hoping that with -13 of them in the Commons, their first duty would be to reverse the' Osborne judgment, which struck at the root of trade union principles. ■' It. was his opinion that Mr. Hodm was one of the brightest and best intellects of the English Labour party, and lie (the speaker) boped that' tho visit would enable Mr. Hodge to realiso that all the world over, labour men were united, irrespective of, creed, colour, or nationality. (Applause.) My. Hampton, Auckland, who claimed to be tho father of trades and labour councils in New Zealand, also welcomed the visitor.

MR. HODGE'S ADDRESS. Mr. Hodge expressed his thanks for the warm ill of the welcome extended to him. Ho had received no welcome since he first landed at Adelaide seven' weeks ago 'such as ho had received iri' Wellington. Further, ho had felt more at home in Wellington than he had felt at any time since he had reached the Southern Hemisphere. He was here because of the generti -i i^ le l!n ' on whose servant he was. He had _ had a nervous, breakdown and on being ordered a long sea trip his union had given him six months* leave and .£2OO for expenses. (Applause.) Tho speaker proceeds!- to remark on the growth of trades unionism, particularly in Germany. The interchanges of visits and international conferences bad made us realiso that wars were not mado between | workers, but between politicians. (Hear. : hear.) \ Growth of a Weak Infant, . However, lie intended to speak on labour and politics in the Old Land. There nad been nothing, he averred,! which had done more to improve the condition of the workers than trades unionism. Tho Labour party had come to tho conclusion that it was essential that tho workers should study industrial history as they had never done before. The more they studied this the more they realised that the peoplo who advised them not to appeal to Par'lament were tho very people who enslaved them.- iHear, hear.) It was becoming to be> realised as a result of Parliamentary effort what Parliament could do to redress wrongs. The "labour party had been a } , £ or ,!"' a "f .at the beginning because 'of the difficulty of getting the scales to fall from the eyes of tho worker. In tho first place they had only returned one candidate, Mr. Keiir Hardie. (Applause.) Ono ifiti • J f" s later, however, after tho latt ,\ ale judgment, several Labour monitors svere returned, and in 190G tiio work ot . the same judgment enabled; the party to capture -9 seats at the general election, and further 'seats at by-elections. They Uad now again done well in spite of theOsiu '?&meut crippling them. With adult suffrage, payment of members, returning officers' charges (hey would mako tl'ings hum. Municipal elections could bo ct-lltested cheaply, and tliere. were hulldreds of Labour men in municipal politics ready -to take their place in general Politics. Even down to the pencil which marked the ballot papers, however, everything had to be paid for by the candidate at a general election.

Help the Helpless and Worktess. The-iparty as a whole had high ideals. o;\e was help for the helpless and work for tho vrorkfess. Tho oppression and tyranny of capital had caused trades unionism to come into existence. Capital and great corporations were soul-less, and lie proceeded to quote instances to bear out this assertion. Capital kiieu' 110 politics and no < religion. Mr. Hodge proceeded to outline what tho Labour party had done, paying particular attention to the efforts which had led to the improvement of the Workers Compensation. Act. Referring to the judges and their attitude towards Labour, the speaker said the judges' were biased against Labour (perhaps unconsciously) by their environment. They were not put in their positions because of their standing as men, but because of their services to party. (A voice: It is the same here.) The present Lord. Chancellor, said the speaker, was not as bad in this respect as his predecessors, but like in' the Southern Hemisphere it was a case of spoils to the victors. Trades unionism to bo effective must, he said, bo political' in its aims. They, must be sound and act together for their own commonweal. Miinicipalisation of the public utilities had been so successful that there was no reason why we should not nationalise national utilities. Tariff Reform Question. There was an.agitation for tariff reform in tho Old Country, but personally he was not a Tariff Reformer. Tariff Reform meant; taxation of food, and this meant that' the ' 12,000,000 people, living just on or below the poverty line would have their lives made harder and more bitter. I£ extra taxation was wanted for a Dreadnought or for the army, it should bo put on the man who had land to defend. (Loud applause.) The twelve million people he liad' referred to had no'stake to defend.' Sinee he had been in Now Zealand he had been asked if ho would be a Free-trader. He did not know. Ho iiad not come here to teach New Zealand. Ho had come to learn, and to answer questions if need be. What might be good for the Old Land might not be good for the new land, and vice versa., In the Old Land they said that the so-called policy of colonial preference was not going to bind the hearts of mother and son together. The affection of mother and son' was deeper, purer, and stronger than £.s. d. could make it. They_heard much of patriotism and loyalty in tho Old Country, but too often some of the very persons who spoke of it (when they had their chance) sent putrid meat to the soldiers fighting, for them. Again, some ship-owners wished to man their vessels with black labour.

For the Mothers and Children. Referring to the conditions under which some of the unfortunates of tho Old Land had lived, Mr. Hodge said it was impossible to have an Imperial race where the mother was ground down by toil in the factory, and where the children were starved or badly housed. Tho ideal of tho party was to give the mother and the children a chance, so that they might do something, whereby a truly Imperial race would be produced. Since he had. arrived in Australasia ho had not seen any "submerged tenth." He saw a prosperous race of well set up, well clad men. In the streets the working man's daughter could not bo distinguished •from the daughters of the.middle classes. A voice: "Wo don't want it cither." Mr. Hodge: "No! Good luck to you. I hope you will never get it in this country." A Labour Atmosphere. Continuing, Mr. Hodge said he had seen here none of that degrading poverty that was to bo seen in the Old Land, and which resulted from the bad economic conditions there. At tho same time, he had endeavoured to mix with both sides since lie had arrived, and to get at tho truth. Ho had found amongst the employing classes a "labour atmosphere." Tho employers appeared to .want their ipen to be well off, and not in tho degraded position of some, of the toilors in the Old Country. This ho thought was one of the reasons tho Conciliation and Arbitration Act had been such a great success. (A voice: "Query!") In conclusion, Mr. Hodgo expressed the hope that the interchange of visits between trades unionists of the Old World and the New would become greater and greater. 1 Mr. Hodgo replied to a number of

questions, one of which was whether he was in favour of industrial unionism, as preached by Tom iUaivu. The reply was in tho negative. At tho same time he thought there should bo less unions. One of tho things labour had suffered from was too much sectionalism, and tUb rank and file were to blame for it. Those who urged splitting the unions up further were either rogues, knaves, or fools,

MR. D. M'LAREN'S SPEECH. I In moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Hodge, Mr. D. M'Laren, M.l'., remarket! that in his opinion our arbitration laws liad not been by any moans the success their visitor appeared to think. In his opinion the mass of the workers wove to blame for this. They had allowed tho law to be made and administered by their bosses. Ho regretted that a general conference of trades unionists throughout tho world had not been held, because the trade:! unionists of the country and the Old World did not understand one another properly on somo. questions. It was, he thought, time we got closer together and sent not only fraternal greeetings Homo, but the coolest, and brainiest men we could select. Mr. Hodge would require to stay a good deal longer to understand tho position of the worker in New Zealand. We had the same economic problems here as they, had in tho Old Country. Tho Labour party in New Zeaiand at tho present time was a joke. It consisted of only one man. Legislation -which was not in tho interests of tho workei was constantly being introduced and it was naturally impossible for one individual .to stop it. Mr. M'Laren moved: "That this meeting of -workers. thanks Mr. Hodge sincerely for tho able address he has given and asks him to convey to our comrades in Australia and England our hearty fraternal greetings." OTHER SPEECHES. Mr. Tregear, seconded tho motion and asked Mr. Rodgo to . convey congratulations to the Labour party in the Old Country and best wishes.

In returning thanks Mr. Hodge said ho was coming back to Wellington after going north. These interchanges of visits would, he believed, tend to broaden the minds and sympathies of trades unionists and lead to tho. realisation of, the fact "that we are not the only pebble on tho beach." ;

The gathering concluded with three cheers for tho British Labour party.