IN LABOUR'S CAUSE

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1011, 29 December 1910, Page 5

IN LABOUR'S CAUSE

TWO VISITORS. HON. W.' HOLMAN INTERVIEWED,' ■ AVHY HE IS HERE. . By s.s.; Marama yesterday two jnenw bers of tiis New Soutli Wales Cabinet, the Hon. G. S.; Beeby, . Ministerfor. Labour and Education, and) the. Hon.. AY. A. llolmau, Attorney-General, arrived from Sydney. Their intentions arc to tour New Zealand and inquire into our industrial legislation and. other matters. At tho same time they: are . seeking change of scene after .an. arduous ■ The visitors were met by Mr. E. J. Carey, president of the Trades, and Labour Council, who welcomed them on-bef half of tho Trades I'nions of New Zealand, and. congratulated the Labour, party in -its success at the . recent elections. Messrs. Beeby and Hdman pn* mised. to place themselves at the disposal of the Trades Council on their return to. ■Wellington from the north after the holidays, when it is. understood they will address either a'public meeting, of a meeting of the. .Trades' Council; .which-' ever course is decided upon by the officers of the "Council. In an, interview with_ a representative of tho Dominion 'yesterday evening -Mr. Holman stated thit it was his intention, first of . all, to spend about'' a' week at Rotorua. He had had an exceptionally, heavy session .following on several years* l ' hard, work, , and this had affected ,hia health. After leaving RotO'rua ho would; return to Wellington and would then go south and spend 'a holiday at Te Anau..

Concerning the Arbitration: Act. . "The primary object of. the visit, of myself and; my colleague," said Mr. Holnian, "is to get information at firsthand as to' the working; of the- Arbitration Act. in New Zealand. One can- easily understand the Act bj- reading it, but we. wish to find out low'its provisions are viewed by both .tho-employers and workers. We .have a. schemo'ior-amending our Indus; ■trial Disp>d;es Xaw in Nov: South Wales, and. before making any proposition w« arc anxkas. to get the light of'the* best practical ■ experience available. At the present time we. are reviewing the whole system.'-'The existing- law will be repealed, retaining the best features and ■ incorpora'iling thorn in. an .'entirely new Act. I have also," continued: Mr. Holman, ' to inquire into four other matters during my stay here." ' .

, Advances to Settlors. "First theref is the Advances to Settierl. Board. I wish to find out all I can in this direction, with a view-, to improving . our scheme,.'which .is -bound by regula-. tions that are far too rigid, and do not help th<> ''struggling, beginner on the, soil as miglrit bo done. To date the ~ best scheme -of the kind in Australia is the Queensland scheme. -I am.also deeply interestec'l iii the. New.Zealand State Insurj. ance T/epartment,. and. purpose inquiring, into iti also." - , F,»ublic Service- Superannuation.. "T"he third matter is the Public Service superannuation scheme. In New, Wal.es ' the Public Service Act' 'is . admirastered by the Attorney-General's Dei pa-rtment. I was confronted' with' the , problem of superannuation, and .was a nxious-to learn about the practical work-' iig of the : New . Zealand' 'system/ Th#final point is another matter which; earns : . Tinder my' administration, Viz., the • Marriage Act. In New; South: Wales we •' 'are working under an old marriage law which dates from the early 'fifties, and a great, deal of trouble, has been experienced. Endless friction .has"been caused:, in regard ■ to" ministers marrying girls under .age, and without the consent ,of parents. It is the intention to endeavour toi'devise' a new scheme' which will settle proilsm. I loolc to New Zea-land,as-I havo been acffiptt by officers . of. illy Department that there is an- up--to-date marriage, system here."- V , Prison Reform. Mr.. Holman went on to say that during the first session lie had . introduced a modest Bill dealing with prison reform, but 'unfortunately it had been crowded out in the'rush.of-'the-session. _The Bill r proposed to- make men confined in prisonfor failing to maintain their.wivfes go to work in -gaol at some'.productive. occupy- • tion. : Thev prisoners* were to -be : paid wagesi, and from .such wages the cost of their ; own. maintenance, and.', the -weekly payments due- to -their: wives under tho-,.: maintenance.order,., and. ...also• a proportion of. - the"' arreats, were to be .-deducted. - For . the present the .-Bill. had been. shelved, but, added: Sir: HblmSin: !. think it will be carried next: session. It was" very favourably ;- received by the public. , Certain alterations were'.also: being made in the -sys-. tern of -prosecutions -by the Crown, so-as , to causo Crown cases to be* more - adequately .prepared.Jaiid considered beforo ' they .were taken. into Court. Administrative changes had .'also been made,- to. enable' poor people. to 'be, defended. Legislation to . this effect, would' be-introduced later/ . matters ' Were arranged,' how-. ' ever, in every'case where'a Magistrate or . .Judge reported that the Department was without means, lie. had to have a defence -assigned-him as a matter of course.

s State of thß Labour Party. ■ ; Asked as to his opinion of .the ctanca of the Labour remaining in office in the State, Mr. Holnlan .said, it woula bfe rash'to prophesy in this direction, but, to' his mind,-the chances were very satisfactory. On the vote of censure last session the party had, a majority.of nine —actually, eight on the of the Labour party .being'shut out... • Since.; then'' they' had had - majorities ranging-, from 12 to 25 .on each division.'' There appeared to be none of that precarious foothold visible that opponents had. pre-, dieted/' On the whole, the work of the party ,so far had, he fe'it, inspired ;conlidence. The onlv mem'oer of the. Cabinet whose administration had been at . all fiercelyj. attacked was. himself.. ..It.; had .fallen ; to the lot of the party to make two; cr three important appoint ments so-far, and he thought that it was. generally admitted that these appointments were excellent'ones., - The Financal Statement was received with 1 very general-good humour. -' "I don't suggest that'the-feeling towards it was'anything, more, than'tolerance," added Mr. Holman,. "because it was an admittedly colourless Statement, carrying .us over the brokenportion of the year. I think it may be fairly.-claimed. ;that our ..administrtaion 'so; far (except, of course, my, own).: has roused no violent 'criticism on any side.;. When you consider the novelty of -our position as the. Ministry of a .Labour.party in New' South Wales', the mere fact that that we 'have not . excited all-round- abuse .by our first steps is, I think,, something to congratulate ourselves upon. .

Prospects. of the Movement. .• The. prospects" of . tb.s Xaibour move« ment, said Mr. Holmah. in reply ,to another question, were, in his opinion, excellent. . Before the election of 1907.- the party. numbered 25: in the, New SouthWales Parliament. After the nest .election they numbered 32, And they won five more, scats at by-elections during that; Parliament. . At the last election they won nine more seatb, .making atotal of -1G pledged labour,men. This'was an absolute increase,, of 21 seats in-three and a quarter years. :In 1894, when ~we first ran'on ; the solidarity party, we' miih back 15 strong in a House of 125, iti 1595: 18 strong, in 1898 19, and in 1901 23. At; I the next, election- (1904) Parliament : was' rcduc?d to -90 - members', and. we came back with 25 members: In 1907 it .was 32,' and, during the'next three years, wi went up to 37. As stated,. the last el-ec-. tion brought the total up (o 46 out-of a House of'SO. Since. 1904 the party have, , never come back from an election weakened. Thcsa .indications' are. not .indies'--. Hons' of any sudden emotional wav« of feeling. The progress is dus to the' party's untiring propaganda, and • the most laborious organisation."- The', seats, had Iwen won steadily, and in the teeth of tbs opposition of all the newspapore;