UNITED LABOUR PARTY

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1449, 25 May 1912, Page 6

UNITED LABOUR PARTY

MR. FOWLDS'S ADDRESS. In the Concert Chamber of the Town Hull last night Mr. G. Fowlds addressed about 400 people on "Tho Aims and ( Ideals of the' United Labour Party. , Tim Mayor (Mr. 1). M'Laron) presided, j and Sir. 1!. Tregear occupied a seat on ; tin- platform. < Sir. Foivlds said that he had just made , a tour, during which ho had addressed . a number of meetings. During that tour f he had been struck by the wonderful , unanimity with which men of all .shades , of opinion had arrivoil at the idrn that ; the time had come when a new 'parly ] .should be initiated, a party which would liav" a clear division between progress and reaction. (Applause.) Also, he had been struck by the widespread sympathy will) the aims ami ideals of tho new party. Tho Labour party had been ; fnrnied on lines other than those winch would simply include manual labourers. It was clear that the Liberal party of to-day, and tho Liberal party of the timo "of tho last election, was not the, Liberal party of tho days of Sir George Grey, Mr. Ballaisoe, or oven the carry days of tho Administration of Sir. Seddo'n. The Liberal Government which Mr. Fowlds had loft last September was not tho Liberal Government which he had joined five years previously, and it was because he had felt that thero were tendencies to reaction in .the Government that he had reckoned it necessary to leave the Ministry. Anyone would be bound to admit that as a piece of machinery tho organisation of the Labour party was about as perfect as it could he. He had found less difficulty in accepting many of the.Labour proposals than in accepting soino of the plank 3 of the Liberal parly's platform. Ho doscribwl the Labour platform as a moderate programme of progressive reforms, which, if earned into effect would improve the conditions of tho peoplo generally. After he had left the Ministry, ho had awaited the product of tho Labour Conference. When ho had seen tlio programme he had found that ho could accept it, and throw himself into the promulgation of it. Ho hoped that the programme would be made acceptable to tho majority of the people of this country. (Applause.) He did not expect it would be made acceptable to all people. Tho Labour party was a progressive party, and one of the faults of the Liberal party had been that instead of keeping abreast of the times it had gone back. Neither of the late parties had had a definite platform. (A voice: Query!) Ho pointed to the speech placed in the mouth of his Excellency tho Governor. Were thero not revolutionary proposals in that speech? And if the "freehold lOank was taken from the platform of the Opposition, they would have nothing left but a bundle of negation. Very properly the Labour Conference had placed education in the forefront of the platform. It proposed free and Mcular education, compulsory up to fifteen years witn books ond stationery supplied free by the Derarfmeut. (Applause.) bducatiou was particularly necessary in a day when tne press produced tho. class ot literature I which was brought forth to-day-hterature I produced at the behest of a ■ capitalistic class. Tho present system of representation, he said, stood condemned. In all great. movement tho reformers were in a minority, and tho only war they could get representation in Parliament was- by proportional representation. Respecting tho party a proposals in favour of a State Bank ho laid that the principle of State banking institutions might with advantage be extended in New Zealand. There were hero two institutions which might form the germ of a State Bank--tho Post Office Savings Bank and the Bank of New Zealand, In which latter the State had a half interest. -The platform of the party proposed tho abolition of the Legislative Council, and he thought that was the right direction in which to go. The idea ■ of "setting up a kind of mongrel institution" was absurd. On the subject of land taxation, he said that there was a growth of sentiment in favour of talcing lor community purposes some portion of the com-munifv-creatcd value: the unimproved value should be levied upon for community purposes. The very best thing which the people could do was to assist a measure of social justice, and make tho strug- ; gle at the bottom of the ladder less keen. : And people should remember that while : they were quite right in saying that so- ' eial conditions wcro better m Aew /ea- ' land than in England and in America, ■ he same causes which had brought about ! misery and wretchedness and slum areas ' in those lands, might bring them about ' he-c. The Labour organisation, he added, 1 was wide enough to take in all tho use . ful people in New Zealand.