THE FIGHT IN CENTRAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2311, 19 November 1914, Page 6

THE FIGHT IN CENTRAL

MR. FISHER ATTACKSIiveIy AND ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING EMPHASIS ON THE " ALUANCE " > POINTS ABOUT THE STRIKE The Hon. P.. M. B. Fisher opened his campaign for the "Wellington Central seat in the Town Hall last night. The building was crowded everywhere, and 'thousands of people who arrived 60 lato ■' as twenty-five minutes to B'o'clock wero blocked out. At a previous meeting of Mr.. Fisher's it was suggested that only those people who were his supporters were admitted. On this occasion tho main entrance doors were opened, end police officers ordered them to be olosed when, in their judgment, no more people ought to be admitted. There could be jio suggestion that this meeting was packed. Mr. Fisher, though interrupted at times, secured a> good hearing from' an audience, a very large majority of which was distinctly friendly. .Mr. D. F. Skinner presided. ' •,;• At ten minutes to 8 o'clock Mr. Fisher came on the platform, and was, received with vociferous applause and' cheering. "in a Winning Mood." , f :'■ Mr. Fisher said be wished first of all to express regret that the hall was so , small that only a portion of the crowd could got inside. At'present there were - as many outside as there were inside. The Government had been > faced a few weeks ago with' the question of whether they should postpone - the elections. He believed that if .the elections had been postponed it would •, have been said from one end of New Zealand to the other that, the Massey party'wae holding on.to office at all costs. In view of all the circumstances, the Government had defiided to take ! the proper' course and to go on with the elections. "And I may-say at the outset," he said, ; '.'that we are in a. winning mood. (Laughter.) From one end of this country to the other there will.be ex- - pressed a desire on the part of the ■ • people of this Dominion to_c6ntinue the Administration at present in office." The Strikes. The' Reform Party came into office in July, 1912, and found .three strikes in : full swing; strikes which had been, in . full swing for 42 days. ' A voice: No batons used. ; Mr. Fisher: But plenty..of thick heads like yours to crack. At. continued, human life and' liberty were not eafe when the Government took office.. "But we etepped in," he,said, "and these gentlemen wlio are interjecting, and whose headquarters are in Germany,' don't like it. .(Applause.) I may say, so far as the Federation of Labour is concerned, I am out to hit it every time I can hit. (Applause.) And lam not going to contribute anything towards the support of the organisation whose headquarters ' a-little while ago were in Berlin,' and now are at the . front fighting' against Great Britain. After Wafti came the Wellington strike, and it became the duty of the Government to see that the wheels ofcommerce • were kept moving,'in spite of the efforts of the Federation. of Labour to stop thorn. The men on the waterfront re-, fused to work, and the Government had to protect other nien who went on to load our produce on to the ships." ' '■■: A voice: Fanners. Mr. Fisher: "Yes, and whenever you . fellows kick up a row we'll got some more farmers to come in. (Applause.) That is why the present Government is-m-favour of close settlement, becauseit knowe. that whenever two useless people- Hck ut> » ■ row : it can get' one farmer to, 'settle tho pair of them, j And so we believe in settlement, especially in ■ eettling the • fellow who won't .work." . In that strike the aim of the Federation of Labour was to stop the wheels of commerce and industry, but in this they had failed. Within 24 houre of tho seamen coming out and the miners coming out the Government were able to pick up shipments of coal off ' South Africa and Singapore, and the sum total of the whole business was that the people of : New Zealand,wore, going to return, the Massey Government because they broke —-.-.' (Applause and ■uproar.). .:,. ■"-. x :,:"<■■-,■■ In. reply to voices', said: I have pleasure in announcing'that I have never beenlicked in Wellington Central 'jet. '■..;. ~^;-:,... ... .■,!■'■"• ■.'"•.!■ ' The War and the Navy. Presently after the strikes and the smallpox came .the war, and he . was glad to say that ! the Government had ' done its duty, making the offer of men' and. equipment,' without the conditions imposed at the time of the South .African, they had not only offered men, but'had agreed to' pay and maintain them as well. And since the, war had broken out it had become manifest that the. naval' programme of this , Government, .was, tho J wisest. While there was no war it was. very well toiprate of the British Navy. 1 It . was not; oven apparent that New Zealand wae replying for her protection on the navy of Australia, provided by tho. statesmen of the Commonwealth and supported by the Labour. -Party: of,\ Australia, while the little Hop-o'-my-. thumb-Labour Party in New Zealand did not believe in Defence at all.. It was absolutely essential that there, should be a British Fleet in the Pacific, and he believed the ultimate eolution would b&. that Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would keep n, navy in the" Pacific, to bo, handed over to the Imperial authorities in time of I emergency, ■ ■ ; •■.■! . ■■'•' .While all the troubles were going on. the Government were asked to abandon 'the session. . ... • . .- ■ '•' A voice:.So you did for. a bit. Mr. Fisher: No, we didn't for a bit'.-'-" We decided that, the Red Feds'were not to be allowed to stop Parliament any more than they hadvbeen allowec to stop the industries of the country.

Foolish Prophecies. . /When tho Reform Government came into office it was eaid that there would be unemployment and poverty with acccnipaniments'of soup kitchens. Nothing of the sort had occurred. People opposed to the Government had gono round tho country saying that the Gov-' eminent had promised to.stop borrow-; ing. Tho .Reform Party had' never promised to stop borrowing. ■ ■ A voice: You said you would reduce borrowing. Mr. Fisher; Wβ have reduced borrowing. He quoted figures to show that the Government had borrowed nearly two millions less than the.previous Governments had in tho _ samo period. And while the Oppositionists were shrieking. against the Government for having, as they alleged, bor-. rowed too much, tho same Oppositionists declared that the Government had retrained from borrowing-in .order to force up the rates of interest for private borrowing—this in the interests of their friends, the wealthy moneylenders. He claimed that the money, borrowed had raado possible much expenditure too long delayed—increases , ;- in wages to all classes of Civil Servants,' increases of salaries to teachers, and. moro liboral pensions. For loug years tho veterans of the Maori wars had. anna down to paupers' graves l unliou.- ;

cured. The military pensions hod done away with all that. The liability under that peneion was £49,000 a year. The Commissioners, antf Why? The Government had niSde thinge ■better for aU_ State employees, in increased ; salaries and more secure superannuation'funds. . It had also taken off certain Customs duties. Now it was said that the Government had /done nothing for. Labour. It had established the Public Service Commissioner. . Voices: Oh, oh! Mr. Fisher: And the people who said • "Oh!" just now, tho people who used to oriwi round, giving special information to politicians in order to get billets can't do it any longer. (Applause.) You don't see tho Massey Government constantly beheading eeotiona of Labour by taking the , secretaries of unions and making them Labour, Inspectors. Under his administration, the State Fire Insurance had more than doubled its profits. When he took control of the office he had told the employees of the Department that they, every one of them, from the office boy to the General Manager, would have a bonus.'on profits. He made this suggestion because he realised that tho ; Governmentlrisuranee Apartment had to compete with private; insurance companies. The result had been,- as he had said,:a doubling of. the annual profits of the Department in a little more than two,years! Practically the same applied to the administration ; of the; Public . Trust Office,; r>*' : '>; .■:'.'■ Seamen's Vote. ,~- .... He spoke of the seamen's vote and 1 the Aot of last.session, ■showing that although so s much' was made of the alleged; desire' of "seamen to destroy the Massey Government, and.especially the Minister of. Marine, there ywere more seamen enrolled! in 'Wellington "North than in Wellington Central. The "fact was that the seamen had been done no. injustice under the Legislature' Amendment Act. All that the new law meant was;, that seamen' who came here from the ■ East End' <jf London . or; somewhere, else ; the day before the -election's,'-: and left the' day after the, elections, would not have right? deaied to settlers until they had_ stayed here 12 months, or to commercial travellers who had been in New Zealand 20 years,' if not happened; to live -three months in one' place.. The Reform Government had put that right. i'The'law had'also prevented seamen from -diverting their votes to certain electorates for. the purpose of. the No;Licensepoll. (Applause.)- {Was not; this "fair P. Every ,- self-respecting seaman mnst , admit that it was fair. (Hear, hear.) ;•'..,- '■;■'-; ;■•:"'.• '■■-■';■: /.; Bible • lii Schools. V v ■'. Mr. Fkhe'r; read , the .following statement on the Bible-ia-sohoolfl "■' question, and said that he would not again refer to the subject:-r'-■.■■'': '■"■■■{':■'. ' ''■ "I have already'publiqly'made my ■ position 'quite ' ,clear. ! ;I" ■believe 'that Bible"■';■•' 'lessons .for,' •the young are. ! wholly '-desirable, and necessary. ! I believe that it is the duty of'every parentto'-.see that '.his or her children are . afforded an. opportunity of gaining a knowledge of the Bible andjits teaching. -i'Bnt I do not believe that the question sho'uld'be made a political issue. On the contrary, I believe that a great, deal of: mischief may be done by dragging ; religious issues ■ into the heat and.torment of politics. The' difficulties between the contending parties '• on : the 'Bible-in-Schools question are being: narrowed down, and it seems to me that ./the contending 1 parties on this issue-sKould endeavour to arrive at a mutual agreement. Let ■ the;o'hurches.'come , -together-in. conference. Letithem.-'find.' a solution '■ of their differences. Any- permanent settlement is;/in\'my.,opinion; .onlywjto be found that way;. Friction 'will .then be minimised and religious strife; I hope, avoided.., If ,1 am asked, to-night to give> an answer. ,iipon,the']qjiGstion ,pf, a -referendum' ">' .on. >th'e .jßible-in-Schobls question my answer must-, be '[. "No." I do not think.it wise to;have, this mat-' tor. thrust into our -politics at this stage.- Before such, a matter .is submitted . to the people it should he clearly demonstrated.that every other means of, settlement. ;has been exhausted. I will not further discuss this or any other religiousVmatter-' again on, any. platform. .- . : ■

: ; ■ ; ; Questions.- ..;.■;. ;', v ,\-:. : Mr. Fisher' announoed that he. would ene'wer a limited number of questions; The first handed up, he Said, was one reflecting upon the capacity of a Civil Servant, the , head of a' Department; That .question,' and 'all similar ques- ' tions, ■he would' refuse to answer. In reply : to a' questioner he said that he hadybeen responsible/for getting a eix_ days' week for the cooks "and waiters. They had not got that iix" the 21 years of^ "Liberal" administration. On the. licensing question, he'said: "I will take 55 per oent.o'n both issues if I can get it, and if; I oan get the bare'majority after that I will, get it. ... . ' I might add that my own personal view,is that local option is a mistake, It ought to be dropped." Referring to'the Huntly disaster, he Baid' that'it,was true that the. Chief Inspector of Mines had warned'the Government of danger in the mines, but only tiro or three months before the; disaster'happened.. J At that time the House was sitting, and the Coal Mines Bill could not have been'expedited^at that time! In , .the previous Session there was no known danger in the Huntly mines. . : ' . After half an hour of questioning, ■ Mr. yf. J. Thompson, moved:a vote! Joi thanks to Marl Fisher for his ad-' dress, and of confidence in the Government.' .■',■ .. ' '■ •!•',"' '■" ' ' '•■ '■'. The motion was received with applause' itnd cheering, and- there was a badly organised weak counter-applause and cheering. - \ftlr.' Fisher, acknowledging 'the vote later, 'said, smiling': 1 "Thank you. for your unanimous vote of thanks/aiid confidence;". ■ ;

At Petone on Tuesday- night Mr. T. M. Wilford' repeated certain statements made previously, by other members in the House regarding the hearing of Public Service appeals. - Mr. Wilford stated that a return laid on the, table in the House, in the last week of, the session, showed that there had been 499 appeals from the-Post and Telegraph Department alone during the past year; that 187 appeals,had been disavowed; and that only in' 43 appeals did the Commissioners allow the men to appear before them. On November 7 there appeared in The Dominion the following statement on the subject by Mr. Peter Ban-,. Chairman of the Public Service Appeal Board: "In the Postal and TelographDepartniont," Mr Barr stated, : "if is obvious that 'officers can be more readily dealt! with in groups than in the General Service, there being a much smaller variety of. offices, and tho Departmenthaving- been 'classified for many years. Thn board is, however, hearing every appellant "where in its judgment it is necessary to dp'so, whether application to be heard is made or not, and only in one , or two cases whore it wi.e clearly unnecessary has it decided/not to hoar those who applied. In this line of action the hoard, inchnHnr 0 { course the electivfe members, hns been unanimous. -At flio dn'fe of the -rehiiyi flip number of appeals disallowed appeared large in relation to the number heard, as the board had only heard Wellington appellants; but had gone, throueh the whole of tliJB appeals for the Dominion and'settled those that wero obviously governed. by the cases heard and decided. All cases outside of Wollington whore there had been application for hcarins:. or where the board .'desired further information from the appellant nr officers of the. Department, were held over,for hearing in tlio different centres.; When, therefore, tho work' is finished, the proportjon of cases heard to those disallowed will 'Vc'muih gr'entor thau : indicated in ' the figures supplied, which to that extent were quite misleading."