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COST OF LIVING

LABOUR MEETING OF PROTEST SPEECHES & RESOLUTIONS 1 S. public meeting, called by the Labour Representation Committee, was held in the Town Hall Concert Chamber 'last night for the purpose of protesting against the recent rise in tho cost of living. Mr. J. Maddison occupied tho chair.'and thero were-about one hundred and fifty, people present. The chairman, in a brief speech, explained that the meeting had not been called for the purpose of asking for an increase in wages. All that the workers wanted was to hold on to what they already got. The rise in the cost of living during the past few months had been out of all proportion to the circumstances, and it was recognised only by an emphatic protest could those responsible be made to realise their "crimes against society." Mr. D. M'Laren considered that, when the Prime Minister of the country was heard glorying in the high prices of the products of the country, and when it was realised what a very small section of the people had a share in those products, it was necessary that a very strong protest should bo made. There would be no call for "action if the increase in cost was upon an odd article here and there, but the fact was that almost every commodity that could be named had risen in price, and the rise in most cases was out of all reason. Instances had come under his notice where the prices had been increased immediately following the outbreak of war. A builder had drawn his attention to the fact that ironmongers had raised the price of certain goods required for the building trade long before any rise could have been necessary. He went on to name about fifty different lines of Roods, which had been'the subject of varying. increases in price, and contended that the increases pressed more heavily upon the workers than upon any other section of the community. Mr. F. T. Moore accused the N.Z. Fanners' Union of taking advantage of 'the time 3 to obtain an/outrageous rato of profit on their iuvestmente. To his mind that .organisation was solely responsible for the exorbitant prices of meat, bread, and butter. In some cases formers were asking prices for commodities 150 per cent, greater than the price at which they could be/profitably produced. The Government, he declared, was standing by the large landowners, and the people were to be blamed "for not electing a Government that would have stood by the people. "It was your .own fault," said Mr. Moore somewhat excitedly, "that you missed your opportunity a few months ago. . . ." Continuing, Mr. Moore said that the merchants were to blame as much as the farmers. With one hand the merchants made contributions to' the Patriotic Fund, and with the other they took fifty times as much from the pockets of'the people. The remedy for the evil, he said, was State enterprise, and Sir Joseph Ward made the political mistake of his life when he stopped the : late Mr. Seddon from adding State enterprises to the already long list he had established. A number of resolutions would be passed that night, but he was afraid they would fall on deaf ears. Mr. Moore concluded with a bitter attack upon the Press and the Church for taking sides against the workers. The latter needed no sympathy. They only required to be. told .bluntly that it was all their own fault. Mr. J. Thorn described the meeting as a protest against the social conditions, which marked practically every war —the condition by which the rich always emerged richer from the war while the poor always emerged poorer. The greater part of his speech consisted of on attack upon the Government of the country for failure to do anything fundamental or valuable in the interests of the masses of the people. He explained, however, that neither he nor any of the other speakers desired to merely make complaints about -the Government, but that what was desired was to proride a remedy for existing evils. It was an affront to common sense that in a food-producing country there was not a' supply of wheat to feed a million people. The workers should organise and say that the country was to be governed in such a manner as would ensure an adequate supply of all staple products. The following resolution, moved by Mr. P. Fraser, was carried unanimously:—"That in view of the enormous increase in prices" on commodities of common necessity, we affirm that an urgent need obtains for drastic action to be taken by the Government in. the direction of establishing a permanent and independent Court,' -with power to enforce maximum prices of sale; also the institution of direct State control of the production and distribution of such staple commodities as wheat, flour, meat, and other common necessities produced in the Dominion.". On the motion of Mr. Thorn, the following resolution was then carried:— "That whereas the burden of the increased prices falls specially upon the wage-earners, _ we contend that the Court of Arbitration should review all existing awards and grant increases of wages commensurate with the increased cost of living, and the unions of workers are hereby advised to make demands in. that direction." The audience declined to treat seriously a resolution by one of themselves that on and after Monday next the workers should refuse to' pay more than halfrent.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19150211.2.49

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2382, 11 February 1915, Page 9

Word count
Tapeke kupu
905

COST OF LIVING Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2382, 11 February 1915, Page 9

COST OF LIVING Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2382, 11 February 1915, Page 9

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