MR. MACK IN ST. PETERS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 310, 25 September 1918, Page 6

MR. MACK IN ST. PETERS

GETS A GOOD HEARING , EXPOSITION OF HIS VIEWS. Mr. M. J. Mack was accorded a very good hearing at his second meeting, held last night in St. Peter's Schoolroom. The hall was crowded in every part, and in the Audience there was a fair number of Socialists and other opponents of Mr. Mack. Mr. J. H. Watt again presided. The' chairman, as on the previous night, asked someone in the audience to give a lead in the National Anthem. There were cries of "No," and ."Cut it out," and someone in a mocking strain piped out the words "God Save tho King," to the amusement of his Socialist friends. But the chairniMi asked the audience to stand and sing, and the great majority of tho people did stand, and the Anthem was properly sung. Tlie chairman met with noisy interruption when ho spoke, his few introductory words. He told, the men at the back of the hall who seomed to bo olf a mind , to make a noise that there were "somo men in blue" in the hull, and that he would certainly call in their assistance if there was any moro disturbance such as there had been on< tho previous night.

About Compulsion. The warning seemed to suffice, for Mr. Mack was given a reasonable hearing. \ Mr. Mack was greteed with cheers when he rose to speak. He said that he had no apologies to moke for entering into this contest.' (Applause) He believed thnt he was a free-born British subject, and it, was a tradition of the British rao* that every man should bo able to get a heaving on any subject if he chose to speak on. it, so long 'as he kept within the limits of the law. Tie Hoped that he would be able to keep within the limits of tho law, and that his opponents also would bo able to keep within the low. He said that he would be most unwilling to call in'the assi stares of the men in blue. He had been delighted with the reception given him, and delighted also, to notice that the great bulk of the audience roso and sang the Natural Anthem. lie believed that it was one of tho principles of tho Labour movement that conscientious objectors should be tolerated. A voice: For military service? Mr. Mack: Yes, for military service, ff you like. He had found, ho continued, that while the Labour movement did not believe in compulsion for certain things, jfc exorcised compulsion in other directions. If a man conscientiously objected to be, a member of a Labour organisation, he was not If he objected to pay a certain levy he was not tolerated. Lately.there had been a strike because some members of an organisation declined to pay a levy. It had boon eaid that thoro was no room in the Labour movement for independents, and that an independent was a man not under control. The logic of this was that the selected candidate standing for Labour, whoever lie might be, could have no opinion of his own. Ho must obev without question the political machine. His civil and political rights would be restricted by the party by whom he was nominated and controlled. The effect of "such a policy would lie that if half a dozen men who were in charge of the making of the selection happened to choose some man no other man in tho country was to bo permitted to oppose him, or to express a contrary opinion. He wished to interpret the word "independence." It sien'fierl freedom from restrictions; it signified that tho man who was Independent exorcised control over his own will. He was not controlled by others.

Railwayman and Loyalty. A voice: What about the P.r.R.? Mr. Mack: 1 believe that tho P.P.R. Ie near the Canadian Pacific ltailway. I have had a good deal to do with raihvaym.cn in my life, and I have never found that the railwayman of this country are disloyal to this country. At the beginning of this war the railwaymen went to the Government and told them that they would do their best while the war lasted to help the Government to win the war. They have done that, but their action in that respect has not given satisfaction to a number of other people in this country, who have not beon satisfied because the railwaymen have refused, to hold the country up. "There is one essential qualification for every man who aspires • to become a candidate for Parliament; that qualification is loyalty. A loyalist • is oue who obeys his Sovereign and the lawful Government of his country, who opposes rebellion pud insurrection. I am opposed to rebellion and insurrection, and I am opposed to those who would bring about-rebellion and insurrection, even if it were to end in bloodshed. In a democratic country where the ppople have the right to make artl 'unmake governments, it is their duty to put up with the government they have made, even if it is a, bad government, until they have the opportunity of making/ a good one. Mr. Mack said that some.e'F the Lahour men seemed to think that if all tlie members for city seats ill the House were Labour members they would be able to control the Government. In actual fact this was not so. In order to have success the Labour men would have tob ring down a programme which would appeal to the people on the hind as well ns to the people iu the towns. The Labour men must learn that it was the production of the country thai, kept the people in the towns as well as the people in the. country. Mr. Mack weiit on to speak about proportional n>prp.«piita.tioi!., of which lip was n strong advocate. Although Labour was supnosed to support proportional represents!t'on, it was a deplorable fact that when there was a society in Wellington to advocate proportional t-ewrser-tatiou, there was not a single mrinbi'r on it. Ho happened to hii>'f been secretary of that society. Hp did not claim that proportional repi-o&entiition whs a perfect, system, but it was tho best system that was known.

Land Values. Mr. Mack devoted a good deal of attention to the subject of taxation of the unearned increment of land. Hα was of those who believed 1 that the unimproved land values in this country were not taxed as lieavily as they ought to be. In the four years 1918 to 1917 the'land values of the Dominion had increased by thirty-eight millions, and this increase was made i:ot by the holders of the land, but by the people .j-'.'iii'raH.v. Kvcry railway, every tramway that served ;m area of land iiy:rensi>d its value. When tho Main Trunk line was being put through the, then Gcuernl Mijiuiffor of Railways s'drised tlie Govot-mir.-nt to buy the laud siloivj tlie route before t!i« railway was .-pnl. ihrfiii: , !:. in onlrr that l»p Stiitt! might '•-'. : '' r '"(Tease ju •.'.•iltics thai: would ■ vino :is i.lie resnit "'■ tht; ViiiUvay bi'in;.;' '".'' HirmHi. Thoro was no doubt that if that had been done the increase in values would have naid, I'or the liii'\ lv, these matters tlio workers showed no interest at all. Some of the workers showed interest in only one matter—the getting of moro wages—and they did not know

where tho extra wages wore to como from. Ho spoke also of tho evidence that had been obtained from timo to time of tho increase of land aggregation, and mentioned with satisfaction that tho present Minister of Lands (Mr. Guthrie) had said that the preparation of legislation to deal with this problem was receiving attention from himself and tho Department. One of the most important factors in the increasing cost of living was the rent drawn from the people by the non-pro-ducing ground landlord.' (Applause.)

Industrial Disputes, He propounded a scheme for an amendment of tho industrial law relating to disputes. Ho advocated the sotting up of an Industrial Disputes Investigation Committee. In the settlement of disputes under the present law, the great third party to nil disputes— tho public —was never recognised at all. Tho committee should consist of representatives of the employers, representatives of the employees, and representatives of the public. It should'be the duty of tho committee to see whether tho employees were receiving a wage adequate to support their wives and families' in comfort and decency, leaving a sufficiency as a margin for disabilities. Then it should be the business of the committee in the event of an increase in wages hthyg necessary to see whether the profits from the industry wore such as to make it possible for the increase to be granted without an increase in the price to be charged to the public for tho product or tho service. At present the employers were free to pass on to the public increases much moro than commensurate with tho increases granted in wages. If a ten per cent, increase in wages were given, the employer would be most likely to pass on an increase .of twenty per cent, to the public.

The Tramways Trouble. Mr. Mack went on to refer to fcho tramway dispute on the lines of bis speech on Monday evening. He said that he had examined the claims of the men, and he was satisfied that the wages they received wore too low. Ho considered that the demand they were making for Is. 'Id. an hour was a very moderate one, and he could not understand why tho City Council would not consider these men's position. He expressed the strongest disapproval of tlie City Council counting in the overtime in the calculating of wages, and he expressed also the strongest disapproval of the system of working excessive overtime in a tramway service. Soma day there would be a serious accident because one of the men would not he in a condition to do his work properly owing to the strain of the long houre worktd. The eight-hours day should be the ordinary working day for a tramway service, aB for other occupations. Mr. Mack gave the fullest freedom to his opponents to ask him what questions they chose. Hβ answered them, and then tho time came for the ine.vitable resolution. Tho opponents were bad enough strategists to get.in first with a, vote of no confidence. Then came the amendment: "That in t!'e opinion of this meeting Mr. Mack is a fit and proper person to represent Wellington Central in Parliament." Tlie amendment was put to the meeting first, and the chairman declared it carried on the voices. There was no doubt that although the call of the "Noes"'was loud, the majority voted "Aye." Again the chairman asked for thi? National Anthem, and the opponents of Mr. Mack, thoroughly enraged l.«cause their resolution had been defeated, made as much noise as they could in the endeavour to drown tho voices of the people singing. They made a deal of unseemly noise, but the verse was sung through.