WELLINGTON CENTRAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 43, 14 November 1919, Page 8

WELLINGTON CENTRAL

MB. P. PHASER'S CANDIDA TUBE. Mr. P. Frnser, Labour candidate for Wellington Central, addressed a meeting of electors in St. Peter's last night. Mr. L. Henncssy presided, and there was a fairly large attendance. Mr. Frnser assured his audience, that the Labour Party was quite willing to leave its fate in the hands of tho electors. It had won two by-elections in Wellington during . Hie recess, and it had achieved a great measure" of success in municipal politics. Six Labour members fat on the .Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, with benefit to tho poorer section (if tho community, and four Labour members wore in the City Council, where they had improved tho conditions of corporation labourers. They had tried to get £i a week for the general labourers, but had been "snowed under." lie regarded rCt a week as the smallest incomo on which a family could be maintained. He was glad that there was to be a straight-out, fight in Wellington Central. His Liberal opponent, Mr. Pirani, was n straight-out opponent of Labour. Incidentally, Mr. Pirani had an oxtensivo knowledge of iwlitics. since he had "bojcwl the compass. , ' Mr. Frascr mentioned that lio hoped anil bel'eved tho coal trouble was npnring n settlement. He was exceedingly glad that Hip. waterside workers who hnd won good conditions by their industrial solidarity, had refused" to fall into the trap set for them recently by the emr>"overs. who had tried to create trouble. Thp Labour Party br-Jipved" thaithere would be no real settlement of thp coal trouble «-hort of nationalisation of tin- nr'nps. Tlio candidate proceeded to refer to the Tainui disaster, , and to suggest that there 'had been ctravo official carelessness and that tho lives of working men had been sacrificed unnecessarily. ■ It was a diswnce that such a fhiiif could have happened in New Zealand, and the people ought to see that lives worn not sacrificed to orofits. The snirit of social service that had been displayed during: the ppirlpinic was I hat spirit that thp Labour Party wished to sen applied to the stencral conditions of livintr and worVimr in Npiv Zealand. IMcrring generally to llw enidemic. Mr. Frnspr said that the Health pp-nartnipnt had showed up very badly indeed. Ho sumiesled that "the infection had been brought to New Zealand by the Niagara, and aslcd. if it was merely a coincidence thnt Hip passengers had lW;i hurriedly disembarked from an infected ship Ihnt carried Mr. Jfnsspy and Sir Joseph Ward. Thp trouble lmd. b»pn ngernvoted bvbnd housing. Tip did not believe that the Governor-General or the rioh people of thp Dominion would honsp their horsr* or does in 'Hip liou"r that vnrp provided for worki'i?-class npople in Wellington Central. The people wpvo bpimj exploited and rnrk-rPntpd by landlords who would not spend a penny on psupntial repairs ,mrt iinnrovomenK Priynto pnlernrise had failed in hoii=iV, and it had failed as far ns thp medical service was concerned. A Stafp medical Kprvico was one of thp moat important nronosals beforo tlio p"nnlo fn-day. The birth of a child or th'p sielciipis of n yiiimir. (wilt not to mean nrivaHon and ilnbt to working-class families. No roan should li" v e a. vested interest in illhealth. Thp doctors should be worki»T for sociil service, no , ; for prifit. Ho was del f'int wnnipii wore to be admitted to Parliament, but the worker* must beware of vntinj for women oavdidnt? o wlio belonged to "the exn'oitiirr cb>s=«s." Tlie wmn»n wer" not to be adiuiMc' tn f.lio Lrais'.ntiye Council, "the ln«t ditch nf To"vism in this ■ country." but lh.it fnct did not trouble Mm much, 6 ; "-'o lip objwtpil to flip TTpper House nlfopetlier". Ho honed the pwnlo would be roused to polish thp Council allngcllipv. Mr. I'VasVi" proceeded (o,leli his audipiicß what tlie Libour nipinbers did during tho session. He saw no difference bntwpcn Tfeforniw's and Liberals, who hnd blended excellently during tho war. Thev had sent "a pair of heavenly twins" In London, find then the business of the country had been held up for two years because Mr. Massey and £>ir Joseph Ward were "misrepresenting New Zealand in fireat Britain.'' Mr. Downio Stewart had told the House that tho fight before Hip Reformers and the Liberals was a sham fiu'ht. and the electors could seo for themselves at present Hint tho two old parties were uniting to fight Lnlionr. The Labour members had opposed the Peace Treaty beofuso it did not bring peace or freedom to the world'. This was s'uiwii bv the retention of British rule in Ireland and Kgypt. They had fought against tho issue of war loans free of income tax, ami had divided the Ifoiisp on many nwn'-ions, with the result Hut l'pfni'iners and Liberals had usuallv voted tflwlhcr against the Labour nii'inbcr-. The Labour Parly had suplHirted Hip claims of the Wellington l(p----tlirnen' Soldiers' Association for a gratuity of l->- i' day, and had been beaten by *!! I'omliiniilion' of Hefonncis iiiul Lili!>r»\i. Thp success nf tlio Housing Hill woiild (IPiH-nd on how it: was adiniuis-Ipn-d. He nbjivtod to thn proposal to assist pmi'loyers in providing homes for their employees, since it. would place i "tho weapon of eviction aa well as tho

wcanon of starvation" into the hands or tho employers. Labour objected to tho boss owning the homo as well as tho job, ano: insisted that the money proposed to Ixi advanced to tho employers would juet us well ho advanced to the workers themselves. The Labour members had tried to prevent the uso of indentured labour in Samoa, but had been beaten in tho House. They would' carry on the fiaht against a system that was nothing else but slavery, and that meant thn renetition of tho horrible conditions that had existed' in .South Africa when the gold magnates succeeded in importing coolio labour. Ho believed New Zealand and Australia would show better methods of administering occupied territory than any Euro, pean country had shoiyn, but it was a fact that in New Guinea, under Australian rule, indentured natives wero liable, to bo flogged for "insubordination," which meant disobedience to the lioss. It would bo better to repudiate Samoa altogether than to bring sucli conditions under tho Now Zealand flag, but ho did _ not think that was necessary. An indentured labour problem had been brought to tho Dominion, and now a Marl borough gentleman, Mr. Vavasour, was suggesting that Chinese labour should be- brought to the Dominion for domestic service. Chinese wero to TJb introduced because the working class girls had learned that they had bettof prospects than to work and slave at household drudgery for people who regarded themselves as the girls' social superiors. Ho drew a comparison between the playgrounds provided lor primary school-children at the Wellington schools and for other scholars at Wellington College. Mr. Fraser referred to tho cost of living, and suggested that the Government had favoured tho producers against the consumers. He quoted Ggure.s to show that profiteering was proceeding in connection with various articles of clothing. The Government had not grappled with the meat question, but tho Queensland Government had been able to establish a train, of meat shops whoro meat was 6old at _ pricee very much lower than had prevailed in New Zealand. These Stato meat ships had made a big profit and at tho 6ame time had provided cheap meat for tho people. A Labour Government could and would do in. New Zealand what a Labour Government had done in Queensland. Ho urged tho electors to support the Labour Party and show by their votes that they wanted a really vigorous housing policy, with tho stoppage of all non-essential building until homes had been provided for tho people. Tho Government had said that it could not possibly find '.£1.00,000 to pay a decent pension to widows and orphans, who were expected at present to live on a pittance of 7s, Gd, a-week, but it had not hesitated to give to tho butter producors, to add to the profits they had made in recent yqars. In conclusion Mr. Frnser declared that all over the world tho workers were marching to victory, and New Zealand was going to be no exception. Mr. ]?. Semplo. Labour candidate for Wellington South, spoke briefly in support of the Labour platform and asked for Labour reinforcements . v in Parliament. The. electors, ho said, ■ had a chance, to make New Zealand worth living in in a peaceable- constitutional way. A vote of thanks and confidence was put to the meeting and declared carried unanimously.