THE GENERAL ELECTION BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 57, 1 December 1919, Page 7

THE GENERAL ELECTION BATTLE

WEEK-END CAMPAIGNING

SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER

NEWS, NOTES, AND COMMENTS j

Awkward for Mr. Holland, The Buller electors are not taking very kindly to Mr. 11. E. -Holland, who is seeking Uieir suffrages as leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party. At a meeting last week an elector asked Mr. Holland if ho knew a freer country than New Zealand. A fLor eomo hesitation, Mr. Holland replied "Switzerland," ami a section of the audience then asked if it was not possible for Mm to go there. Another elector wanted to know how tlio boys in the trenches during; the war would have; got the reinforcements necessary for victory if all tho men remaining in New Zealand had been "conscientious objectors." The leader of the extremists docs not appear to Lave b»cn able to offer an answer to this question. He evidently was not prepared to admit that if he ihad had his way New Zealand would have lefti iU soldiers in tho lurch. Mr. Holland wes-accorded a vote

of thanks at his Birchiield meeting, and when ho said that he would come back later in Uio campaiga a prominent local man remarked that he n«\l not trouble, finco tho district was going lo hrtvo a practical miner for its representative. A The Wizard's Secret. . While wo aro on the subject of tho cofit of living (remarks the Christchurcb. "Press"), we may remind the public that they can fairly blame Sir Joseph Ward for the inconveniences they liavo suil'ored. At Dunediu on Thursday, November 21, 1914, he referred to a "scheme" which he had been "examining for tsho best part of twelve months. ,. He gavo no particulars, but ho explained that his scheme was 0210 "by -which tho main articles of food could bo cheapened, and the samo hyatem could bo extended to Tnaat, bread, and coal. It could beclone wibh tho assistanco of the State. The great bulk of our products had a fino market abroad, and the State, without interfering with the man on tho land, could provide a, system whereby the whole of tho products going l abroad could go abroad, and the portion remaining hero for consumption could be cheapened." A* wo ihavo said, lie kept secret tho detail? of this scheme, and secret they remain to this moment. When he entered the National Government lie still kept the eecret locked in his bosom, whilo prices kypt on rising eteadily. Nobody, else in the world-has a schemo for providing universal cheapness, or we should have heard of it. Therefore, we can fairly ascribe the responsibility for the rising prices to Sir Joseph Ward. A wavo of hi,s magic wand, and we should all have ihad cheapness and plenty. But ho would not wave his wand. .

Look Who's Here! "I helieve I was the first one to suggest to the Minister of Defence the granting of gratuities to the returned soldiers and their dependants."—Mr. Albert Edward Glover, Auckland Central. The next best thing to stating that a thing is a fact is to state one's belief (hat that thing is a fact. Mr. Glover "believes." . A Fettered Party, The official Labour candidates who asfiuro tho electors what ideal representatives they would he if they were returned to Parliament cannot as a fact represent anyone but the Lahour Party. The constitution to which they aro pledged forbids it. The "most democratic party," ns this one nrofessw to be, leaves no democratic libprty to its candidates, before or after they aro elected to Parliament. .Vr. Veitch. at Wnnipinm, put that asnect truly when he stated that he was a Labour man, but he definitelv refused to sign tho Labour pledge, "If ho did thnt. ho not only bound himself to follow the platform, but also to record his vote in obedience to the decision, of the pnrtv caucus. There was. in his opinion, nothing so undemocratic as any groun of men assuming tho right to control the principles nnd tho conscience of

any representative of the people. Control by' a srroup was tho essence of intrijme aiid the very antithesis of democracy."— Timaru "Herald." Who Pays? 'Ton have 'been gointr slow." said Mr. J. P. Luke to a "Eed" interjfotor on Friday night. The reply was. "Of course I have. I learned how to hit bade by going slow long ago." It would be interest, in? to know if the man who made tins admission had even Riven a minutes I bought to tho question of where this Klow was landing wlien he Milt bacK. Who suffers first and chiefly when production is decreased and prices consequently are increased? Who is affected moit l>v delay and increased eo«t in the building of homes? Who feels the pinch if boots or blankets become dear and scarce because certain ttionps of workers are "going fIW? Who pnvs if the watersider workers add to iho landed co=t of the foods that pnss through their hands? Who is hurt first by a shortage of coal cnns«d by a "so-elmv policy at the mines? There can 1* only one answer to theso ouestions. The blow riches Uie worker and the worker's family evetime. No man can possibly benefit 1. mFPlf or his fellow-wortas by giving less than a fair day's work for a tarr days pay. \, , An Admission.";'- — Fpeakin? in the Panimount Theatre last ni'ht! Mr. P. Fraser said that "the only forco in this country that opposed conscription was tho Labour Party, and titer after a momenta pause ho mtule a significant correcfon. Ho faid, the Labour organisation." This frankness is not usual, but it is quite true that it wa? known it was the organisation, as represented by a little group of extremist" nnd not the ma/a of tho workers who opprsod conscription, when the stfljfo had lx>en reached where national ficrv;w \va« tho nlternalivfi to failure h fintj teinforceniMila. Mr. Walker's liibonrcd exttlanstion in Dmirdiii North is an in-tc-rpsiintt eomnientary on what actually occurred. A Little Class by Themselves.

"We spent. .£70,000,000 on the, war, and the Iwst you can say for it if that it was splint on tho destruction nf human life," said-Mr. P. Frneor last night. Them are not ninny people who will endorse that estimate'of the principles and liberlies for which tho men of the British Umpire and of tho other democratic liu- i (ions of the. world fought nnd died. But I then the Labour extremists, in .certain nvpects, form a little class by themselves. \ ■•■' The Soft Pedal. \ -'■ \ Perhaps it is because Mr. Holland has found that unadulterated extremism does not appeal to many of the Buller electors I that he is. presenting his meetings with . some "soft pedal" stuff. He is reported as having said at one of his meetings that,, "no national hatreds should 'be taught inji tho schools. They should tench tho. chil-'i dren that the same rich red blood'of hut inanity flows in all veins, that tho interests, of all the people of the earth are linked up together, that the world is ja very small speck on the map of the universe." Tho real "Reds" must have been a bit startled to find their chosen champion talking in this fashion, even admitting that there might be truth, honesty, and good will outside fhe Tanks of official Labour. But probably they consoled themselves with tho reflection that Mr. Holland did not really moan it

A "Dud." Ono of (ho "arguments" presente/l by Miour candidates at tho Paramount Theatre kst night was a statement that Mr. Jlnssey had undertaken to give- "sufficient inducement" to the farmers to grow wheat, but "could not give any inducement to tho miners to produce ■enough coal." This comparison obviously was carelessly selected by official Labour. 'flip whoat-growora did not get tho prico they demanded, and they mo not in the least likely to get it. The Government fixed for them a prico (hat it considered to bo fair and that bore a reasonable relation to the price at which wheat' could bo landed from Australia. The wheat growers produced wheat, but admittedly their return in many cases was very small, and Air. Massey has indicated that the price may be increased to a, "fair level." The miners, on the other hmid, made a demand which the employers and-the Government considered uiireasoncble. They were offered a milj-

etiinlial jiicrpass in their pay, but they ; refused to niako any advance towards a settlement, and now they are "going \ slow" in the hope, of forcing the country to pay the last poiiny of their demand. ' Whe-ro 16 the parallel that the Labour ■ candidates affect to see? ; Compare this Record with Mr. Holland's. : Mr. I). G, O'Brien, who is opposing Mr.' [ ITollanrt in Buller, became a miner at ; the ago of seventeen years, and has been in the industry, for about thirty yearn. ; Ho took an active part in the formation | of the first miners' union at llillerton, : and became its president. Later ho was '■ ecoretary for several years. Ho was 1 chairman of. the Buller County Council : when war was declared. He went to the front with the first body of tunnellers, ; won a commission in France, and after- j wards saw service in Palestine. On Ids ' return (o New Zealand he resumed work , ; as an underviewer in the Millerton mine. ! "Self-Determination!" "The duty is ours to win self-deter- ! mination. The ballot-box gives us the ; power; the flection Rives us tho oppor- | tunity. Tho vjetory is ours for the tvinlimp;." Thoso words are found in the election manifesto of the Parliamentary j Labour Party, and they aro worth attention because they expose the absurdity I of a substantial part of tho extremists' propaganda. The official Labour candidates, as the electors well know, are say-' infj all over the country that the "workers" are being ruled by "capitalistic ; tyrants" 1 The inference is that in some I nvysterious fashion tho members of sue- : cessivo Governments have ruled without : tliu consent of the people. The suggestion is absurd, of course. If n. majority of the people of Now Zealand have a will to be governed in any particular : way, the whole machinery of government ' is within their reach. Every man and ~- woman, barring lawbreakers and lunatics, lias the franchise. If the Labour ; extremists represented a majority of the voters, they would be able to wait for

polling day with assurance of victory. It is because they know they do not ' represent a majority, and because they hope to hoodwink sane working men and women that they aro making such a """ noise. Lies far Babies. The leader of the extremists 6ays that if lie had his way the history books, instead of teaching the. sordid story of . kings, and their battles, would seek to teach the great inoustrial history of the ' race, and to instil into the child mind a kuowledce of the people's struggles for freedom both internally and externally. ; Hero is a sample of the eort of "knowledge" that the "Jlaoriland Worker" is trying to instil into tho minds of children in its special weekly column devoted to that purpose:— ! "When they (the soldiers) offered us their lives they didn't think New Zealand , would enter into tho slavo trade. Yet, Littlo Sunbeams, wo have slaves, workinir in Samoa. They don't call them elavos. thov call these men and women 'indentured labour.' But it means elavorv. Littlo Sunbeams. They aro elaves bought, to work for men who want to : crow rich on someone else's labour. .'. . i At school. Sunbeams, when the- school- j master begins to talk to you about Samoa, put up your hand. Then eay, 'Please, sir. aro you against the slave tradn called- Indentured Labour in Samoa?, "

It is to be hoped that some of tiro children who are being niisinetructerf in this fnshion iwill put the nnestion to their teachers, ami eo get ft dcccntlv truthful statement of the conditions of labour in Samoa. Even a child can discern the different between slnverv and an industrial contract on wages. Wolfare League Declares for Reform Candidate. At the invitation of tho Palmerston North branch of the Welfare League, lx)th Mr. .T. A. Nosh, 111?., and .Air. Moses '\yrton. the officiul Labour candidate for tlie Palmerston seat, addressed meetings under tho auspices of tho league, as to their positions in regard lo the platform'. At a special mcetine of members held on Friday night the following resolution was carried unanimously-.-"That having heard tho views of both Messrs. Nash and Avrton, members bo recommended to support Mr. Nash at the forthcoming poll. ■

The weather was anything but ideal on Saturday for the opening ot tho Evans Bay Swimming and Life-saving Uubß 1913-20 season. There was a very cold wind and a choppy sea, but, none the less, there ivas a very fair attendance of members and tlioir friends. Mr. G. S. Hill, of the Wellington Swimming Centre, in declaring the season open, remarked that the club was a very strong one. ]le hoped that it would be possible to send Mr. Patterson (one of lilio club's members) to tho Olympio Games at Antwerp next year as New Zealand's representative. The matter had not yet been finally settled, but he would do nil that lay in his power to bring about iibo arrangement. Ho referred to tho lack of bathing sheds, and said tlhat the club had offered .£IOO towards the cast of erecting suitable eheds. 'As yet, however, nothing liad been done. Lyall Bay and Island Bay both had pood accommodation. It was particularly desirable that Evans Bay should havoa clubhouse, where, lihey could store their gear and entertain visitors. 110 urged the club to take steps to got the City Council -to take action. Offing to tho unsuitable weather only two of tho nine, races on Uio programme were swum. They resulted:— 50 yards, school girls' raco-R. Harris, 1; R. Huggius. 2. Tlio only etarlers. 1 50yds. men's iliandicap (oppn)-J. Henry : (scr.'), 1; L. Turner (fiscc). 2; H. Vinson ■her.), 3. The only starters. Tea was served during H'c afternoon. In tho evening a social was held., A very large number altemlwl. and musical ami elocutionary items were rendemrb) several members, a sonpt bj.il*- "H-™ ibeing paiticularly well received.