POSING AS LIBERALS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 65, 10 December 1919, Page 8

POSING AS LIBERALS

v— — TH'ENJjABOTJR PARTY'S UNBLUSH- / \ING HYPOCRISY'. ' (By "Plain Speaker.") (Published, by Arrangement for the N.Z, Welfare League.)

The Labour Party candidates, who come before the electors with a platform which is a hotch-potch of all the ""Isms"—Marxian Socialism. Single Tax, Individualism, Syndicalism, .Feminism, and Anti-Nationalism—aro the champion opportunists ami most bare-faced professors of "anything to win" that, this country has ever known. All over tho country you will find these men making speeches of a moderate kind, advocating reforms along the lines of Liberal principles, whilst keeping hidden the (act that tile real policy of their party is not rcionnative, but revolutionary. To (lie working farmer they say, ".We stand tor the tenant's absolute right to all his improvements"; and to the city industrial operative:; they say, "We are for the socialisation of all the means of production, distribution and exchange." On the one hand they pledge themselves to protect the producer in his .rights of private ownership, and on the other t'lo7 proclaim their Socialistic doctrine of Iho '"'common ownership of all the means of production, distribution and exchange." Can. political mendacity go further than this?

Their Present Disloyalty. Much has been .said of their past disloyilty. t prefer to deal with their present disloyalty, and in this Mr. J. T. Paul. Mr. Andrew Walker, and others who talk,mildly are every bit as guilty as Messrs. Holland, Semnle and Eraser. What are they doing now? They are advocating proposals in' their platform winch, if given effect to, would disrupt this country and leave it at tho mercy of any foe that liked to attack.

On the side of defence, thev do not pronounce for naval defencc of any kind. Jn connection with land defence, the.v ask for "the repeal of the Defence Act" without offering anything in its place. It is true that their platform says in bold terms, "A Citizen Army on a voluntary basis at standard rates of pay,' but at "tho conference of the party whero thnt was adopted—the speakers in support—Messrs. Somple, Tarry, Cooko and others—in ado it quite clear that what they meant by "a Citizen Army" was an army at tho command of a Labour Government to enforce laws which should lake tho property of nresent owners from tliem: in'short, .1 class army to confiscate property rights by force. I nava waited to sea if Mr. J. T. Paul, Mr. C. 11. Chapman, or any of the party's condiriatcs would denounce this outrageous doctrine, and 110110 have done so. If their silenco means that they acquiesce in these ideas, they all of them are utterly disloyal to this Dominion and to {lie Empire of which we form a part.

Insulting Seddon's Memory. Very recently one of tho Red candidates," in addressing tho electors, claimed that they or the Labour Party (so called) were tho "lineal descendants of the Liberal Party of liallance and Seddon's time." For sheer cheek and impudence this can never bo beaten. Just think of Tom Seddon's leeliug when he read that these men who abuse tho party his father gave his life to protect and advance have the hardihood to claim political relationship v.ith his levered father. As •if words of insolent reflection wero not enough, they have resorted to the political baseness of presenting tho figure of tho late Kichard •lolui Soddon as tho patron of tho present Labour Party, led by Mr. Harry Holland. I have before me now a cartoon being circulated in Auckland by tho Labour Party, in which the mighty figure of "good old Dick Scddon" is presented standing by tho side of, anil encouraging, the Labour Party candidate (I suppose to down "Dicks" own son); whilst a troop'of New Zealand soldiers are marching behind the Labour man. Can you who read th'iS think of a "ie.>er" lie that, could be put into circulation? "The lineal political defendants of Dick Scddon," think of it! The Into statesman linked arm in arm wilh Messw. Holland, Semple and Fraser, or even tho philosophical half-and-half Mr. J. T. Paul. The thought :i) too wildly grotesque, and I apologise i;i the relations, friends and supporters of the Into .Mr. Seddon for even writing it down, Those posturing puppets! They ouclit to thank Mr- Carl Marx, or wha!> ever power thev believe in, that Dick Stddon is not alive to-day. 110 would iiavj kicked them nut of his way as so muck contemptible rubbish.

Sc.ldon was an Imperialist.. a man who believed with all his heart in defending hi.scour.try and the Empire. What are the political creatures who slmmo tha Labour cause and insult the workers of New Zealand by calling themselves ''Tho NX Liibolir Party"? They arc a gang of tho worst opportunist or non-prmci-pled anti-national or anti-Imperial H-hcmei's tlut luvo ever presumed to face the public. They arc not honest Labour men. they are not honest Socialists even. bernii-v they shuft'lc the Socialist liciicl, out r.f si'fiit: whenever llicy think they will caUh votes by doing so. The Liberals and the T,alx>ur men of Seddori's time carried through eonstructivrt reforms which gave New /'calami a biu'hly honoured place 'it the minds of all students of social science the world over. It was hard work done out of a spirit of lioiicr.t loyalty to the Dominion. The present" Labour Tarty men liavo acted like a lot of mad political Dervishes, .shrieking class ha'rnl cuis>-s, abi.sing evervlxidy who diiros to fhink (liU'eient from Diem, favouring any country but the ono they gel their living tint of. and threatening, bullying, and trampting (oi the rights of men to live their lives quietly, think their own thoughts, and speak freely when it is required.