MUNICIPAL DUEL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 87, 13 April 1911, Page 3

MUNICIPAL DUEL.

CITIZENS' LEAGUE y. LABOUR. BEPLY BY MR. M'LAREN. Incidentally, the selection of a "ticket" by the Citizens' League on Wednesday night has quickened the interest in the municipal election. Mr. H. C. Tewsley's challenge to Labour (as represented by "the Labour eight") has been accepted by Mr. D. M'Laren, who sent his answer from the Brooklyn meeting. "Mr. Tewsley," -declared Mr. M'Laren, "said: 'The Labour candidates -would be subject to a caucus — the Trades and Labour Council.' That shows how ignorant ho is of the facia. Firstly, the Trades and Labour Council had nothing whatever to do with the selection of the candidates. The New Zealand Labour Party is a distinct organisation, open to all citizens. I can say this, that during the ten years I have been on the City Council never once has either the Trades Council or any Labour union dictated to ma how I should, act or vote. I can also say that no member of the Trades Council, or the Labour Party, has ever asked me to use my position as a councillor to pusl- him into a billet in the corporation. The suggestion, therefore, that the Labour Party is not clean in its motives amounts to something like slander. "The argument of Mr. Tewsley that 'those who had least to lose were the greatest spendthrifts,' -was the same conservative plea that had been urged against the Fisher and- Watson Governments of Australia," continued Mr. M'Laren, "yet the Australian people had given it a practical denial by their expressed confidence in the Labour Party. It was one of those hasty generalisations which cautious business men usually avoid, because it has to be qualified' in a multitude of cases. As a simplematter of fact, the most careful economists have often had their training in the ranks of the wage-earning class, where | fine economies are often a matter of compubpry practice. "Mr. fewsley said that 'to grant theclaims of the general labourers and tramway men might mean for the city an expenditure of £12,000 to £14,000.' Is that the language of a business man? It might mean that the moon will fall out of the sky. What actually does it mean? Take the labourers' claim. The City Engineer definitely gave the number of men affected as li>o permanent men and 150 casuals. Now, at Is per day increase to each man it would be £2340 for the permanents and £1950 < for the casuals, or a total of £4290. The Mayor had given over £8000 under this head, and Mr. Tewsley talks about £12,000 to £14,000 in a loose, slipshod, unbusinesslike manner. I will undertake to say that Mr. A. S. Biss will not stake his reputation as a public accountant on Mr. Tewsley's present method of handling figures. I only insist on fair play and honest representation of facts and figures. We would grant that in the case of any land syndicate, and the workers have as good a right. "The very strongest ground of argument yet pub in support (unconsciously) of the labourers' claims is given by Mr. Towsley when he says: 'Living in Wellington is at least 33£ per tint, higher than in any centre outside the Capital.' The wage-earners have a right to ask— How shall wo live without the means, if wages are not up to the 33£ per cent, over what ii paid in other centres ? It was incumbent on Mr. Tewsley to show how the Labour Party was responsible for the high values ruling in Wellington. Most people regarded that work as being due to the land-gambling class, who are certainly not members of the Labour Party. The league mentioned had taken the odd business line of picking its men first and finding out later whether they agreed or not on matters of principle, policy, and methods. THE LEAGUE'S MODESTY. "The cry was raised. against the Labour Party, that it asked too much," concluded the speaker, " "What is to be thought of the modesty of this private and -select circle of commercial personages who meet in conclave and resolve that, 'as there are 15 seats for the council and four for the Harbour Board, we demand the whole lot.' The less these gentlemen have to say about the -claims of Laboui being extravagant the better for themselves. This league, which had Mr. W -Pryor, secretary of the Employers' Federation, helping Mr. Tewsley, voices the demands of certain querulous employers (only a minority of the whole body of employers in the city), and this is what they demand : We want to select all the candidates; we want all the seats ; we want a pull on all the public ofilces; we want to dictate the whole policy for the city ; we want to rule the citizens. And these men talk of tie Labour, caucus in utter and complete ignorance of the fact that no Labour Party in all the world ever suggests the caucus system save in the field of Parliamentary affairs, where it is commonly practised by all parties. Mr. Tewsley and others have made the issue of this election Labour versus Anti-Labour. We accept the gage thrown down, because it is the old test — democracy against class interest' and privilege."