MR. A. S. BISS ON LABOUR REPRESENTATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 96, 25 April 1911, Page 2

MR. A. S. BISS ON LABOUR REPRESENTATION.

TO THE EDITOB. ' Sir,-— I would be churlish indeed if I failed to acknowledge the kindly tone of Mr. Biss's letter in last' night's issue of your paper, and the compliment paid to Councillor Hindmarsh and myself. Mr. Biss says that he would have advocated placing my name on the Citizens' League Ticket. I thank him for his good intention, but would have been compelled to decline the honour, for the very sufficient reason that a ticket, to be honest/ should be composed 1 of persons who agree upon a set of principles or a dfennite programme. The Citizens' League promised a programme, but ; fc has not seen the light yet, and the principles of the gentlemen on the League's ticket conflict very materially, and that) important fact is being hidden away. In their dilemma the gentlemen who are running the (so-called) Citizens' League, having no proper case to present to the public, have adopted tho old-time practice of "abusing the other side," i.e., the Labour Party. Well! we " can afford to smile, as that game having been played to excess is now stale. Mr. Biss has acknowledged freely that Labour should be represented on these public bodies— the City Council and Harbour Board— buk evidently thinks that two out of fifteen is a fair me&sure of representation for Labour on the City Council. I am quite willing to leave it to a jury of my fellow citizens to say to-morrow whether or not such is a reasonable proportion of representation for the mass of the people to have. Mr. Biss expresses the opinion that the other candidates "by virtue of their special training, are better qualified to govern tho affairs of the city." I think, however, that he will admit, with his usual candour, that he does not know what the past training' of the Labour men has been. If he knows only one side how, then, ' can his judgment be either impartial or sound ? I claim to be in a better position to judge than Mr. Biss, because I Know a good dca) of tho men on both sides. In my opinion it takes more business capacity to successfully run a large union of 1500 members (such as my friend, Mr. Thomas Smith, ie secretary of) than it does to run many a private business. Mr. Biss must consider where the working men who now control the Treasury benches of the great Commonwealth of Australia received their business training, and I have no doubt he will then recognise how unfair it is to raise a bar of class prejudice against a worker who ia seeking public offica merely on the ground of his being an employee.— l am, etc., D. M'LAREN. ' 25th April.

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