LABOUR POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 128, 2 June 1919, Page 2

LABOUR POLITICS

MODERATES AND EXTREMISTS

MR. HOLLAND IN REPLY TO MR. VEITCH.

Before commencing' his address, at-the Alexandra Hall, Wellington, on. Sunday evening on the subject of the Consckri--tious Objectors, . Mr. H- ,E. Holland, M.P., made some reference to tho recent attack on himself by Mr. Veitch., M.P. Boiled down, lie said, Mr. Veitch's main complaint was that tho Labour organisations of Wanganui had decided to call for nominations for the selection of a candidate to contest the electorate in the interests of Labour. Tho method adopted by Labour at Wanganui, he said, was the method of choosing Labour candidates in every electorate, and lie and every other Labour member had to submit to it. Mr. Voitch wanted an' exception to be made in his case, and because it was not made he seemed to have concluded that Mr. Holland was responsible. It had been" quite open to Mr. Veitch to qualify for anil submit himself to the democratic method of by ballot on a preferential voting basis; but instead of domg this, he had recklessly rushed into print, denounced the action of tile local Labour bQdies as a challenge to himself, and with Gilbertiaii bravado proclaimed that he was prepared to accept the challenge. . Mi. Holland went on to deny the accuracy of Mr. Veitch's statement that his entry into Parliament had resulted in destroying the harmony of the Labour Party. Mr. Veitch was one of the men responsible for inflicting the Massey Party on New Zealand. According to one of the Liberal papers, 'Mr. Veitch had since repented of, that act. But lie, along with others, was also responsible for inflicting the companion evil of conscription on the country; and when that measure, coupled with the refusal to recognise religious and conscientious objections to military service, had resulted in filling the gaols with prisoners and tho land with fugitives, Mr. Veitch had cast his vote for the Government Bill which disfranchised for ten years some thousands of the Government's opponents, after some hundreds of them had already suffered one, two, and even three punishments for the same "offence." These later votes of Mr. Voitch had been cast in defiance of the very, definite—practically unanimous—conference decisions of the workers of New Zealand, Not only was this so, but for quite four years Mr. Veitch had not been a member of any political Labour organisation, and he had not scrupled to go before tho Auckland Chamber of Commerce and slander the Labour movement for the edification of Labour's opponents. These things notwithstanding, Mr. Veitch had been permitted to attend the caucus of. the Parliamentary Labour Party until the beginning of last session, when Mr. Eraser snd. the speaker stated the illogicality of allowing- an independent member in no way bound by the Party's policy to take part in determining the party's course of action in the' House —a course the Labour. Party members themselves were pledged to shape in accordance with the party's platform as determined at annual conference. Mr. Veitch himself had concurred with them in this respect, as also did every member of the party, with the result that an arrangement was arrived at under which the Labour. Party was to hold its own caucus separately, afterwards meeting such of tho. independents as might be willing to work in with the party on. general lines. Mr. Holland said there was no truth in the statement made by Mr. Veitcli and backed by a Liberal weekly paper that he had' been - responsible for discord in the party. The party, meetings, on the. contrary, had been marked by a degree of harmony that did not characterise the meetings of any other party; and, to put it in the very mildest way, it was peculiar, that it was only at that, late 'hour, when the Liberal Party was essaying the impossible task of floating its wreckage off the political rocks, that Mr. Veitch from outside the pale of the Labour Party, discovered that Mr. Holland was "temperamentally impossible" within the party. The Labour Party itself was the best judge of that matter; and they would not lose sight of I the fact that a Liberal scheme was afoot to disrupt Labour if it could for the purpose of achieving Labour's defeat at the polls. Labour was quite capable of managing its own affairs, and really did not .need advice from persons in no way connected -with its organisation nor yet in sympathy with its supreme objective. The workers who formed the membership of the Labour Party were determined that whoever wanted to represent them must first be selected by themselves and be bound by the policy laid down by tha Labour organisations. It did not matter whether a man classed himself as "moderate" or "extremist," this was the only method by which he could claim to figure as a political representative of Labour; and Mr, Veitch, if ho became a member of a political Labour organisation, would have exactly the same rights as any other member, no more and no less. One tiling was certain, the speaker declared. The day had long gone when either the misstatements of Mr. Veitch or the untruthfulness of a Liberal paper could hope to divide the forces of Labour for the salvaging of that confusion of political debris which sought to call itself the Liberal Party.