NEW ZEALAND'S DANGER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 402, 7 October 1911, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND'S DANGER.

"Woman, Man, and the State" was the subject of an address byMr Edward Tregear, late Secretary of Labour, in Wellington recently. The greatest of all problems threatened New Zealand, said Mr Treagear, the danger that not enough children were beiug reared to take the place of those now at work. There wan 2000 fewer young people in our factories to-day than a few years ago. Either children or immigrants must come to inherit the country, or the Asiatic would come. The blight which affected the human tree in New Zealand was due to the existence of economic conditions which made babies unwelcome. He declined to believe that any young woman refused to cherish the ideal that some day she would be queen of her home and mother of lovely children. But the lot of the working father and mother was one of grinding self sacrifice ar.d poverty, and he sympathised with them too much to suggest that it was their national duty to keep the State alive. Let those who were protected by tjie State take the responsibility, for he did not see why the low-paid workers should bear slaves for the profit-making machine. About 65 per cent, of New Zealand's taxation was indirect, therefore the man who had a wife and five children paid three times as much taxation as his single mate working alongside. By old age pensions, the State partially relieved the workers of the burden of the aged. Some attention was required at the other, end of life. The people should refuse to recognise palliatives, but should steadily workto secure a system of direct taxation. When a man paid ninepence for a stick of tobacco he got twopenny worth of tobacco, paid a penny profit, and six pence in duty. The speaker declared that he would have free trade for everything that could not be made or grown in the country ; he would not erect a tariff wall to help local industries, but would absolutely prohibit importations of things which could be made here. If rings grew up inside the country the Government could meet the difficulty by competing with the rings in the same industry. He was a Labour man and had been so for twenty years. He could not stultify himself by declaring that there had been no good work _ done. After enumerating a long list of humanitarian measures passed by his friends in the Liberal party, he declared he was going on, while the Liberals appeared to want to atop still. For the Conservative party he had nothing but a declaration of war. For twenty years it had waylaid the worker, maltreated him and stolen his dinner. No matter what their prom i ses —Mr M assey had at present a Socialistic veneer—the Opposition bank closed with the elections and their promises would not be honoured.