THE LIBERAL PARTY IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10277, 12 May 1919, Page 3

THE LIBERAL PARTY IN NEW ZEALAND

(To the Editor "N.Z. Times.") Sir, —I understand that it is proposed to hold a conference of members or' the Liberal party shortly. "Well, as an old Libeual whose sympathies are pronouncedly with sane labour in its legitimate aspirutiOns, 1 trust that all bona tide Liberals will set to work io give the people of this JL>ominion, irrespective of class, a square deal—and they certainly have not got anything approaching a square deal for some years past. JL.et the Liberals in Parliament caU upon the Liberal members oi the Cabinet to give a clear and definite account of their stewardship. Let Sir Joseph Ward, in pnrticUiar, be called upon to account for the camouflage which the Hon. William Massey and ne have been systematically practicing on the people ot iliis Dominion. Consider the following :■— {.i) Uur system of taxation is among the most cruelly unjust to be found in the Kmpire. just iancy, earned and unoarned incomes dealt with on the same basis for taxation purposes 1 (2) The wage-earning and salaryearning classes have been Buffering severely from the shameful exploitation, not merely permitted, but deliberately patronised by the National Cabinet,' whoso chief concern has been see- - ing to the Interests of, and acting as middlemen for, the exploiting producers and business' rings in tnis Dominion.

(3) Education, our most important national concern, has been as good as completely neglected and ignored. Our Cabinet has evidently failed completely to discern the signs of tho times in this connection. The teachers in the Dominion throughout their ranks (from the primary sciiool to the university) are in a state of disaffection. No wonder 1 What should be the most highly-organ-ised and eiflciontly-eqnipped of departments of 8-tate is systematically starved. The Minister for Education is, apparently, treated by the Premier and Minister for Finance as a confounded nuisance, who ought to cultivate what Carlyle called "ulie silences." Who aro the educationists and teachers of this Dominion that they should demand .a higher daily wage than our unskilled labourers? AVhat dq the teachers of tho Dominion count for in voting power ? Why, let them join our Bolsheviks if they will I (4) What has the National Government done to secure a square deal for the "salaried" orders' generally? Exploited them, nothing else! Think of the shameful conditions (in the matter of remuneration for services) that Bank and almost, all other clerks, are working under. Hw long will it continue Y Can -we wonder at tho salaried orders, so unceremoniously dealt by, drifting into tho tentacles of Bolshevism? Many of them consider it their onlv hope. Truly, sir, a conference of Liberals Had bettor set to work sanely and seriously and without delay.

AN OLD LIBERAL