THE LETTERS OF BILL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 85

THE LETTERS OF BILL.

* v BEING THE OUTLOOK OF A WORKING MAN. III.— THE LUCK AND POLITICS OF MR A. W. HOGG, M.P. Mr Dear Pai, — Fve been to the parliamentary cemetery commonly known as Hansa<rd. I've christened it thus because! there are so many dead things in it. Life 1 th->re is in places, great memories and great efforts, even monuments to the skill and sagacity of bygone patriots — but beyond and over all there is a deadly dry- j ness only to be found in old theology and ] musty back numbers. ' j I went to Hansard of my own free will. ' Reading it for pleasure is an acquired \ habit which I haven't acquired. It doesn't come natural to me, and I'm glad of it. There is -too much Dead Sear fruit in Hansard, and I shouldn't be surprised if some politicians often wished it was buried. I understand members of Parliament are allowed ,to revise their speeches before they're printed in Hansard. You wouldn't believe it if a reliable authority hadn't told you. it would be- good' -tor some of the politician if they were allowed to further revise their Hansard speeches every year just .as tjhey amehtl their political creed. I've been worried about Mr Hogg. I've cross-examined myself as to whether he is a hero, martyr, reformer, social saviour, or just a plain politician. I broke dowa badly under the cross-examination. Those who know him couldn't satisfy my curiosity. My own -knowjl^flge oi his career wasn't worth mentioning. I'd read the reports of his" public meetings, noted how the crowds acclaimed him as a people's champion, and heard in odd places that he was to be the new leader of a brand new Labour party. So also said some 'of the present Labour leaders'. A brass band* and a, street procession In Auckland helped on his triumphant march. Mr flogg web to be a new force m Labour politics, so I simply had to study him. I try not to take somebody else's eetimate of public men, but to measure them up and form my «wn conclusions. It's easier to take your politics from your party organisation, but some of the dosets labelled, out are nasty, and more of the proffered ones are too big. In my quest for knowledge I went to the parliamentary cemetery. # Mr Hogg's words of wisdom are embalmed there. • I found him tirst.in i 691, and he's had an uninterrupted member--ship ever since. I gather that he's seen life : he was on the Victorian goldfielde in the early days. I found him supporting State fire insurance and State coal mines in the fir-st hours of his parliamentary career, and in 1)892 he pronounced a bene-. diction on the Arbitration Bill by saying that it " marked the advancing tide oi" civilisation." A bit of fuddled reasoning is contained in his speech on this same bilL Mr Hogg did not exactly voice the orthodox view when he said: — After all, there should bs no conflicts between Labour and Capital, because when you come to investigate the subject you find that there is no difference betwten Labour and Capital — the one 16 Avedded to the other; and, in fact, Labour is Capital. They are associated, and when you 6peak of Labour you are merely referring to Capital — it i* Capital. It may be said that Capital is locked up in the banks; but I maintain that it is locked up in the hands of those who produce it. Labour is a machine which constantly makes Capital, and it is constantly making Capital. When Labour becomes emancipated we shall hear much lees of the conflicts of Labour and Capital. • They are bound up together, and are wedded to one another. In '93 I found him strongly supporting the Shops and Shop Assistants Bill, declaring that the object of the measure was "simply to grant a wellmerited reMef to that class of the community whose claims are too frequently overlooked — I refer to the slaves of the_ counter." A year later Ire baulked badly at theRefereaduxn. Even a discussion of the Referendum was "an undesirable waste of -time. The measure itself was altogether inopportune." H*. voted against. it. ■ Judging our hero by his photograph, it would be hard to conclude that he was a humourist. But he is : a sort of heavyweight who leaves yoti wondering -whether he meant to be funny or was merely blundering along in serious mood and accidentally tripped over a joke. In 1895, during a discussion on the Admission of Women to Parliament Bill.. Mr Hogg drew a sad picture of members departing from their principles to ivaik into the same lobby as a female Prime Minister. "They bad got along very well without women in Parliament.'* and " it would be quite time to admit ih»* ladies when they de- ! mand-ed it." Again, in his memorable i-pt-cch of this year he was Tubbing -coarse salt on the ■wounds of the Opposition with a fine scorn. " Th-sr-e they fit in cold ( opposition," said Mi- Hogg, " railing and gnashing their teeth in the portion they have occupred, since tff-er weT% defeated by th.3 popular voice of the people, and relegated to the obscurity that always hangs like a cloud ov«t the miserable benches w here all the growls of the ' dumb dogs ' are heard." " How do dumb dogs growl?" asked an impudent member, and Mr Hogg's word picture was shattered. It isn't very elegant, I admit ; but such humour "as there "is in the extract must be laid to Mr Hogg's account: he was the acoesbory before the fact ! In the miscellaneous field of political reform and legislative experiment Mr Hogg has been fairiv satisfactory. He has jibbed at little reforms once in a white. He disapproved of a tariff reduction on tea from 6d to 3d per pound in 1895. whcTeby the Government *' sacrificed " £50,000 of revenue a year. Tea was

bad for people, he said, and he urged i substantial increase in the duty to die courage tea-darinking. The late Minister of the Crown ha, always been, a faithful party man. "N< good could come from the Elective Execu tiv\" a«d "its introduction to New Zea land -would be more or less disastrous.' In later years he has reversed his voin on the Referendum, and Itas supported it But dent run away -with the iaea that h< believes in it for ewrrthmg. Be, isa! against the Saturday half-holiday as ai unjustifiable curtailment of frueinees hours " Take a referendum," interjected th< Christchurch enthusiast, Mr Ell. The re tort of Mr Hogg was, " I do not believi in a referendum for everything. Yoi talk about Democracy ; but are TFe no driving Democracy to an extreme thai will make it repugnant to more than hal the population of the Dominion?" ■Mr Hogg isn't exactly a Socialist ; as see him he isnt exactly anything who! except a country representative. 1 regar< him as a consistent and courageous qppo pent of land monopoly. As a land refoi mer he stood by John Ballance, and fa each sneoegsive forward step, made Jjy thLiberal party. Even here, however, i fine heterodoxy according to- projected iiabou policy. In 1895 ho was violent in his op position to the Periodic*} Revaluation o Lands ' Silt- Of Qte biff anof the -cit : members supporting It he was wholl; ashamed. Hansard expresses Irim thu* wise : — _No more pernicious measure, n< ' measure more calculated to kill settie ment and to discourage improvement has ever been introduced into *he House . . . If we put this in front of th< settler—that at the end of 10 or 20, oi I care not if you say 50, years his lane is going to be revalued^— w© shall pre vent the very best men in the country from going on to the land at all. . . We have evidently to save our new settlers- not merely from those who ar< oppressing them with regard. i*> jnonefarj matters, but from « - far worse 'anc greater danger— the facWists who* «-r< coming to the front "with impracticabl< measures of this kind. A year later he hadn't recovered. Speak ing on the same bill, he said the crt; members (Radicals) v&re suffering from a sort of Radical dement ij of a mild type. This sectkm wishes t< regenerate mankind' by means of fie< universities^ and by picking, the pocketi of the community. They would impost taxes on everybody co long as the monej has ,a chance of rolling into their owi " poekete. That is the policy of the ed vanced section — a policy of grab. Thcj pose as reformers, awd'ihey say that thaj are totally opposed to such a thing a; land-grabbing. "Why*" tfcoss who know the history of the advanced section nuw know that the reason tbfc advanced sec tion is not a land-grabber is because the; never had the opportunity. Does that run plumb with Labour policy Ha&sard doesn't convict Mr Hoggof mnoi on Socialism. " iSocialism is simply . matter of education," he said one day and left it at that. Another day (las year) he asked : — Wiiat, after all, is Socialism? In mi opinion;, Socialism is simply education If you do not want- Socialism, you musi , close the schools and convert people int< slaves again, and have" two classes — orn the .employer, and the other serf an>c slave. Then you win destroy Socialism Then he continued in a thorough on slaaght on the monopolists and exploiter of the people. Bo made out a forcible cas for the further intervention of the Stat in industry, and said': — Labour in the past was «teeped ir ignorance. Tho labourer waa simply £ slave. But now the labourer is becom ing educated, and he U determined t< have his rights. He is getting out oi the mud of ignorance, aivd getting rk of his chains, and becoming a Socialist When he is a Socialist he will be s much better man and a mAh bettei labourer. And after that Sir Joseph Ward took bin into his wonderful Cabinet of mancolours. In my journey through Hansard I louxm much to commend and much to condemn I don't like Mr Hogg's penchant for goiui off the Tails. What do his newbori Labour supporters think of the following declarations and the advice therein >rI would ask the trades unions and ou: Artisans -to refrain from going too' far They have carried things a pretty gcoc length in New Zealand, and I think this is an opportune time to sound a note oi warning to them. I believe the tim« has arrived when they should feel satis fied with their achievements, and besi tate about going iuriiner than they have gone . .. The demands that art being made continually for inierferfinc<: under tho Conciliation and Arbitratior Act may well ba allowed to rest for s season.— October 14, 1901, on Factories Bill. . . . We should not attempt tc mak© our labour legislation more rigk than it is at present. My impression i' that we are going a great deal too far We are endeavouring to regulate every thing. Some people, if th^y only hat The power, would ehdexvoar to regulate the sunshine, or they woiilfl «orntrol tii< movements of the heavenly bodies There i» a man in Mount View Asydunr at the present time who told me thai everything was going wrone. because th< world exory 24 hours travelled two hours too quickly on its axis. We **c reallj eroinpr in a ridiculous direction. — Septom ber 13. 1906. on Saturday Univ.rsa Half-hpUday Bill It seems to me a man never knows hi luck in ffolitics. - I'm satisfied Mr Hog) didn't know till afterwards that hisfamon speech was loaded. In the explosion whid followed he wae- dislodged- from Cabine rank. Sir Joseph didn't show much plucl in pnshing him out. Mr Hogg says In left the Cabinet of his own accord it uphold his principles. 1 -don't pretend t be able to settle such fine points. I'] leave that to the politicians. What is interesting me just now is th triumphal march of Mr Hogg. In man, tilings he's stood up manfully for th

rights of the'- people ; hi otftars he hasn't. ! As Minister of tiabour he was in for a j hot time. On the eve of his resignation j Labour paper and LaWur meniber were j protesting that we hadn't a Minister of , Labour ; Mr Hogg was obsessed with ' roafls and bridges. He would have been vigorously assailed by trade union leaders j had he continued te be Minister of Labour. I He lost his- job, and they are carrying him shoulder-high to tie- strains of a brass band. It doesn't all seem to me to fit j in. I One never knows his luck. I could name a dozen men in Parliament who've been more consistent than Mr Hogg in support of Labour policy. If they lost their seats to-morrow some of the fire- j eaters would say it durned well served them right, or v;orse. But with Mr Hogg it's different. How ? You'd better ask the | hero- worshippers. Anyhow, I'm hoping some 3ay to hear Mr Hogg for myself. In the meantime, in all humility, as a toiler in the ranks, I ask : "Is Mr Hogg to be the new leader of a new Labour party?" I'm interested, becauee I'm one of th« led. I'll leave it at that. Till another day, yours in paldom, - Bill.