THE MEMBER FOR GREY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 197, 22 May 1914, Page 4

THE MEMBER FOR GREY.

Address in Pukekohe. Mr I'. C. Webb, the S-..cial Democrat who succeeded the late t'ir A. Guinness as member i'jr tdrev, delivered un addr-. £3 ia the inttrests of the Social Uemo.ratic party i.i the Premier Hall, l J uk-.kyho, on Monday night. The Mayor, Mr Lawrie, presided. The attendance at the opening was rot big, but a little later, as other meetings ended, the crowd developed until there was almost a full house.

Although in a Irstile ramp Mr Webb manifestly had a good sprinkling of sypfo' t'.rs in th.: h 11 ar.d he received an excellent hearing. his declamations being frequently arid generously apfljud-.d. The speaker opened by saying that he represented the enly policy thac was before the people to-day; it wa3 a working class movement destined to benefit the wh.la of ,'- ew Z aland. This was a county oi mae.riticent rasouices, but not\vithstanj-ing that they found poverty and misery on the one hand and riches and luxury on th? otfer. He e, they vrxc even cu \ ir.;; li e l.ir. i .. !•-<■!

Englau.i liul euu.ea so much fovtrty. Ard si they had land m- iinpi.!;.'. com'iicrrii.l c. m .i .is, trust and b-oiin-.s iiio..o h oiii.s.

Turning to pol'ticn! parties, Mr Webb Sdi.l that wi.ilst New Zealand had had J.j ar.d best Liberal party that the world had seen jet during their 20 years they had not dor.e all they should have done for the producing class. Still the progress they hid mads i.ad been made in spile of the old l'ory party which blocked every measure cf humare legislation. It was high time (hat the people of New Zealand rose in their strength ard shook off these who were oppressing aod exploiting them. The land policy which hii party offered wa3 the only policy that was going to do any good for the working farmers of New Zealand At present the small farmers could not get on the land. The laad should be opened up. He believed that Hawke's Hay itself could support as big a population as all New Zealand hi Id at present if they did not 1:t a human keep other humans off the land. The speaker vent on to deal Willi the effect of public expenditure un railways, roads, bridges and public buildings; these thirgs put up the pi ice ol land, but the community got very little back tor their expenditure. It was the individual who did very little who got tte profits. The men who farmed the land were producers and were on the same level as all

oii:vi' workers; they co .i i.->- work tiltu land were it nt hr the miners, i'ior.i.ls if thu a irer ar.d tie fanner were L'crtical a ihay sl.iiul i comr together. 'flugnat evil of the tanning ilass tocay was that I hey wore ur.de: th.heel of (he mo;iey-ii;nd.h which forced them to work their women ard children at milking cows. The best of New Zealand land war. already taken up tut a great porti .n of it was rot worked, lie ridiculed (he hid ballot avttem. Farmeis should not te taxed one penny for the improvements they put on the land, but the policy cf his party was to tax! and tax!! anil (ax!!! until they forced the land-holders tit mash up their estates and let the people en to the land. That v, as the policy which (he im.-ll farmers ought to adopt for themselves. Mr Webb pio-

ceeded to ridicule the i traduction of boy-fanners frem Er.glaid who were p- id 7i lid a week a:.d could not save anything on thac sum. Why eiid rot New Zcahndeis say th y wanted farming slaves?

Mr Webb claimed that his puty was well able to t.Jce political C'irtr I A!i th l ? g-m* rr f~ i-f t,:c p;ta: ! i -e:■ i !'• :t; I : . . • • oiling Tij-.y v.<.i'_ o -i.g t. make la d nv-irprdy m;o sible and supply a.', i; ritu-ni > .: i: cry at coet price, li it c. I.IJ .1 manufacture then the State should import its ovn implements ar.d free the people from the machinery trust).

Opposition to conscription wa.- the speaker's next theme. The peace of New Zealand dep.need on the British Empire ard if the En; ire came down all New Ze liana's efforts at defence would be futile. The best plan pfas to ext c r.d a hearty welcome to the peop'e of the Old Country to come ar.d settle on our hn J s. said it wa3 ausurd to talk about building up our r.avy to piotect our industries. Before they were redely tor use our si;ips would be obsolete, and what we:e one or two ships going to do in defence cf this country? If they could not build a r.avy worthy of the name they were rot justified in building one at all. If Dreadnoughts were wanted let the landed sharks pay fci them; they could do it without sunning any risk of ending their days in the poorhouse.

"Mr ilassgy's party is the same old Tory party,'' said Mr Webb in proceeding to deal with the electoral system. While ha did not support the secor.d ballot, it was a marvellous improvement on llis obsolete system now in vogue. Mr Massey was in power, yet he only represented onethird of the people of New Zealand. He got jntu power in d.liance of th2 will of the people because 4or 5 men went lack on their cor.s! ituer.cics. Mr Massey was true to lih principles of Toryism. He ihoukl have said: You go back to your constituents fcr your mandate. I will not take office on the votes of political hypocrites.

The initiative, the referendum and the right ot recall were advocated,

and the speaker assailed the Tories for having opposed such measures as Old Age Pensions and the Arbitration Act. He vigorously attacked Mr Massey l'or not having dene all that he should have done to er.d the late strike, claitiing that the workers were prepared to ecept arbitration, hut the Government said: No, we will crush the labour organisations of New Zealand.

The Social Democrats would first of all vote Mr Massey out of oiiice and would then vote Sir Joseph Ward out to keep him company. He hotly blamed the Reform party for damning Sir -Jospeh Ward by stabbing him in the back. In cersuiing the Government for keeping Holland in prison, Mr Webb said that at Home Carson could presch sedition ar.d flout the Empire, but in New Zealand they were imprisoned because they represented poor people. Amongst other things they wanted a State Bank in Ntw Zealand. If it was a good thing to have State railways ar.d State postal services, surely they would find it advantageous to have a State bank. They had reached a new age acd they should rise ar.d free themselves from oppression, 1 savin{.-■ New Zealand better thar, they found it. (Applause), In reply to questions, Mr Webb said he was a leaseholder. The freehold tenure had been an absolute curse in every country where it had been tried. He would not introduce Chinese labour to relieve the women ami children who toiled in tl.c milking industry; under a proper

land system they could afford to pay proper wages to white men The I lace f.r religiyus instruction was in the iomcs : r.d the rum'ay Sell, ol; Cath.h.s should have the light to , l ave their ov.n s 'hoi Is lut th.-y ■ should not gel any help from trie community. He did net think that 1 the Federation of Labour directed > all their antagonism against the 'rural industries dining the late ! strike; he thought they paid most 1 attention to the shipping monopolies. His definition of Socialism was the ownership of the land; the ownerj ship of the means of production. They would not want to nationalise I r peanut cart or a snail boot-shop; hut the people should own the I'.S.S. Company's shipping business : and all the coal mines of New I Zealand; as scon as any department i became a monopoly it should be ■ taken over and worked in the interests of the people, He did not know if the Social Democrats were going to run a candidate for Franklin at t!ie next election; if Labour did contest the seat it shculd do its best to win, if it could not do that then it should fee that Mr Massey diJ nut win. He favoured State Control although that was not part of his party's programme; he hoped the I time would toon come when people I would have stnte enough to leave liquor alone. There was promise of excitement ; when further questions were thrown I at the speaker about the late strike, ! but the edge of the assault wai 1 turned by the speaker saying be : would do what he could to see that the "specials." who went to Auckland were paid, by condemning th? utterarces of the strikers who spoke vengeance against ths women-folk of the "specials." and by saying that nobody had the right to prevent fodder from being taken aboard ship | to feed the starving stock. Some of the questioners were persisent and a good deal cf their speech-making was incoherent and provoked cries of "Sit down!" from ill parts of the hall. Threats by I the chairman of ejection had to be | administered on two occasiors. Mr j Webb appeared to enjoy the tea-cup I storm and the meeting ended with | heartv votes of thanks to the chairman ard to Mr Webb.