POLITICS TO-DAY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 367, 31 October 1932, Page 4

POLITICS TO-DAY

LABOUR VI EW SPIRITED ADDRESS By THE MEMBER FOR GISBORNE COALITION CONDEMR! "I had intended to speak 0l generai policy of the Labour) when I came here, but I finj) I have been booked to speak 'The Devil's Own Mess in ( Own Country,',, said* Mr. j Coleman, Lahour member for borne, in opening his addrei the Grand Theatre last night,1 I will do my best to stick to text." He explained that Mi'. 'W, ; had unfortunately fallen ilPa'i; W. Jordan had been called to a portant cqnference on the slati> ing dispute and that he had called upon to fill the breach, eyer they could reiy upon a from some of* the leaders-o) party heforg very lbng. jSTai them would remember that .thej a great depression in 1890, [ brought out such great men a; lance and Seddon. Then men^ for 4/- a day and there were kitchens in the eities. This co® had been brought about by the party but Ballance" and Seddo: not remedy this hy reducingi but by increasing them, and i New Zealand the envy of the? In 1925, Mr. ,Coates led thf fonn Party with the catch e "give the young New Zealand a chance" and they swept the In the 1928 election the three ies were returned in . almost \ strehgth, but one thing was plai! that was that the Reform Ge ment had received a vote of nc fidence. The United Party then office by the help of the h Party. The United supporters a! stage heartily condemned the K( Party and the Labour j helped to keep them in power, was because Sir Joseph "Ward promised to get back to the oli eral policy. Unfortunately he fc tained old age and sooh passed and with him went the last n of Liberalism. The Labour Party was noti cord with the whole of the l! policy, but thought it best to port the lesser of the two evil At first Mr. Forbes opposei suggestion of Coalition, but afb visit to the Old Country he st to make overtures. Mr. Coates sented 17 points and Mr. h swallowed them all and they v,-; the country in 1931 as a Coal a beautiful pair. Anyhow the ele returned the Coalition, but tlis bour Party secured a quarter million^votes, the largest nuniti votes cast for any party. That Blank Cheque Coalition was given a blank que and how bad they filledi: When the Government took >: there were 40,000 unemployei to-day there were over 100,000 and women out of work, m being near to starvation. Thel and women of New Zealand di:® want eharity — they inerely if® the right to work and support* families. There were thousaniS men being forced into camps I were quite incapable of earnL'^J decent living with piek and stei Another way of filling in theNn cheque was the dismissal of d ands of Government employeeB reducing wages. These dignd were largely responsible for tm pression. Immigration had alsu jg inadvisable. , ^ Arhitration Killed ^ Another contribution to the: was the smashing of the Arbitri Act, which was instituted hySf and Reeves to improve the cork of the country and prevent tk. ploitation of the worker. The Go! ment even declined to give jt tion to women workers, untilfi to do so by the Upper House the Labour Party.. Wages and Pensions g Then there was the cutting' of wages and salaries. Business ple at first approved of this at but they had changed their opk to-day. Businessmen knew nov the purchasing power of the P had been reduced with disastroc fects. The National Econoniy Go" sion had also presented a wocd report and among other thing commended reductio'ns in old widows, miners, soldiers economic and family allowancei The whole of the Governmei! licy since the election was to S the standard of living of the I* The reduction in wages had! no difference to the farmer, t reduction of interest would m£ very big difference indeed. The Government attitude to tion debarred thousands of $ fpom entering school betweeo ages of five and six and remaii® ter the age of 14 years. It was, made diificult for the childr^ working people to become teat Liberalism Dead In conclusion he declared tk Liberal Party in the past had P an honourahle part in the P"-; history of the country, but®; was dead far beyond hope of f The Labour Party to-day ' clai^ be the descendants of the old hLabour Party. Reform ai}d k had bbth f aiied ,the countvh,' why support theni when join^ gether. The hope of the Pe0^ in the returri of the Labour P3,1 A hearty vote of thanks ed by Mr, Grigg and second^ Mr. M. Henderson and carried acclamation. A vote of thanks to the T. Jackson, for presiding cOIl!* the meeting. m