LABOUR PARTY’S CAMPAIGN.

Shannon News, 29 August 1922, Page 3

LABOUR PARTY’S CAMPAIGN.

MR McCOMBS AT SHANNON

On Sunday evening Mr J. McCombs, M.P., addressed a public meeting at the Maoriland Theatre, which was well attended. Mr Randall occupied the chair, and introduced the speaker. Mr Whibley, the official Labour candidate for the Manawatu electorate, was also present., and was introduced to those present. In the afternoon Mr McCombs spoke at Arapeti, when there was a good attendance. In dealing wtih some of the planks of the Labour Party’s platform, Mr McCombs said that the party, in its desire to get right down to fundamentals, placed right in the forefront of its political programme constitutional and electoral reforms which went in the direction of placing more end moye power in the hands of the people themselves. The- Labour Party did not wish to establish a dictatorship—they w’aqlted to see New Zealand a,real democracy, with the sovereign power in the hands of the people themselves. With that object in view, they asked first of all for the enactment of a proportional representation law which would give each elector an effective vote and ensure that the representative Chamber was fully representative of the people. The present position in New Zealand was a travesty and outrage, on democracy. We had a Government in power at the present moment which received only 40 per cent of the votes at the last election. The present Government was in power in defiance of the clearly expressed will of the majority as declared at the ballot box at the last general election. When Mr Massey was in England last, well-m----lormed editors of public journals did not hesitate to point out the fact. No Government, no matter how strong its following in the House, can be deemed to be strong which is known to represent only a minority of the people from whom Parliament derives its power. The consent- and cooperation of the governed is essential to a strong administration; At the last general election only 51 per cent of the people secured direct representation in Parliament.

Proportional representation aims at securing the full representation of the people in Parliament, each party and each considerable body of public opinion . being represented in proportion to its polling strength. In proportion to the votes polled at the last election, the Massey Party should have received 28 representatives instead of the 44 it managed to elect as the result of split votes. The Liberal Party should have elected '2l instead of 18, whereas the Labour Party should have got 19 representatives instead of the 8 it did elect. Under proportional representation there would be multiple member constituencies, returning three, five and seven members each. In the towns, seven of the present electorates would be formed into an electoral district, and in the sparsely populated districts the number would be three. Each elector would be given a single transferable vote which he or she would exercise by placing the figure opposite the name of the candidate the elector preferred, the figure 2 opposite the name of the second preference, 3 opposite the name of the next preference. With a House fully representative of the people, and each party represented in proportion to its strength, the full voice of the nation would be heard in all legislative proposals, and the dominant political party would only come to its decisions alter it had heard that full voice. The majority would rule, but the minority would be heard on all questions affecting the commonweal.

The Labour Party stands for Hie abolition of the Upper House, because it holds that no nominated body of persons should have the power to veto the decisions of the people's representatives. The Upper House, as at. present constituted, is composed of political rejects and political hangerson, and these, men, some of whom have been rejected by the people, should not have the power of veto over the decisions of the people’s representatives. Xh£ cost of the Upper House is considerable, and the Prime Minister might well effect economies by abolishing it entirely.

If a revising body is necessary, let it be chosen as a select committee from, among the members of the House to recommend alterations, but without the right of veto. The real safeguards, so far as the people are concerned, would best be secured by a Referendum law, which would,place the final veto in the hands of the people themselves. Under the provisions of a Referendum law, it should be possible for the .people on their own initiative, on a petition signed by 10 per cent of the electors, to demand a plebiscite vote on any proposed piece of legislation, or to initiate legislation themselves. With such a law on the Statute Book, New Zealand would indeed be a democracy with the sovereign power in the hands of the people themselves. The people would then be free and self governed.

Another Parliamentary reform which is advocated is to free Parliament from the dominance of Cabinet. The

original idea of responsible government was the making of Cabinet responsible to Parliament. Now, while every private member is nominally free to introduce a Bill and secure its passage through the House if a majority of the members are in favour of it, in actual practice this is not so, because the Cabinet, through the Prime Minister, has charge of the order paper, with the result that the member in charge of the Bill finds his Bill from day to day placed in such a position on the'order paper that n never comes up for final consideration. In this way Cabinet exercises a veto over Parliament, and Cabinet, instead of being the servant of Parliament, has gradually become its master. Short of the people’s veto, as provided for in a Referendum law, Parliament should be the sovereign power in the land.

The Labour Party stands definitely lor a State-owned shipping service to carry the produce of the people of New Zealand to the- markets of the world, the. producers to pay only the actual cost of the service. The importers likewise to be charged only the actual cost of carrying goods from the Old Country to New Zealand. In this way, and in this way only, can the people of New Zealand free themselves from the grip of shipping combines and shipping trusts, which are exacting such heavy toll on the people of New Zealand. In New Zealand, we own the railways, roads, bridges and wharves, and what more logical than that we should own the means of carriage and transit by sea. The State shipping service, when established, should not be operated with' 1 the idea of making huge profits, but with the sole idea of providing a. service for the producers and importers at the lowest possible cost.

In regard to - insurance and banking, the Labour party is strongly in favour of making a State monopoly of accident and fire insurance. It is also in favour of establishing a State Bank, which would use the national credit for the benefit of the whole of the people instead of allowing private banks as at present to use the public credit for the private gain of a few lucky shareholders, who are drawing huge dividends out of the use of the public credit.

In regard to the land, the Labour Party would like to stop all gambling in land, and while providing cheap money for the farmers through the State Bank, it would control the sale of all lands, by making it compulsory to sell through the State instead of through land agents . and land speculators. The Labour Party wishes to secure to the working farmer the full value of his product. Mr McCombs claimed that he was first among the members of Parliament to protest against the Butterfat lax, which he. characterised- as a class tax levied on the most hardworking section of the farming community. He claimed that he and the Labour Party had contended all along that the equalisation fund should have been provided for out of the Consolidated Fund. He quoted a letter from the editor of the N.Z. Dairyman complimenting him on the work he had done in connection with the> agitation to refund to the dairy farmers the tax which had been wrongly levied on them by the Government. Mr F. W. B. Greville, editor of the N.Z. Dairyman, was quoted as saying that he, Mr McCombs, had “put the case better for the producer than any other person who had dealt with the subject.”

At 'the conclusion of the meeting, a motion was' unanimously carried thanking Mr McCombs for his speech and expressing confidence in Mr Whibley,. the Labour candidate for the Manawatu seat.