The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 6. WHAT CHANCES FOR LABOR?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 382, 6 May 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 6. WHAT CHANCES FOR LABOR?

Quite naturally the New l Zealand Liiboi Party has taken heart of grace from the great success that has attendeu Labor organisation in regard to Australian .politics. It has been admitted •in Australia that the success of Labor; candidates in the late elections for the j Federal Parliament has been largely the result of minute attention to detail and the most careful organisation of forces. The general public of any State takes little interest in'any [political parties •unless the general jpublic is constantly reminded that such parties exist. The public, indeed, does not greatly care what particular coterie is running the politics of the .people if the prevailing Government gives them "a fair deal." The basis of aii political parties is discontent. There would never be a Labor Party in the New Zealand Parliament if the men forming it believed the Government were doing the best they could for the people they represent. Naturally the presence of any Opposition, whether it is a Tory Opposition or a Labor Opposition, Is a claim that Toryism or Labor should run the country. One of the strangest allegations that could be made against the New Zealand Labor Party is that lit may coalesce with its sworn enemies the Tory Party. Such a coalition would be very much after the pattern of the late unlamented Fusion Party in the Federal Parliament. Such a coalition in New Zealand could" only be accepted by the Labor Party to strengthen its hand in defeating the Government. The idea that a victorious Fused Party consisting of Tories and Labor men agreeing to the formation of a Ministry proportionately representing the "horny-handed" and t'heir enemies is 'too grotesque. It must be admitted that the Labor element in any country, if controlled by far-seeing, just, and honorable men, could gain a political victory at any (time. The New Zealand Labor Party as at present understood, however, is not really representative. It merely exists for the furtherance of the ambitions |of trades unionists. It is not vital to the great needs ot the people. New Zealand from North, to South is a community of "working people. Parliament itself is almost solely composed of working men. To really represent the people who placed the (present Parliament in power, the Parliament might very well work as a Labor Parliament and call itself sueh. In the Parliament, however, there are working men who lare Tories, and alleged Tories who are democrats. It has i never vet been proved, however, that the present Government was really antagonistic *to the principles that underlie the Labor platform. The controlling influence of a modern Labor Party, whether it is in the Commons, the Commonwealth, or this Dominion, is not [ necessarily in the hands of loud-voiced i ignoramuses. In all history' the peonle | have supplied the men to handle sud- j den emergencies land to conduct great' affairs. The whole of the present I Ministry are '"'of the people'' in the [ broadest sense of the term. It is a fact, however, that successful democrats frequently become the most pronounced; plutocrats, and nowadays there is ;re-' markably little distinction between a plutocrat and an aristocrat. Increase of importance gives successful men a different point of view and detaches them from the "humble" folk from whom they. sprung. If it were not so there would not be any class distinctions in iNew ■ Zealand. The fact is, of course, that' the lines are drawn quite as rigidly here • as >in a country where aristocrats have ruled for centuries. The conduct and attitude of the Labor Government in Australia, is worth watching, and it is' sincerely hoped that (public opinion will j not veer for several years, in order that the democrats may be thoroughly test- ( ed. If high .place changes the fraternal j relations existing between repr<>senta-! tive and represented, the representative! is a failure. It is a magnificent thing. for ia representative toiler to have the j entire confidence of the people, and it j! is also likely tn return the best results • ■ in government. The arrogance of': Labor is as bad an example of the sin |' as the arrogance of Toryism, but with I • universal arrogance of (Labor. Toryism I j would be helpless, because it would be i • hopelessly outnumbered. Tories have I, never yet really tried to understand the | J immense power lin the hands of the j, people; and the people have never vet|i really exercised their resistless strength! in polities. National education, teach-' j ing the people what are the main j ( essentials, progresses but slowly, and ■ ] never before have the workers of the J j civilised world been so confident of their j ( ultimate victory over convention and j j conservatism as to-day. The Tory idea j of keeping the people in ignorance was | carried out for centuries, and is iby noi means dead yet. But the progressive I thought that has crept into the brain ] 1 of the true worker is altering all this, I ' so that his .best representatives supply i *' a larger proportion of eminent folk than any other class. If the people of c New Zealand could dissociate "Labor" ( from trades unionism the position and * aspirations of the leaders of Labor 1 would be more clearly understood. There 4 is no man calling himself a "'Labor mem- c ber" in the New Zealand Parliament today whose views in regard to national questions go (beyond the organised • I worker. The only chance of the ulti-, c mate success of the Labor Party must c lie in their ability to reach the' peonle i outside the little hide-bound groups of s persons who believe that unionism is a •'Labor." Mr. Massey in comparison b with this class of Tory is an out-and- v out Radical. The Labor that becomes b King will have to /convince others he- 1 sides those who cluster round his work- p bench that he is entitled to the Crown, 1 and he can <lo this if he "plays the c game."