A POUND A DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 February 1919, Page 6

A POUND A DAY.

LABOR'S IDEAL. At a rally at Wellington on Sunday night, Mr. P. Eraser, M.P., said Labor meant to capture the local governing bodies, as well as the Parliament of the Dominion, and when Labor succeeded the word charity would go out of existence as far as New Zealand was concerned. The Labor unions were out to capture the industries, and until they succeeded politically and industrially New Zealand would not bo properly governed. It was the working classes — those in Russia and Germany—who had ended the war. (Applause.) It was unfortunate that the workers in all the countries had not decided upon a general strike, and so prevented a class war. But the lesson had been learnt, and Labor's war was now in full swing. The world to-day was in crying need of a new system, because the old system was breaking up. The world was in crying 1 need of new principles, and these principles must be socialistic. (Hear, hear.) New Zealand should not worry about tie influx of thousands of soldiers, who should merely lighten the burden of workers already here. The Government went on its hands and knees and begged private employers to find work for returned men. Why did not the State come forward with national, socialistic schemes Because they knew that Socialism was the enemy of capitalism. "They say there is uo reason for industrial trouble," stated Mr Eraser. "Well, the cost of living has gone up 60 per cent, and the value of wages has been reduced accordingly. Exploitation has gone on all the time, and if there is an increase of CO per cent in the cost of living, the exploiters have made profits totalling £00,000,000. And it still goes on." Under the present conditions it was absolutely impossible to bring up a family on less than £1 per day, and yet only 30,000 people in New Zealand received that amount or more. Industrial troubles would continue until there was a just distribution of wealth.