"THE LAST OF THE MAHICANS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8154, 7 June 1906, Page 3

"THE LAST OF THE MAHICANS.

THE FIRST LABOUR PARTY.

ONLY ONE LEFT IN THE

HOUSE.

Mr W. W. Tanner, "The Last of the Mohicans," as he calls himself, has given a Lyttelton Times reporter an interesting sketch of the first Labour Party in New Zealand, tie is the last member of that Party left in the House b£ Representatives; bat, as a higher distinction, he claini9 the right to style himself the first of the New Zealand Labour candidates.

He says that nearly all the colonies have seen men who, by force of obaracter, or fortune, have risen from the position of manual workers to seats in the Legislatures There are several men of that stamp in this colony's Parliament now. 'Mr S. P. Andrews, of Obristchurch, was probably the first man who was elected to New Zealand's House of Representatives while actually engaged in a working man's vocation. He went in with Sir fJeorge Grey for Christohurch, in. 1879, when the great Pro-Consul was Premier and Leader of the Liberal Party, and when he went throughout the land urging the people to rise and legislate for themselves and for the "unborn millionc." Mr H. A. Levestam, a working engineer, represented Nelson city from .1881 to the time of his death, in 1889. Mr Seddon and other members may alao claim that in uailier years they toiled with their hands.. None of them, however, claimed at the time of their election that they were anytning but ordinary Parlia--mentary lepresentatives, as the term was understood then.

True Labour candidates did not .come forward until the industrial condition of the colony induced organised bodies of workers to seek representation by men of their own -class. Labour legislation was placed •on the Statute Liook at an early date in the colony's history, but it did not satisfy nhe workers, and in many cases was inoperative, in August, 1890, a great uprising of ;tbe working classses reached its '■maximum point. Sympathy was expressed with the troubles of the industrial classes in Australia, and on August 7th a great mass meeting was held in the hall in Tuaia Street, CJhristchurcb, to oonsider an industrial dispute that arose in that city. Quite 3,000 persons attended, and motions wore passed expressing sympathy with the workers in trouble, both in Christchurch ana Australia.

"In seconding a motion at that meeting," Mr Tanner says, "1 called attention to toe enormous power the people possessed lif they liked to HB6 it in thfir own 'interests. The following extract will serve to Bhow in what manner the suggestion that led a few months later to a compact band of Labour members in Parliament was thrown out. 'What sympathy have your present representatives with you in the position in which you are placed? Why cannot you elect to the Bouse men who are bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh, men who go in and out and •earn their living amongst you, and whc know the trying circumstances sin which you bto placed?' " "On August 27th, the maritime strike was declared in New Zealand. Jta failure to achieve its primary objects deepened the impression, al ready voiced, that if the conflict was transferred from the committee room of the Trades Union to the halls of Parliomentjgreater things miaut be achieved. The unsatisfactory Httempt of the Atkinson Government to pass labour legislation, the disappointment that attended the strike, and the approach of the general election, helped to bring about a feeline that had hitherto been absent 'from eleotion contests in the colony ; and in the lists of canditdateß there >appeared the names of working men. "I stood for fleathcote, and in •my opening speech at Woolston I declared uncompromisingly in fav■our of the election of working men representatives, charged primarily ■with the interests of the working •men constituents. On the following day the Christchurcb Telegraph said:"The first of the Labour candidates made his bow to the electiors of Heathcote last night' In that way I am identified as the first, and X certainly voioed the subject in a way that nobody else did. "At the same time Mr D. Pinkerton, a bootmaker, was elected for Dunedin City with the largest number of votes ever recorded up to that time; Mr W. Earnshaw, a brass finisher, was elected for the PeninBula, or Dunedin Suburbs; Mr T. L. Buick, a working carpenter for Wairau; and Mr J. W. Kelly, a tailor, for Invercargill. In the following year, 1891, Sir W. B. Percval, member for Christohurch City, was appointed Agent-General, and the vacancy was filled by Mr E. Sandford, a compositor in the Lyttelton Times office. The six names, including my own, are those of the me'fl who formed the first actual labour contingent of the New Zealand Parliament. Messrs Pinkerton, Earnshaw, and Buick served in two Parliaments, and then lost their seats. Mr Kelly was in three Parliaments, losing his seat in 1899. Mr Sandford was not returned in 1893. lam the cnly one of the original six who has aat continuously, and I am *Tne last of the Mohicans.'

"In 1890, when feeling was running very bign, .Mr Hall-Jones, the present Minister for Public Works, who was a working carpenter, was elected to fill the vacancy at Timaru, bat there is nothing in the speeches made at the contest; to show that he regarded himself as what is generally termed a 'Labour member.' He reached Wellington in time to see the end of the session, and he urged a reduction in taxation, and announced himself as a supporter of the flight flours bill. «la 1894, Mr K. Morrison was elected for Oayersham, and retained the seat until bis death. In the the same year Mr J. A. Millar, seo iretary 4 .n the Martime Council, was succeeefol in Dunedin. Mr J3. M. Smith, was returned for New Plymoa|fc lUj 1890, but when, in 183.1, ; he was classed with the Labour contingent he emphatically repudiated the designation, and styled himself 'the popular candidate for New Ply-

mouth.' Mr W. 1 P. Reeves,. who whh lieutenant in Canterbury to Mr Ballance, Leader of the Opposition, during the election ot 1890 showed warm sympathy with the aspirations of the working people, and his Parliamentary experience and knowledge marked him out as in some sense a leader in the movement for Labour legislation. He was taken into the Goverumentformed in January, 1891, and became Minister for Labour in the following year."