THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1907. THE LABOUR PARTY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8535, 16 September 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1907. THE LABOUR PARTY.

It has been apparent on more than one occasion during recent years that the Labour Party were dissatisfied with the Liberal Government, a id that they believed their only way to obtain a remedy for their grievances lay in the formation of a Labour Party which would temporarily, at least, coerce the Government in all matters afft c';ing Labour, and, ultinirttely, become the Government itself. The fate of the Labour candidates was not'encouraging at the last general election, but such a fate cannot have come as a surprise to experienced politicians, and we do not suppose that the determination of the Labour Party was at all weakened at the result of its first decided attempt to return to Parliament membeis of its own party. The reason of failure was, undoubtedly, in the fact that there was an absence of anything like general discontent with the Government. The Labour . Party was, on the whole, fairly well satisfie.l, an:l, consequently, the Government tecin'ed the greater portion of the Labour vote, but a change is rapidly coming over the political scene. Labour is tolerably well organised, and the members of the party are united in sympathies. The more discontented the Party becomes with the condition of affairs obtaining the greater opportunity is given to the Labour candidate to secure the support of those in whose interests he primarily stands. The high cost of living is, naturally, creating a great deal 0': dissatisfaction from one end of the country to the other, and will continue to do so. The Government have a grave problem to face in the straightened circumstances in which innumerable workers find themselves to-day. An instance of what there is reason to fear is all too common came under notice the other day

when a solicitor at Dunedin sought to obtain [a judgment summons against a married man with five children. The man in question earned £2 per week, and after paying for various necessaries there was the handsome surplus of 9d pur week for boots and clothing. How is it possible for men with families of any size to live in the most ordinary comfort on £2 per week, or perhaps, a shilling or two over, at the present high rate of living? It is not possible, and herein lies the trouble that the Government will have to face shortly.