THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1909. THE LABOUR PARTY.
The rate at which the Labour Party is growing is a satisfactory feature ir. our world of politics. There is certainly no party that should know more than the Labour Party as to the aspirations and aims of Labour. There is a degree of outspokenness in the labour manifestoes that cannot leave a shadow of a doubt in the mind of sensible people as to what the Labour Party want. Here then there can be no misunderstanding; but in the case of the Liberal Labour Party neither capital nor labour really knows what the Government intends to do, or try and do, beyond, of course, one thing, viz., keep in office as long as possible quite irrespective of whether its tenure in office is of advantage to the people. It would be infinitely better for the whole country if the opposing political sides were capital
and labour, in place of neither capital nor labour being represented in the nondescript party that is in
power. In a manifesto recently issued the j Labour Party state that "during i the past three years some strenuous \ work has been done in all the chief centres and provincial towns, and that it has been effective is demonstrated by the more than four-fold increase in the Independent Labour Party vote for 1908, as compared with the figures for 1905. On that occasion the eleven candidates put forward polled a total vote of 4,700, with an average of about 427. The figures for 1908 make more pleasant reading. At the recent election twelve candidates took the field, polling 15,500 votes, with an average of 1,292; so that were there an equitable system of proportional representation in vogue, the supporters of the Political Labour League would now have three representatives in Parliament. As it is the 1908 election will be a memorable one in the history of the movement, as having resulted in the return of the first member of the Independent Labour Party to Parliament. -We heartily congratulate Mr D. McLaren, M.P. for Wellington East, on his signal victory, and trust that he will be able to accomplish useful work in the interests of his fellow-workers throughout the Dominion. The vote for independent working-class political action is further swelled by 3,063 votes, polled by five revolutionarySocialists, making a grand total of 21,555, which number includes the
second ballot increase to the Labour vote. The results accomplished constitute an effective illustration of the value of well-directed educational work. We trust, therefore, that our branches throughout the Dominion will profit by the lessons of the election, and by adopting every means that commend themselves to their judgment as tending to the spread of our organisation, so that at the 1911 elections we may have still more reason to be gratified at the results of our efforts." The foregoing quotation does not call for much in the way of comment- it is simply an expression of opinion of a party that takes a somewhat narrow view of politics generally. It is interesting, however, to note that "revolutionary Socialists" and the Independent Labourites are one and the same people. During the last election certain Socialists expressed rathor sweeping Mid extraordinary views, to say the least, on phases of the economic problem, but tne Independent Labour League is, apparently, quite prepared to accept any political view that can be regarded as hostile to Toryism and Liberalism.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3085, 6 January 1909, Page 4
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577THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1909. THE LABOUR PARTY. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3085, 6 January 1909, Page 4
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