LABOUR PARTY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10097, 20 September 1910, Page 5

LABOUR PARTY.

ANOTHER MEETING IN MASTERTON.

About two hundred persons, including a number of ladies, assembled, in . the Masterton Town Hall last evening. The meeting had been called by the Masterton branch of the Labour Party, and the chairMvas occupied by His Worship the Mayor (Mr J. M: Coradine)., The chairman apologised for the absence of Mr T. E. Taylor, M.P., who had been called to Christchurch for an important meeting of the Lyttelton Harbour;, Board. He also apologised for the absence of Mr J. A.' McCullough, of Christchurch, who was ill.-

Miss Rout, the lady editor of the . VMaoriland. 'Worker,"' was the first speaker, and explained a% ' some' length the mission of her paper,' apologising more particularly for the fact that a supply had not reached Master ton. She then proceeded to address the female section of the audience upon the question of industrial reform, urging that every rcan should be given the right of work; that there should .be an insurance against unemployment; that State labour bureaux should supplant ' private labour agencies; that there should be an eight-hours' work day and only six days' work in a week; 'that there should be preference given to Unionists; that there should be equal pay for equal work done, by males and females; that there should be amendments ... in the Workers' Accommodation, Act and Compensation for ... Accidents Act; and that the Conciliation and Arbitration Act should not compel a man to work for the minimum wage stipulated in the award. Miss Rout concluded by stating that she would like to see a ladies' branch of the • Labour Party formed in Masterton. , KMr D. -McLaren, M.P., congratulated Miss Rout upon the definite mariner in which she had'dealt with the Labour . movement. He then proceeded to reply to an allegation of the local Press that he was an "unpractical" man. He stated that all Labour speakers, no matter* who they were, were described by the Press as "unpractical." Mr McLaren urged that the time had; come when the, ."Liberal" Party should be succeeded by Labour, by which he meant not one section, great muss' of the 1 He expressed the hope that the Conference which would be , held, : next Easter to decide upon a; definite Labour * platform would be, at-, tended by small farmers as well as .shearei's;.;and ~o.ther .workers. -Hei, claimed that the small farmers were fooii sh Avhen they allowed themselves to be drawn by the ear by the squatters and big financial institutions. He contended that the increment, in land should not be appropriated by pirates." Mr McLaren'quoted from a return prepared on the motion of Mr Ell, to show that only, a., small number of landholders' in the ' Dominion '*, were paying land-tax.; v ; The power* of La-, pour was, he said, very great, if they woul donly combine. But they must come , to;understand one another. There was at present a narrowness of outlook on the part of .Trades Unions. This must be broadened and'widened dut'. : There wasonly one kind of Unionism which was going to be powerful, and that was a Unionism which opened its door wide to all classes of the community. It was of no use talking of Democracy unless they brought in the masses of the people. ; Capi-. tal was proud in this country, because it thought that j Labour was asleep. But Labour was not asleep. It had ! been more wide awake in the history of the Dominion.'' He thought the small farmer was pursuing a dangerous course in tying himself up with the squattei-s. After dealing with the Liquor quesItion, Mr McLaren referred.to the discussion in the House on the education question, and stated that he ,had voted for compulsory education up to the age of fourteen. The objective of the Labour movement was to create socialism in the masses. They wanted to nationalise the land, but did. not wish to interfere with the small farmer. He claimed that there was no such thing as 'freehold" in British law. His authority was Lord Coleridge, the Chief Justice of England. The Crown had a pre-emptive right over all land. He believed in increasing the land-tax until the large estates were cut up for occupation. . He emphasised the fact that the other political parties in New Zealand, were no better organised than Labour. He urged the Masterton 'branch to extend its operations to Carterton and other centres. Mr McLaren closed his address with an> impassioned appeal to the . masses to unite for the emancipation of those who are down-trodden.

On the motion of Mr E. W. Abbott, seconded by Mr Threadwell, hearty votes of thanks were passed to Mr McLaren and Miss Rout for their addresses.