UNITED LABOUR PARTY

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10697, 19 August 1912, Page 5

UNITED LABOUR PARTY

ADDRESS BY HON G. FOWLDS

The Hon George Fowlds addressed an audience of about a hundred persons in the Y.M.C.A. gymnasium on Saturday night on the subject of "'-'The Aims of the United Labour Party." The chair was occupied by his Worship the Mayor (Mr J. M. Coradine). Mr jvho was well received, referred to the fight which was golii£ on in all parts of the world Against the forces of privilege and monopoly. It seemed to him that progressive civilisation was menaced on two sides. , On the one hand they had wealth and monopoly, and on the other those who i had abandoned all hope of political redress and were throwing themselves upon force and strike. Mr Fowlds contended that if there were a war against civilisation, wealth and privilege would be largely"' to blamemoney, motor cars and mud, as had been employed at the last election. The speaker maintained that the voice of the people.was not represented in the present Parliament. He then referred to the programme of the United Labour Party, which he claimed to be so reasonable and progressive that all useful people might adhere to it. The cause of the downfall of tho late Government was that it had no definite programme to put before the people. The United Labour Party came before them with a clearlydefined policy, so that the people would know what they were voting for. Some had objected to the name I of the Party, but ho could himself sec ! nothing wrong with it. A place would be found in their ranks for small shopkeepers, small farmers, professional men and others. Their membership was not confined alone to those engaged in manual labour. Mr Fowlds then explained the various planks in the Party's programme. First of all they had free, secular and compulsory education. Then they had proportional representation, with the single transferable vote. The initiations and referendum were also provided for; a State Bank, with tho right of note issue; a State ferry service and State shipping where- required ; the endowment of motherhood, etc.; abolition of the Legislative Council; the abolition of grand juries and provision' of Crown defenders a« well as Crown prosecutors; and the imposition of a tax on land values. Mr Fowlds devoted considerable time to the land tax proposals, which he claimed to be. the. most important plank in the. Labour platform. He endeavoured to 'show that the imposition of an extra tax of one penny in the pound on land values and the remission of Customs duties would be entirely in the interests of the-small farmer. Land values bad increased enormously in recent years in . the country and the cities. A tax on land values would affect the city holders to a larger extent than the country. He claimed that some of the unimproved -value in land belonged to the people, who had created it. The increased land values was largely responsible for the increased cost of living. In 1907 only one person in four held land of an unimproved value of over £SOO. If they added 50 per cent, since that time, thev would find that' ■about 22,000 or 23.000 persons owned land of an unimproved value of over £SOO. The increase in the unimproved values in recent years had consequently gone into the pockets of comparatively few people. He asked, was this reasonable or fair. Mr J. G. Wilson had stated that much of the unearned increment, had been created bv the inventors of the steam-engine, the refrigerator and the milking-ma-chine. He admitted that this was the case; but did it not show that the landowner was not responsible? Why could not the landless derive some of the benefits from the inventor? Mr C; B. Morrison had said in Wellington that the buyers of our produce had been responsible for a portion of the unearned increment. Admitting that this were so. did tin's not also prove, that the landowner was not entitled to the whole of an increment which be had not earned ? Tho borrowed millions had assisted to wrento an unearned increment, and should not those who assisted to pay the interest through the Customs bo entitled to some of the increased values. Large

sums had also been taken from the Consolidated Revenue and transferred to the Public Works Fund. These added to the unearned increment also. The whole of the public buildingsschools, post offices, railway stations, etc. —had tended to increase the value. Mr Fowlds contended' that the attempt to impress small farmers that an increase in the tax on land values would he detrimental to their interests was absurd. It had been asked, where would the revenue come from which was lost from the remission of Customs duties? It would, he said, come from the large city land-holders. So far as the industries were concerned, he claimed that it would be better to assist these by bonuses than to protect them through the Customs. They could afford to pay a bonus equal to the whole of the wages at present paid in the industries, and they, would them save £600,000 per year'by abolishing the Customs. In conclusion, Mr Fowlds claimed that the struggle for existence was every year becoming more keen, and he urged that the demands of tli© United Labour Party were in conformity with the highest ideals of civilisation. If they believed it was the right of every human being to live, they should also believe in his right to a portion of God's earth. Mr Fowlds resumed "his seat amidst applause. In answer to a question by Mr John Hunter, Mr Fowlds stated that it was not true that the consumers were paying to the Standard Oil Company an equivalent to the remission in duty on kerosene. Consumers were to-day paying abont 2s per tin less for kerosene than they did when the duty was taken off.

In answer to further questions. Mr Fowlds stated that he was in favour of removing the duty] from motor cars, because they gave employment to people. Thc~United Labour Party was in favour of the bare majority on the liquor question, because it was democratic. They did not believe in State control.

On the motion of Mr W. L. Falconer, a. hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Fowlds for his address. A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the proceedings.