has been the drudge of our society. It must be the task of Labour to
nll him to a new partnership in progress and civilisation.
A Labour Government, therefore, will secure to the agricultural
worker, in place of the unending toil for a bare subsistence which is
his lot at present, an adequate minimum wage, effectively enforced,
insurance, through a scheme specially designed to meet his needs,
against unemployment, reasonable hours of labour, a fuller social life
for his family, and ampler educational opportunities for his children.
ft will see that he has access to land, whether for the purpose of a
small holding or of an allotment. It will give him security in his home,
will free him from the danger of summary eviction from it at the will
of a master, by ensuring that possession shall in no case be granted
to the landlord or farmer until suitable alternative accommodation has
been provided, and will introduce legislation with the object of
abolishing the evils of the tied cottage. It will solve the problem created
by the shortage of housing by pressing forward the development, on a
national scale, of housing schemes in rural areas.
Fishing Industry
The Labour Party is equally determined to improve the condition
of the fishing industry and of those dependent on it. It has already
appointed a special committee to advise it on the subject, and a Labour
Government will institute a thorough official investigation into the
problems involved, with a view both to the development of the industry
and to the amelioration of the lot of fishermen and their families.
Nor can the Party be indifferent to the needless suffering to-day
endured by animals. In common with most persons of humanity, it
regards the infliction of cruelty upon them, whether under the name of
sport or for purposes of profit, as barbarous and repulsive, and it will
welcome the extension of protective legislation designed to prevent it.
THE NATION OF TO-DAY
The Labour Party and Women
The Labour Party claims a special response frem the women
electors. It advocated the extension of the franchise to women on the
same terms as men at a time when the older political parties were either
opposed to this advance, or so torn with dissensions that they were
powerless to concede it. It has never wavered in its adhesion to the
principle of the fullest equality of opportunity, both political and
sconomic, for men and women alike.
The Party welcomes the influence of women in politics, not oniy
in the sphere of the social services, where their knowledge, experience
and aspirations are indispensable, but in the realm of international
relations and the cause of world peace. Its policy is based on the belief
that women have common interests with their husbands, sons and
brothers, and that its principles and ideals appeal to citizens irrespective
of sex. But it realises also that women are specially concerned with
the development of the social services—with care for the mother
and infant, for the child and the sick, for the bereaved, the aged and
the workless, with the general conditions of home life, and with the