PRISON-MADE GOODS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 114, 17 May 1933, Page 10

PRISON-MADE GOODS

USE IN HOSPITALS. SYDNEY CONTROVERSY. VEHEMENT PROTESTS MADE. (Prom Our Own Correspondent.) • SYDNEY, May 12. The Ilornsby Hospital Board is facing a question which is of considerable interest and importance to the public in general and to certain Labour organisations in particular. Being instructed by the Minister of Public Health to cut down expenditure on equipment as rigorously as possible, the board proposed to equip the establishment with furniture purchased from the Government stores— the policy very clearly indicated by the Minister. But this furniture is made by prison labour, and strong objections were at once raised to the proposal. After a prolonged debate, Mr. T. E. Kofe, who is a leading patron and benefactor of the hospital, to which he has subscribed over £1500, withdrew from the committee to emphasise his protest. In Mr. Hole's opinion, it is "a monstrous thing to consider buying prison-made iurniture while good "honest carpenters arc walking the street unemployed and hungry/' Of course the claims of economy are loud and insistent just now, and two of the doctors connected with the institution threatened to resign if the Minister's advice to save every possiblepenny wero disregarded. By the way the Minister, who is still involved in his perennial quarrel with the hospital boartls, maintains that he has never "ordered" the Hornsby Hospital authorities to buy prison-made furniture —lie has only pointed out that they could get from the Government stores, for £200, equipment which, if bought by public tender, would cost £500. But the board evidently accepted this as a very definite recommendation, and so did Dr. Davis and Dr. Hay, who hold that "the main reason for obtaining quotations from the Prisons' Department is the very good ojie that it will enable the board, elected 1 by the to conserve the public money."

"Monstrous Idea." To this argument, Mr. Rofo has already made answer, that moat of the hospital funds are controlled by the general public, and that the average citizen will bo deterred rather than encouraged to subscribe to the hospitals if thib policy of buying prison-inade equipment is fallowed. He states that about 250 articles in the committee's list are marked for purchase from prison stock* and lie spoke his mind to the committee with some vehemence. "It is almost, inconceivable to me," he said, "that a body of men like you should even consider the proposal. In face of the hundreds and thousands of willing workers starving on the streets, the idea seems almost monstrous." Prisoners, he reminded the committee, are much better off than the unemployed wage-earner, as they enjoy the comparative luxury of good beds and meals, and they do not even have to worry where the next food is corning from.

• Unions Join in Protest. Naturally the industrial organisations are supporting Mr. Itofo enthusiastically. The secretary of the Furnishing Trades Union and the secretary of the Carpenters" and Joiners' Union have written to tho papers protesting strongly agaiyst what they believe is the Minister's policy. One of tho secretaries stated that he had been assured that "the supply of such products was confined to Government offices," and he considers that "it is coming to a fine pass when an institution, after soliciting public support, proposes to take advantage of the patently obvious advantage which prison authorities have over outside manufacturers.,' Tho other secretary holds that "there is no hope of overcoming economic difficulties while those in authority allow the unemployed to be robbed of their livelihood by cheap prison labour." The hospital board finds itself in a very awkward position, and it has saved itself for the time by deferring the matter "till outside tenders are received" a not very courageous compromise.