UNEMPLOYMENT BILL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 268, 26 August 1930, Page 3

UNEMPLOYMENT BILL

OPPOSED BY ALLIANCE. DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER. / (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, August 25. Opposition to the provisions of the ■Unemployment Bill as returned to the House of Representative was exoressed by a deputation from the Alliance of Labour which waited on the Prime Minister this afternoon. The chief spokesman adopted a somewhat threatening attitude, declaring that it the Bill passed the Alliance would be compelled to ask its members not to assist in carrying it out. He also said the Alliance would not lie a party to any political truce while important Labour legislation was held up and unemployment was increasing. The general secretary of the Zealand Workers’ Union (Mr A. Cook) said: “We trust you will never agree to this Bill becoming law unless radically altered in conformity with some of the recommendations placed_before the Labour Bills Committee. . The workers don’t want to escape then fair share, but when the lower-paid worker is asked to pay the same tax as the man who receives an income possibly of £SOOO or £IO,OOO we think we are quite justified in objecting. Even it the Bill becomes law we will opnose it in every possible way. We will be compelled to ask our members not to assist in carrying it out. It is generally assumed that a truce existed between the political parties. I want to say that if there is a truce the industrial organisations are not a party to it while important Labour legislation is held up and the army of unemployed is growing.” No Party to Compact. Mr Glover said it was rumoured that there was a compact existing between the three political parties. The Alliance was not a party to any compact. “We enter the strongest possible protest against the Prime Minister leaving New Zealand at a time when there is so much discontent, stagnation and unemployment,” he said. . The president of the Seamen’s Union (Mr F. J. Walsh) said that published figures showed there were 5000 men in five centres looking for work. Many of the people unemployed were hungry. “Last week,” he said, “you chartered a vessel to bring in hardwood sleepers. It was a Danish vessel, employing (Danish seamen, paying half the wages paid to New Zealand seamen, and working much longer hours. You employ vessels worked bv coolie labour. We have 18 vessels laid uo in New Zealand. Charters could be given to them. They could absorb many men standing unemployed on the beaches in New Zealand. What Government is Doing.

The Prime Minister, replying, said the Government was still doing and had done more than any other Government to deal with the unemployed problem. It had something like 16,000 men on public works at present. It ■was also offering £2 for £1 subsidy to local bodies to relieve the position. The money used had to be borrowed, and there was a limit to financial resources. “It seems inevitable,” he said, “that rationing will have to be introduced if we are to provide employment for everyone. It seems to be coming fast.” A deputationist: What do you mean by rationing ? "The Prime Minister: Giving a man work for a certain time and then standing him aside to give another man a chance. When the deputation talked of starvation he would like to know where that was possible in the Dominion, when there was a hospital and charitable aid board organisation with the special duty of preventing such a thing. “As for this talk about by leaving New Zealand,” continued Mr Forbes, “do you mean to say that because 1 leave New Zealand the whole position of the Government comes to a standstill? Mr Ransom is Acting-Prime Minister with full authority to do all he can.”

Mr Walsh: And an understanding that he cannot he shifted. For Parliament to Decide.

The Prime Minister: The understanding is that there will be no party advantage taken. Anything coming forward will be discussed and fought out on the merits of the Bill. When the deputation talked about what it would do if the Unemployed Bill passed in its present form his answer was that the Bill had been put forward. It was for Parliament to decide the final shape. He did not like to hear people say they would not have the Bill because it did not suit them. “You will not get a Bill if you act like that, but you will get a fair Bill that Parliament will give you.” Mr Walsh: Is it fair to tax a man thirty shillings ? The Prime Minister: I cannot dictate to Parliament what it shall do. I want to see an Unemployment Bill, because I believe, despite what you say, that much good can be done. Parliament represents all sections and is not going to be browbeaten. Mr Cook: The workers will not be browbeaten in what they will accept. The Prime Minister: The Bill is prejudiced by such an attitude. Mr Cook: Far better to have none than the Bill in its present form. The Prime Minister replied that the Bill provided that people in work could assist those who were out of work. Mr Cook: In other words, a wagereducing Bill. The Flat Levy. The Prime Minister repeated that it gave an opportunity to those willing to assist men who were not employed. The flat levy was recommended by a Commission which made a thorough investigation of the position, while the Government was to pay 50 per cent, of the expenditure. Mr Cook: They recommended other sources of revenue. . . The Prime Minister reminded the deputation that the Commission which made the recommendation had a representation of 50 per cent, of workers, i and the Government gave effect to the principal recommendations of that report. He was not able to say whether Parliament would maintain the flat with other points raised by the deputation, Mr Forbes stated that New Zealand held only a third interest in the partnership which operated the phosphate deposits, and the Commissioners who administered Nauru and Ocean Islands’ secured the cheapest rate of freight available so tliat phosphates could be landed at the lowest prices possible. He thought that the arrangement regarding the use of a Swedish steamer to lift Island fruit was due to difficulty in. getting a suitable vessel at the time. Everyone knew what a ghastly mess had been made of the Government effort to conduct fruit transport with its own motor vessel. There was a Compensation Bill in the hands of the Minister of Labour. It would be introduced shortly and it followed the report of the Commission which took evidence on the subject.