FAMILY ALLOWANCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 259, 2 November 1925, Page 8

FAMILY ALLOWANCES.

AND WAGES CONTRIBUTION. FIXING THE RESPONSIBILITY. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Mr. W. Nash, national secretary of the New Zealand Labour party states: "The suggestion has been made that the responsibility for the proposals contained in the Department of Labour report to reduce wages to provide for family allowances should be placed on the secretary of the department, Mr. F. W. Rowley, instead of the Minister of Labour, the Hon. J. G. Anderson. The following extracts from the statute dealing with the Labour Department clearly prove that the responsibility is with the Minister. " 'Labour Department and Labour Day Act, 1008, section 12 (1) : The Minister shall in each year make a report in writing to the Governor upon the operations of the Act and the working of the Department, together with such recommendations, either general or special, as he may think necessary, in order to promote efficiency, or extend the usefulness of the Department.' "'Factories Act: Minister to prepare annual report ; (section 68) : From local reports so furnished the Minister shall prepare the annual report for each year ending the thirty-first day of March, and lay the same within one month after the close of such year before Parliament, if then sitting, or, if not, then within one month after the commencement of the then ensuing session.' " 'Minister,' is interpretated in both Acts as the Minister of Labour. "The procedure between the Department and the Minister i 3 as follows: The Government Printing Department sets up in type the above report (H 11); it is then sent to the Labour Department; the Minister of Labour deletes from the draft and reports what he disagrees with, inserts any further copy, and the report, as approved by the Minister, is ordered to be printed for presentation to Parliament. "The statement of the Labour party has been proved up to the hilt. The Minister of Labour, one of the oldest Ministers in the Reform party's Cabinet, is responsible for the Departmental report, and this report contains the proposals which the Labour party exposed. The Act specifically provides for recommendations of the Minister, and, in accord with the procedure followed, he can delete whatever he disagrees with. Report of Acts of Parliament relative to the matter, the Ministerial statement, and the additional evidence since, from the opening of controversy, have completely proved the Labour party's case. The proposals providing for the wage cut were the proposals of the responsible Minister of the Reform party."