"GADDING ABOUT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 196, 19 August 1936, Page 10

"GADDING ABOUT."

ARMY OF INSPECTORS.

PARNELL MEMBER'S CHARGE

RIGHTS OF THE WORKERS. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Concern was expressed by members of the Opposition in the House of Representatives to-night when the Labour Department estimates were under discussion that the country would be inundated with.an army of inspectors and officials harrying the business community. Mr. W. P. Endean (National, Parnell) visualised armies of inspectors "gadding about the country." How many motor cars and how many inspectors were there going to be, and what was going to be the result? He said "that unless the Government was most careful it. would find lack of discipline on the part of the employees. He had seen it already in one or two cases. Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Independent, Egmont) said a large number of inspectors would be let loose on the community. He gave instances of inspectors notifying employers in respect to wages. One grocer had been informed that he had to pay an additional 3d per week for 47 weeks. Another received a notice to pay 30 weeks at 0/6 a week. That sort of thing was going on all over the Dominion.

The Minister of Education, Mr. Fraser: What about the person cheated out of it? Mr. Wilkinson: I do not think the mail was cheated at all. Mr. Fraser: It may have been unintentional. Mr. J. A. Lee, Parliamentary UnderSecretary: We will end it. The Minister of Lands, Mr. Langstone: Won't the increased ' turnover provide for [that? Mr. Wilkinson: I am hoping so, but am doubtful. ■Continuing, Mr. Wilkinson said that sucli demands were not a sign that officers were using discretion. The Minister of Labour, Mr. Armstrong, said that 22 additional officers had been appointed. It was time the Department livened up and served to a greater extent the workers for which it was created. That had not been the case for several years. The Minister of Education said it was a most extraordinary thing for Mr! Wilkinson to protest because workers were being defrauded of wages to which they were entitled. "Is that his commercial morality?" asked Mr. Fraser. "Can he justify the misappropriation of 3d a week belonging to an employee? Would he excuse the same thing in one of his employees? Surely it is a matter of common, "honesty after all."