THE PEOPLE'S FORUM

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 19

THE PEOPLE'S FORUM

From Our Readers To Our Readers SOCIAL SECURITY— CRITICISM AND SUPPORT. (To the Editor.) /

If Mr. Savage and company cannot! ;et enough mi»ney for social security { nthout making the old-age pensioners • ay 5/ a quarter, I would say that they j re poor financiers. True, pensioners » re given the chance to apply for ex- j mption, but a man with a few shillings n the bank may have Buckley's chance 0 get exempt. Mr. Savage says, "Yes, ve arc going to give you 30/ a week, >ut that 30/ now is like Sarah boiling L snapper for dinner. When it had •oiled for half an hour and was put on foluiVs plate it was the size of a red leiring. So the 30/ boiled down now e just about Mr. C'oates' 18/0. When in old person applies for his paper he nu«t have passed the matriculation or !>e a Philadelphia lawyer to fulfil all the obligations on the paper. Why canlot the old-age [K»nsioner be as before— ivhon a pensioner had filled in hie yearly [>aper it was done with for 12 months. Now this rigmarole has to be gone through every throe months to find°our '""ii a job. ON K OF Til KM. I would like to ask "Get Busy Quick" what is wrong with the Social' Security Act Would he like to go back to the conditions that were prevailing here under the former Government, when the young men of this country were sent into relief camps and the young women were starving for the necessities of life, and married men were trving to keep line home* going on about'half of what they are receiving to-dav under a Labour Government? L will ask the writer if it is justice to part a man and his wife after years of married life and when they arc too old to work to keep themselves to put them in the workhouse because their only crime was they were poor. As regards blackmailing of the K M.A., the least said the letter. In conclusion I would like to ask him if he or any of his family ever worked in a relief camp. " FAIR PLAY. tt Wflvinjr read both the letters in the " Star " signed by "(Jet Busy- and "Get Busy Quick" allow me as an old battler to point out what one is up against when calling a meeting of protest against such scanadaloim things as the wicked taxation of children's wages and the scanty earnings of small business people. To begin with, it costs from All.", to £20 to engage a hall and advertise a meeting that would carry any weight. 1 have done it more than once and'fell in for a lot of the costs. So I would "uggetst a guarantee fund be built up first. I would give £1 to such a fund. The next thing is dealing with larrikinism at such a meeting. Half a dozen larrikins can spoil a meeting. I quite agree that the stand the doctors have made should be backed up by every lover of British freedom, but the proposal to icfuse to pay these unjust taxes must be carried out on a fairly big scale and with a grim determination that knows no defeat. The way compulsory vaccination was squashed in Kngland shows that it can be done if the people have the grit in them. FORTY-FIVE YEARS A WORKER. Does E. Stevenson think about social security? If so, he would realise that similar conditions arc existing at pro. sent with the lodge doctors as will exisc under the Government scheme, and I do not think people unnecessarily run to the doctor because they pay to *a lodge and are entitled to free doctoring. If the doctors arc so honourable a* the writer suggests, then his own suggestion, of a tip. or, shall we say, bribery, would be beyond the clean honourable meml>cr.. of the B.M.A. Perhaps this worker of forty-six years will try and overlook tile fact that his wife will have to pay ii/, and with the,member of the B.M.A . try and help, instead of condemn , something which the writer lias never even given a trial. A MARRIED WORKER. I will contribute about £11 to the Social Security Act in a year. Now I have not paid that amount in mj whole life for doctrs or medicine (I an in ray early twenties). Also, if I wen able to invest that amount as I wished it would return me infinitely more thar I will ever get as a ]>ension for th< above scheme. So you can see that. ! would be perfectly happy to have tin few extra shillings each week and no 1 rely on this scheme at all, either now or in later life. It se?ms to me, a! others have said, too, that the opera tion of this scheme will provide onii for that class of people who are tin drones of life and who will be only to< pleased to be able to lean back at somn body else's expense. W.B.M.

STATE HOUSING CRITICS.

Yet another of them! A Mr. E. J. ( Xason, a retired Capetown contractor, , has formed an unfavourable opinion of i the New Zealand State housing scheme. 1 He tells the people (in Australia) that 1 similar houses could be buiit in South Africa at about half the price. Now, let us see what Mr. Nason doesn't tell the people. He doesn't tell us that similar houses built in South Africa at half the price is only another way of telling us that in that country wages are low. No sane New Zealander, having regard for the welfare of the country, as a whole, wants to see cheap labour hero and, what Mr. Nason does not mention, and what is a most important thing pertaining to the New Zealand scheme, is that the rents charged are under tive per cent on the capital cost of each house. land Included, with no other charges such as rates, depre-„ ciation, maintenance, insmance, etc. And, at that, the Government will show a profit to the people as a whole in that the*e State houses are reveniic-produeiii"-assets. And the limit of the production oE these assets is the limit of demand, which, with a growing population, is not even remotely in sight. JAY SEE. NEW LYNN AFFAIRS. I have read the Mayor's reply to mv letter, and I maintain that when the council are sure that the roller is a white elephant, then, and not til! then, should they dispose of it. I have since noticed a second-hand grader in the council yard that has evidently outlived its usefulness as far as the W.C.C. is coneei ned, but is evidently good enough | for New Lynn. Is this a sample of the machinery the council contemplates purchasing? As far as the improvement in I>orough finances is concerned ( t.'iOOO), I say it is to he expected, seeing the amount of money the liovernment is paviiig to Scheme 13 men it. New Lynn, a goodly portion of these men being ratepayers, who are now in a position to meet their rate demands. The familiar ring referred to did not usually come from the Mayor's Labour supporters, but I can assure him tin:, it is coming from them to-day, and well he knows it. In conclusion, the honesty of the council was not in question, but previous councils also were honest. LAST TIMF. LABOUR. DEFENCE OF N.Z. If it should ever happen that the British Navy cannot offer protection to New Zealand, then how can we offer a prolonged resistance to any force? We have no arsenals or industries capable of replacing war material, and conhl not also replace a casualty. Our coast would bo blockaded and we could be starved into submission. If the enemy that is threatening New Zealand ever decided to invade us, he would come with tlie certainty of being successful in a short time. A force of at least 80,000 men with modern weapons of war, conveyed in transports armed against air attacks and submarines, and supported by a strong fleet of warships, would be alwut the strength of the invaders. They would land in one or two places so as to cut the coramunica-

The correspondent who signs tlie nom do plume of "Five Shillings" states that her husband is due any day to retire on his so-ealled superannuation of 30/ weekly, and she, aged 53 years, would only pet />/> and her boy tinder lfi years 5/ allowed, or 40/ altogether. -An eldor son had 2/ deducted off his wage, leaving him 38/, or thereabouts. This mak.;.£3 18/ for four of them. Fairly decent it seems to me. Many people pay less than 25/ weekly for the rent of theii house in which they live; they own them and if not the rent should, on an average, be less than 25/ weekly. There is nothing to prevent the husband earning another 20/ "weekly, or her, too. If her husband does not get discharged at. work he need not draw the 30/ weekly superannuation. If he or she lived in any other country they would get nothing at all tinder the same circumstances. She should count her blessings one bv one. and be thankful for tite 40/ for nothing. How much have people paid in towards it in levies, w:iges tax. and income since December, 1031? My mother and dad I know would ha\*.* been extremely thankful in the Old Country to get 40/ under the same cirI cuinstances. They, and millions of I others, at 60 years get nothing at all. Men at <55 get 10/ and women at 53 nothing, but at 60 years 10/. THANKFUL FIVE 808.

tions of the chief cities by destroying bridges, etc. Places of military importance no doubt the enemy would try and destroy, but cities would not be ruthlessly destroyed, as the invaders coming here for the purpose of annexation would want cities and docks intact for their own use when taking over. A year's resistance would make a big hole in the ranks of the young men who are the greatest asset of New Zealand, and' with no possible hope of the British Navy coming to our assistance our position would be hopeless. What is the use of saying we will go down fighting? Now the only way to make the Pacific safe for all time is to come to some agreement with America. It is stated that New Zealand and Australia are of more strategic importance to America than to Britain, so offer America a permanent naval ba«se in New Zealand or Australia. This would checkmate any threat from the Kast, and also give Great Britain time to build more ships, to which New Zealand and Australia would subscribe. The one and only defence of New Zealand is the navy supported by a strong air force. The best means of do fence is to attack and that would have to be on the sea. W. MALTJJY.

Led to believe the Maori would receive equal status with the pakeha in the social security benefits, I fully expected to receive on April 21 £6 10/, plus extra for my wife, and two boys who are ten years old. I was greatly disappointed when I found that I was only to draw £5 8/. Previously I jiot £3 15/10. Some of my race receive the full benefit and some don't. In my case I see no reason why I should not receive the full benefit. Could our member for Northern Maori or Mr. Savage please tell us why this unfair treatment? DISSATISFIED MAORI.