PARLIAMENTS WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 178, 29 July 1940, Page 6

PARLIAMENTS WORK.

Having pushed through the Estimates involving a total of nearly a hundred millions, including defence expenditure, in almost record time, the House is now, preparing to adjourn for a short rest period, the intention being that it shall meet frequently during the 1 usual months of recess, and be called together promptly if events demand; it during the intervening periods. This policy is a correct one, but' the public would be better satisfied if when the House is at work a better programme were introduced for training many of those who are not needed for war purposes for more useful tasks than they are accomplishing to-day. Munitions are an urgent needj housing accommodation is still short, and the larger building contractors are asking for men in hundreds for military work. They cannot be taken from the street and put into munition making or house building, but these trades, or modifications of them, will probably be busy for some time to come. To train men of suitable age for these and many other avenues of employment which would add to the defensive strength of the country or the living standards of the people would be more to the point than keeping over eight thousand men on time-filling tasks. The maximum effort should be directed towards making as many men as possible available for skilled trades essential to the war effort or to the housing of the people. There are many ways of doing this, by dilution of labour in the factories and workshops, by an enlarged apprenticeship system, by technical school extension, by the transfer of men from palatial Government building to more essential work and training. These points, or some of them, have had consideration, but there has been too easy an acceptance of Ministerial assurances, too ready a tendency to let the matter drop because it is troublesome and requires organising ability. ,