MR. WEBB IS NOT INTERESTED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 281, 27 November 1941, Page 6

MR. WEBB IS NOT INTERESTED

CEVENTY appeals were lodged before the Armed Forces Appeal Board on Tuesday on behalf of boot operatives, and it was then stated that a million pairs of military boots alone would be required next year. There were not enough men to work shifts, and it was suggested that the 44-hour week be reverted to, so that in Auckland alone about 2000 extra pairs of boots a week could be made. It was also pointed out that in Australia a 52-hour week is being worked in the industry. The reply of the Hon. P. C. Webb to this suggestion is characteristic. The obvious thing to do, he suggests, is not to bother him about such a trifle as boots for soldiery but for the makers to apply to the Industrial Emergency Council to have the whole question investigated. If the council considered an extension of hours necessary, he presumed it would meet the case. There is a war on, and the soldiers must be shod, but a Minister of the Crown is not interested; or at least not sufficiently to make inquiries for himself. The boot industry has no monopoly of concern in this matter, the army and the civilian are even more deeply affected; the army because its soldiers cannot go barefoot, the civilian because he will have to go without or pay high prices. Very definitely this matter is one in iwhlch the Government, which decreed the 40-hour week in peacetime, should now be more than a passive onlooker In time of war; it wants, or it should want, boots for the army, and it should see that these are supplied as cheaply as possible. This cannot be done when overtime is paid. The Minister should realise that it is his duty upon occasion to do some thinking for himself, to think ahead, and not to leave action to any trade or industry which cannot ask for help until serious damage has already been done to the regular flow of supplies. There Is also the point that an industry concerned in a shortage may be do satisfied with its conditions that it will not draw attention to the need for alterations. In cost-plus contracts, for instance, both contractor and staff may be content to let the job drag on, knowing that their payments will go on either without reduction or with the haavy increase of overtime pay. The taxpayer pays for this, of course, but only a supine Government would let it go on. Mr. Webb should realise that any Minister who hopes to be taken seriously should originate action when the national Interests demand .it, not leave it to the initiative of a few employers who may have to fight unaided against a futile but insistent catch-cry that working conditions are being broken down—they will be broken down if Hitler has his way.