IMPREST SUPPLY BILL

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21257, 31 August 1934, Page 12

IMPREST SUPPLY BILL

: An Appropriation Of ! £4,854,000 i ; . I ~ ! j DEBATE IN THE HOUSE j i I from' Our Parliamentary Reporter.J WELLINGTON, August 30. ■ Labour members rose to the occaj sion this evening in a series of j severely criticical speeches, on the j opportunity provided by the appear--1 ance of the Imprest Supply Bill. Mr P. Fraser (Lab., Wellington Central) led the attack on the Government, condemning its unemployment policy and some of the budget proposals. Mr Fraser, referring to unemploy-1 merit, said the budget revealed a! disgraceful state of affairs. The Unemployment Board, when represen-j j tations were made to it, said it had no money, a statement that was very misleading. lie did not think Ministers of the Crown were parties t o J what was. on Ihe tare of it, a do j liberate policy of deception on the i part of tiie Unemployment Board. People had been driven to the direst need, could not secure clothes for themselves and their children, and had no boots, shoes, or bedclothes, yet the board had a balance of £200,000 at the end of the year. Since then it had increased. They had been told that the total amount available for the present year wu& | £5,390,000, The Labour parly stood' j for a graduated scale of unemploy-' j ment tax, but a flat rate was nuu.o. j [The party considered that the re-j | duct-ion should never have Kvn! | made until the unemployed were j provided for. The board had ample! funds to make better provision for the unemployed. lie a.-ked ;he Minister for Finance to reconsider; the present position. He asked it: the Minister for Justice was sincere , in his assurance that he would go; ahead with legislation preventing j people from being thrown out on; the streets, and their goods solely upj without a magisterial order. T:?o j. defence vote was being increased by j £ 200,000, but what had the unemployed workers to defend'.' He askcct the Minister first to defend , the homes of the people and give them something worth defending. ; Closing of State Sawmill Mr C. 11. Clinkard (Lab.. Rotorua) sought the reopening ui the Mamaku timber milt, which had been closed by the Railways Board. He had suggested to the Minister for Railways that the mill should be worked by the men on the contract system; but on going to the railways manager he was told that had been considered and was not practicable. He felt very strongly on the sub- . ject and would like to sack the Railways Board and leave them to I exist on atmospheric pressure as the ! mill workers would have to do. He I asked the Government not to refer the matter back to the board, but to take it over itself and save tha' asset for the country. Mr R. Semple (Lab., Wellington . East) said the closing of the Ma- : maku mill' was another step in the; line of destruction taken by the, Government. The closing of the I Gisborne railway and the South Is- ! land main trunk line were other! examples. He hoped the appeal ; made by the member for Rotorua would take root. The Chamber of 1 . Commerce, which gave the Govern-' ment a lead in most things, had j | asked for its closing. Mr Semple, | went on to refer to huts and out-! buildings on the Galatea estate.! | which, he said, were built with unemployed labour. He quoted the ; ; case of a foreman carpenter who i, received 32s Gd a weeK. Country Relief Workers Mr F. Langstone (Lab.. Wanna-, rino) made a plea for the country! relief worker. Pie said the Reserve Bank could get money by printing !■ j notes. Why could the Government! not do the same to provide for the' unemployed? The happening at Mamaku was a tragedy of the first' order, and he complimented Mr; Clinkard on drawing attention to if.; Mr R. A. Wright (Ind., Welling-i [ton Suburbs) made an appeal to! the Government to see if a way! could not be found of keeping open) the Mamaku mill. He again urged! I the setting up of a committee of! | members of the House t 0 investi-j | gate unemployment and see if a| ! way of improving conditions could! ! not be found. j ! Mr A. M. Samuel find., Thames) : ' said the Government seemed con- i ! tent to shelter behind the Unern-! | ployment Board. There were doz-! i ens of schemes that could be evolved j | to put every unemployed man intoi profitable work. He considered it ! | wrong to close down the Mamaku! ! mill, as some 00 or 70 families I would be driven into the ranks of! the unemployed. Their outlook! was absolutely hopeless. ! Mr P. Eraser CLab., Wellington! Central) said the Minister had given | no reply to the complaints regard- ] ing the Mamaku mill. ~ ; Replies by Ministers The Minister for Finance (the lit.' Hon. -J. G. Coates) said the date for! the closing of the mill had already i been postponed, following represen-! tations made by Mr Clinkard. He , understood that the Prime Minister; had made an urgent request for i further information. The matter was , not as simple as some members, seemed to think. An amendment' would have to be made to the Rail- > ways Act. He would, enquire and' see how far the matter had gone, i and see if the Prime Minister would ■; make further representations, put- j, ting forward the views of members!' of Parliament. j • The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon.'' G. W. Forbes), referring to the 1 Mamaku mill, said the mill had been j' supplying the Government departments and the railways. The board 1 went into the question of costs. Tenders were called and it was on that ; point that the mill was closed. The < price at which the Government ' could get timber from the mill was • much above the market price. He j intended, to discuss the position of the men affected with ihe board as soon as possible. However, tin.' mill would have to close to-morrow: but j t the matter enquired into would be;: to see if it. could be arranged to < ! allow the men to run the mill on i 1 the co-operative contract svsiem and i ' sell timber to tiie public. The Rail- ' ways Board thr-"e months ago ae- 1 cepled a tender lor supplies of tin j- 1 ber for a year from an adjoining ( mill. j The bill, involving an aupropria- j tion £4.854.000. \v:is passed, ami the i t