LABOUR DEPARTMENT’S BIGGER VOTE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21865, 19 August 1936, Page 5

LABOUR DEPARTMENT’S BIGGER VOTE

EXPLANATION BY MINISTER LFrom Our Parliamentary Reporter] WELLINGTON, August 18. An explanation of the reason for the heavy increase in th.e sum Parliament is asked to vote this year for the administration of the Labour Department was given by the Minister for Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, in the. House of Representatives to-night during discussion on the estimates. The sum of £238,066 is sought this year, as against £45,838 last year. Mr Armstrong, replying to Opposition criticism, said that the recent industrial legislation had added considerably to the activities of the Labour Department, necessitating increased expenditure in administration. The work entailed by the alteration in the labour laws, the Fair Rents Bill, and legislation laying down the rates of wages and the terms of employment on farms, had increased the responsibilities of the department enormously. In addition, the cost of administering unemployment relief and employment promotion had now been transferred to the Labbour Department. Replying to Mr W. J. Broadfoot (Nat, Waitomo), who had asked if there had been any worthwhile finds of gold by men prospecting under the employment promotion scheme, Mr Armstrong said that* there had been a number of good finds. Scores of men who had been assisted by the Government under its unemployment scheme were now successfully working claims and were no longer a charge on the State. .