CAMP SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 169, 13 April 1932, Page 11

CAMP SCHEME

Single Workless Men PROTEST MEETING Proposal Not to be Accepted Some 700 m 800 men assembled at the Trades Hall in Vivian Street yesterday morning in connection with the proposal to send all single unemployed men into camp. In its make-up the crowd was heterogenous. Men who had been pick and shovel hands all their days rubbed shoulders with those who had obviously been employed in offices or the professions. There were men so young that thev were probably not yet entitled to the Parliamentary suffrage, and there were those approaching three score and ten. Mr, A. Cook, president of the New Zealand Alliance of Labour, occupied the chair, and there were also present Mr. P. Eraser, M.P., and Mr. P. Butler, secretary of’ the General Labourers’ Union. Mr. Cook explained to all present that the meeting had been called with the object of discussing the Unemployment Board’s latest proposal—namely, to send single men to camps In the country. He pointed out that the question affected all single men individually and was a matter for them to decide. “Decent Living Wage.” “The position,” said Mr. Cook, “has. been discussed by the organised labour movement, and that body Is of opinion that the rate of pay offered to the men is altogether unreasonable. Men cannot be expected to consent to the camp proposal until such time as they are assured of getting something like a decent living wage. “The time has arrived,” he said, “for the workers to demonstrate their opposition to a continuation of proposals of this description. The Wellington relief workers in particular have been long suffering In this respect, and unless the Government is prepared to do the right thing by the citizens of New Zealand, who are. for the time being, compelled to accept work under the various relief scheme, then it will have to shoulder the responsibility. There is no necessity for men, women and children to starve In a country like New Zealand.” Not to be Tolerated. Mr. T. Hunter, president of the New Zealand Tramwaymen’s Federation, spoke on similar lines, and stressed the hundreds of cases of hardship that were brought under his notice daily. “It cannot be denied,” he said, “that little children are going to school without breakfast at the present time. This state of affairs can no longer be tolerated in a civilised country.” After the proposal had been further discussed the meeting unanimously decided not to accept work under the Government's camp scheme. Conduct of the Men. Commenting on the meeting, after its close, Mr. Cook informed a "Dominion” reporter that he was gratified with the manner in which the men had conducted themselves at the meeting. No discordant note had been sounded. All present were of one opinion in condemning the Government and the Unemployment Board for endeavouring to compel men to work for a mere pittance. A Start in Life. “Many of the young men present,” he said, “had expressed the opinion that they were anxious to be allowed to get a start in life. They saw no reason why this should be dented them. They were prepared to go to any part of New Zealand, and undertake any class of reading or bush-work for a reasonable rate of pay, but they were fully' determined not to lower the principles of manhood in accepting something that was a disgrace to a civilised continuity.” Consideration of the question of taking immediate action in order to try and get the Government to realise its responsibilities to the working class of New Zealand was taken in committee. Mr. Cook said subsequently that the meeting was one of the most orderly he had ever attended, and added that the men were determined to seek justice in future by well-organised and well-disciplined methods, realising that disunity would get them nowhere.