TIME FOR ACTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 61, 12 March 1936, Page 10

TIME FOR ACTION

LABOUR'S POLICY

PROMISES WILL BE KEPT

APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

: A spirited appeal for support.for ; the Labour Government in the work it has in- front of it was made by the Prime Minister (the Hon. M.'.J. : Savage) at the jubilee dinner of the Amalgamated Society of Railway • Servants^ last evening, when replying to the toast of "Parliament." He declared'that the promises that ; Labour made during the election campaign would be carried out as -soon as it was possible to do so. r The toast was proposed by the Hon. M. Connelly, M.L.C., vice-president, of " the society,,who said New Zealander.s „ had every reason to feel proudof Par--liamentary government in the Domin- • ion. New-Zealand had be -i singularly free-of graft and corruption, and • for that they had to thank the people themselves for electing tho. right type 'of man*to Parliament. The leaders of ' the past had' been' men of striking ' ability, no matter how much they might: have: disagreed with their poli- ' tics. The' present- Parliament, through . its members and. leaders, would maintain .the- traditions .of the past, and .would-put: legislation in the Statute r ;Book- that would again bring New Zealand, before the eyes of the world. Mr. Gonrtelly paid a tribute to the "Speakers" who< had presided over the deliberations of Parliament. The members of dhe ■A.S.R.S. were hoping that would do something in the - direction of; removing the barriers at present existing between the two: divisions of the railway: service. They did not ask that everybody should be paid ..the same; but that:the conditions of work ' should be the ' same in all 'branches' of the service. DEFEAT AND VICTORY. .Mr.- ..Savage -congratulated . the «A.S.R-S."ori the celebration of its jubi- , lee and oh its great history, which was ...the history, of-trades . unionism ( the .- world. over..-. If r , it had. hot been for those'who. took . part, in the early struggles,the world would be a worse place than it was.today—and that was - saying' something. .Every, country deserved the' Government .it got, so the people could not be exempted from blame for-whatever failures they had had in the past. "I .Want to remind you,", said Mr." Savage, "that when yo.u were in defeat the Labour men in Parliament :w"ere~with you.- We expect ypU"tO'be-with,us in victory. . Wljathappens in the future we will try to' be: with- you.. It is only by our association and by. an exchange of ;ideas; that we are'going to get very far.' We have fairly substantial problems ; ahead, not ; insurmountable by any-stretch of the imagination. The problems were made by human beings and they- can ibe .removed, by, other human, bemgs. (Applause.) ' "There is.no problem so far as production is concerned; and the' machine has been to some extent responsible for. the-condition ;of .-the Yworld today, iamnot blaming themachine. I want to.place some,of the blame at your doors'. I want to put it on "the shoulders .ot the people The-machine has done its .job all right, but we haven't been able.to manage'distribution. There is hoone who has1 done any thinking who would-say thaV production has failed, because" it-has not. 'We are living in a machine age and the problem in front', of thi's: Government and the Governments of the various nations of the earth ■is ithe problem of the equitable distribution of * the- results of science and invention." ■ "-The'Prime-Minister said there were some people-1 who claimed that the Parliamentary: machine was out of date, but he had always.insisted that it:was' not. the machinery * of. Parliament''that'was out of date, but those who' were using it from-time to time. WHO GETS THE BENEFIT? . ;It: would' be interesting, ,■ said Mr. Savage, to compare. the percentage of production that went to-the railway -workenat the beginning of the history of the. A.S.R.S. and the percentage that went to the average railway worker today. From a" percentage point of view-the man of today would not be very"far. ahead. No- doubt the local editor would, try to ridicule; that idea, but: he .suggested .'that, her should go into the figures and find what the position: was;, after doing a little thinking.: VThe Minister' of Education (Mr. P. Fraser): That's pretty hard. ■' I Mr. -Savage said he '.was not suggest-ihg-that the standards of railwaymen had not!been lifted.- They had, been lifted a little bit, but- they had received a-bitof.a. jerk, in the opposite direction occasionally .. (Laughter.) If the harvest was not going to go to the husbandman"'and; the producer, then who was-going to get it? ■ TIME TO DO THINGS. ■ "The time has rone by for speechHj*kißg," said Mr. Savage. "The time -Jias new arrived for doing things. -(Cheers.) I recently had the privilege of roingthrough this cbuntryv speaking to the electors and speaking in the name of Labour. During that, time I inavie' various promises. I am speaking in the name of Labour tonight, and lit i the name of the Government, and ~l am goinr *• tell you that those proißJsea are going to be kept. (Applause.) "We are riot going to wait for the eve ofithc next'Gerieral Election in order to make.suggestions to the people. We are'going to do something right away, and we will probably need your assistance.- The big battle is probably ahead of-us. You will be told that we are >sdrtiof modern bushrangers and other -things of that description. We are not related in any way to' bushrangers. Our job is;to clean up.the mess that has,,been,made by, our.predecessors and w^h; your-assistance we will do - the job. We are hot asking you to •come to the' House and speak for us or-any thing like. that. We are asking for' your' good will. We are asking for. your support so that we may implement, the programme, that we .outlined throughout the length and breadth of the land." Mr, Savage said .there was, one thing that had impressed him during his '.tour of the' Dominion, and that was the! unbounded courtesy that had been extended to him on all .sides, by friends And ppponents alike., It was something triat he would remember untii he went to the grave. The best that remained in him would be placed at the disposal--of the people for the remainder of his lifetime. He knew the men1 who were associated with him in the House1 and he knew the men and women outside the House. Without their assistance he could do nothing. Without the assistance of the people of .New 'Zealand the Government would still be helpless to a large extent. The good will and support of the people during-the days ahead would be appreciated. Those days to come would bring them -the fruits that they had been waiting and hoping for. CAUSE FOR HOPE. "You -have something to hope for," said the Prime Minister, "and you have

nothing to despair about. The problems ahead are all of human origin. They are in human form as a matter of fact, and we can't allow them to stand in the way of progress any longer. . . . Our job will be to back up the work done by our predecessors —Ballance, Seddon, Ward, and others —and go on to still greater victories. Don't take any. notice of the individual who wants to tell you we are wreckers. We are not wreckers. The builders are here now and we are going to do the job."