RISING COSTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 144, 21 June 1938, Page 8

RISING COSTS

WAGES NOT CATCHING UP INDUSTRY AFFECTED "SPECTRE OF UNEMPLOYMENT" Rising costs and their effect on employment were mentioned by Mr. C. H. Weston, K.C., president of the National Party, in the course of his address in the Taia Hall, Kilbirnie, last ! night. Internally there was maladjustment, said Mr. Weston. The town worker was being paid more than the farmer. Mr. Nash had allowed the dairy farmer 10s 7d a day while the Public Works man had £1. An interjector: The Public Works man hasn't got three mortgages. Workers under awards had had their wages raised, Mr. Weston said, but had those in the Public Service had an increase? (Cries of "Yes.") Where wages had been raised the increased cost of living was not felt so much, but those who had no increase could tell a different story. The man on an award had not had sufficient increase to meet increased costs. A voice: Would you raise them more? Increased costs could only lead to unemployment, said Mr. Weston, and the spectre of unemployment was already raising its head. Cries of "Where?" Mr. Weston: Unemployment is coming back to New Zealand. Voices: Never. FACTS CONCEALED. The Government ana Mr. Armstrong were concealing the facts about unemployment, Mr. Weston said. There were 10,000 additional men employed in the Civil Service. A voice: What is wrong with that? The Government had employed 14,000 more men on Public Works, Mr. Weston continued, and no one knew how many more were employed through employment funds although the Labour Party had said it would conceal nothing. Why were Ministers of the Crown going round New Zealand trying to find work for the unemployed? Voices: What would you do? The Government was putting men on to all sorts of jobs at £4 10s a week, said Mr. Weston. He agreed that good wages should be paid, but the point was that those men represented disguised unemployment. Mr. Savage held the view that nobody liked work and everyone was happy on the dole. The National Party held that every man and woman in the country should have the right to work at his or her own job. The Coalition Government had put the unemployment tax on in New Zealand. Voices: What happened to the money? "When the National Government comes into power," said Mr. Weston, —(cries of "When!") —"it will tackle unemployment in a constructive way." A voice: First-class soup kitchens.