MANY REQUESTS

Evening Star, Issue 21630, 27 January 1934, Page 9

MANY REQUESTS

PRIME MINISTER APPROACHED WORKERS AND UNEMPLOYED DEPUTATION The Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) received a large deputation from the representatives of the unemployed and the whole of the organised trade unions at the Grand Hotel j'esterday afternoon, many requests being made to the Minister, who, when he rose to reply, was, treated to numerous interruptions which he dealt with quietly. Those present included Messrs J. Gilchrist and B. O’Donnell, the appointed speakers, Mr F. Jones, M.P., Mr J. W. Munro, M.P., Messrs R. Harrison, P. Neilson, W. Herbert, P. H. Petrie, Z. Williams, and C. M'Arthur. ; . lii introducing tho deputation, Mr Munro said it comprised representatives of the whole of Otago industry, not only the Unemployed Association, but the whole of the organised trade unions. They desired to place before the Prime Minister their views in connection with unemployment and other matters than unemployment. DEPUTATION’S OBJECTS.

The first speaker was IVlr J. Gilchrist, who said that h© had been appointed at a meeting not only or the unemployed, but of the employed. Their major demand was that there should be a restoration of the 10 per cent, cut in all salaries and wages. All understood that with a few exceptions there had been a slackening up in business as the result of the reduced purchasing power and reduced wages. Their next claim was for full trade union pay for relief workers or full sustenance. They recognised that the present sustenance payment was ridiculously inadequate. The word was amisnomer because the rates were so microscopically small. It did not enable people to Jive, but merely to exist. , The Prime Minister: What do you mean by full sustenance payment? Mr Gilchrist: What it meant in the 1930 Act. , , J 7. . Mr Forbes; That was for thirteen weeks./ That was what the Act said. Mr Gilchrist said that they asked for it all the time. They asked for full contributory unemployment insurance. Mr Gilchrist also referred to the anomalies that existed in payments to married men with three or more children, for instance. In Dunedin they would each receive £1 17s 6d a week, and just a mile or two away the figure was £1 10s. They were puzzled as to the ways of the Unemployment Board in "allocating moneys. In other places it was as low as £1 Is od for men with three children or more. They asked also for equal pay for town and country unemployed. There was no reason why this should not be so, since many items were as much as 2o per cent, higher in some of the backblocks districts than they were in town. Mr. Gilchrist said that the deputation further asked for the abolition of the' wages’ tax, and felt that bad as it was in connection with those who were employed, it was a thousand times worse for those who Vere unemployed. That was the feeling of a large number of people in the retail trade, and in industry. They asked for the abolition of forced camps, since men were compelled to break up their family lives rand leave their children in town. Otherwise, they were put on sustenance, which everyone knew was inadequate. He quoted the case of a man on sustenance who had been given 12s 6d a week. Because he earned 6s 10d for some other small Job this amount was deducted from his 12s 6d. They thought piece work should bo abolished. There was no necessity for it whatever. It was an attempt to force up the speed of workers on the job. It meant that the spoils went to those who were the most physically strong. He thought the Government in a country like'New Zealand should drop that practice. The deputation also desired the recognition of the 40-hour week in those industries which were working—and no wage reductions. They recognised how extremely rich the country was, and felt that it could meet these demands. PUBLIC WORKS SCHEME SUGGESTED. Mr B. O’Donnell stated that he had noticed that no requests had been made in Central Otago, but unfortunately in the large cities poverty and want existed among them. Men and women were hungry, and it was felt that that condition of things would exist so long as the policy of the Government was what it was to-day. The deputation had come to place before Hie Prime Minister real facts and to offer him a way out of the difficulties. Mr O’Donnell further elaborated the question of compulsory camps hnd sustenance payments referred to by Mr Gilchrist, and declared that the Government had been responsible lor putting up the rate of exchange, which deprived the man in the town from having the full purchasing power of his money. The Government was responsible for putting legislation into operation in regard to a Central Bank. The Government considered it good business. The Minister of Finance had been responsible for appointing a man from England at £5,000 a year for seven years, and it they were able to pay this for seven years it was felt that there was a just and right claim for the 10 per cent, reduction in wages to be restored. Ihey thought relief workers should he paid full award rates of wages. The appointment of this man from England was a slight on the intelligence of the people of New Zealand. The Government had also been, responsible tor something more drastic, more terribly hard, and working against the interests of the people when it made an allocation of £42,000 as a bonus to the Police Force of New Zealand for doing its duty. He referred to the enormous amounts paid to men who administered unemployment moneys. , This was, money subscribed by the working class in New Zealand and administered in the interests of the other class. It was pmde compulsory that the money should bo subscribed, but not compulsory the way it should tie spent. Mr O’Donnell asserted that there were no agitators among the relict workers. All the men were asking for were their just demands, full wages, and the right to work. The deputation suggested that the Government should put into operation a fully-planned Public Works scheme where men would be able to earn the full rate of wages of from 15s to 17s a day. It would then he found that the shops in the city would progress and trade would be booming.

THE PRIME MINISTER REPLIES. In reply, Mr Forbes stated that the points Mr Gilchrist made would mean an entirely different policy for the Government of the country. ( -Hear, hear.”) It was a complicated matter, and so far as the demand for tho reduction of wages tax was concerned, that would result in lessening' the amount available for unemployment. Mr Gilchrist: Not if you alter the policy of the Government. Mr Forbes said that the present time the Government did not have any-

thing too much to deal with the situation. They had over £4,000,000, which came from tho pockets of the people of the country for unemployment. An interjector: What about seeing if you can take it from the wealthy instead of from ns. The Prime Minister proceeded that one thing that had been urged upon them was whether they could do something to stimulate building, as this gave more employment than any other industry. They were asked if the Unemployment Board were prepared to assist the industry, and they did it, in the way of subsidy to those who would build. He thought it had been justified because there had been activity in the building A Voice: It has not absorbed any of the unemployed. Mr Forbes: Where do they get these extra people from P Do they absorb them from other trades? He thought they could say that they were increasing the numbers they were employing. What was given by way of , subsidy was handed out in wages, and if they could only get people to start employing others at trades it, was better than having them on relief. . Speaking to men in business, he had been told that there was an improvement and that they would soon he able to employ more. . , ... Mr Gilchrist; If they have been telling you that they have been telling me the opposite. One wholesale house told me that during the last six months they finished on the wrong side for the first time in forty years. Mr Forbes said that ho listened to the employers the same as he did to the present deputation. A Voice: You listen to them too The Prime Minister said that Parliament was trying, to do its best to meet the situation. He wondered if the adadministration of unemployment funds were put in other hands whether it could be administered to tho satisfaction of all. After referring generally to administrative costs, ,Mr Forbes said that as far as the points raised as to reducing the wages tax were concerned, ho did not think there was much chance of that being done. He would very much like to see the unemployment position improve to the extent that ne would be able to say, he would make some reduction in some phases of the tax. No Government had tackled the situation and dealt’ with unemployment as well as New Zealand was doing. He did not expect, however, that they would. get any credit or thanks for what they were doing. . ~ A voice: You’re taxing the wrong people. . Mr Forbes: I have been Minister of Finance, and have found out that the only fair tax is the tax the other fellow pays! , In reply to a question regarding the Restoration of, the cut in wages to civil servants with a vieiv to other employers following suit, Mr Forbes said that he was in favour of the very highest wages being paid when they could afford it. The position had not altered to that extent, and the Govenrment was not able to make any restorations of the cuts at the present time. Mr R. Harrison; Have you any hopes of these men having a 1 chance of earning a reasonable wage? Mr Forbes (in surprise): Do you think New Zealand is done?

A voice: Yes. Mr Forbes said that it had to be remembered that the country was suffering from the effects of the depression. A voice: And bad management. Mr Forbes: That is a matter of opinion. In referring to the question qt the setting up of a reserve bank in New Zealand he stated' that it was important for the country to have the best man they could get for the money. , . Mr Munro interposed at this stage that the Prime Minister had listened to the speakers and that now the deputation were all firing questions and making arguments. ’ , The Prime Minister said he would h© pleased to go into the matters that had been raised with the Minister of Employment. He could not say for a moment, however, that he would support any reduction in taxation. They wanted every penny of it. So far as the question ot men going into camps was concerned, they had men all over tho country who took seasonal work in the country without looking on it as a hardship. There was no reason why the. men should not go into the country if there was work there. Farmers said they could not get men to go into the country, Mr Munro thanked the Prime Minister for listening patiently to the deputation. There had been a lot of interjections, But Mr Forbes had taken them very good naturedly.