LABOUR LEADER’S TOUR

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 April 1934, Page 2

LABOUR LEADER’S TOUR

MR. SAVAGE AT WESTPORT. [per press association.] WESTPORT, April 13. Mr. M. J. Savage, Leader of the Opposition, who arrived from Greymouth this afternoon, was met at some distance from the town by the Mayor (Mr. J. Kilkenny) and Councillors, and supporters of the Labour Party, to the nmber of over fifty, and was given a right royal reception.

To-night Mr. Savage was accorded a civic reception in the Town Hall, and he later delivered a political address

Dealing with the restoration of the wage and salary cuts, Mr Savage said: “It is generally agreed that the monetary income of the rank and file of the people of any country is the foundation upon which the trade of that country rests. When that is so, it is hard to understand, in the first place, why wage and salary reductiojis continue to increase. The first substantial reductions that have been made in modern times were made in 1922, when purchasing power to the extent of millions in money was destroyed by an Act of Parliament. That action was repeated again in 1932, and. while the people in high places are talking about, new and expanding markets for our products, they are, at the same time, destroying the existing market by destroying the purchasing power of the people. The time is long overdue for the restoration of those wage and salary cuts, and when the Government gives a lead in that direction, they will at least have made a start towards the re-establishment of trade and industry in the Dominion. There can be no permanent recovery in trade —national or international — until the buying power is restored. Those who constitute the Government led the way in reducing wages, and it. is not too much to ask that, after havinc satisfied everyone that reduced pay means reduced trade, they should now give the lead in the direction of a general restoration of those wage and salary cuts. Certain local bodies and private employers have, at least, made a beginning, and, they should be encouraged in their commendable action by the Government giving a lead to all employers to do likewise. The wages and conditions of labour, which have been built over the last forty years, have been destroyed during recent years by Acts of Parliament, and until an organised attempt is made to restore these conditions, there will be no end of the depression.” At the conclusion of his address, Mr. Savage was accorded a great lecepio A motion of thanks and confidence in the Labour Party, and in Mr. Savage as Leader, was carried unanimously.