EMPLOYMENT BILL.

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 October 1945, Page 2

EMPLOYMENT BILL.

MR. HOLLAND’S CRITICISM PRIVATE ENTERPRISE’S PART ' S' WELLINGTON, October 4. Local bills occupied the attention of the House of Representatives this afternoon, after questions had been disposed of. Mr. Goosman asked the Minister of Supply to ensure that farmers received adequate rations for shearers and shed hands during the present shearing season. Mr. Sullivan, replying, said the rations for shearing gangs were fixed at .the present levels after consultation with the New Zealand Workers’ Union and the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. The combined ordinary rations and supplementary allowances granted these workers were seven, ounces of tea, 36 ounces of sugar, and eight ounces of butter per week per man. Tea and sugar were the shearers’ predominant requirements and it would be seen from the figures given that their sugar ration was much in excess of the ordinary domestic ration of 12 ounces, and their tea ration more than three times the domestic ration. The butter ration also compared favourably with that for other workers. The rations for shearers were generous under the present conditions, and no increase was contemplated. The War Pensions Amendment Bill, the Evidence Amendment Bill, and the Greymouth Harbour Board Amendment .Bill were read a first time.

When the local bills were completed at 4.45 p.m., Mr. Holland then raised the issue of whether the House should adjourn until 7.30 or whether he should continue his interrupted speech on the Employment Bill. He considered he was entitled to the same consideration as the Lead'er of the House in regard . to speaking when the House was being broadcast. If he continues now. his speech would not be broadcast after 5 p.m. Mr. Fraser was not in the Chamber. The Minister of Supply (Mr. Sullivan) said he thought it wrong that, with three-quarters of an hour of debating time to go, the House should adjourn. Mr. Holland said he did not complain about being off the air himself, but he considered there had been a grave abuse of privilege extended to the Prime Minister, who had spoken on the Bill. The Leader of the Opposition was entitled to the same time, particularly as the Bill was the most important yet introduced this session. Mrt Holland had been speaking only a few minutes when Mr. Fraser returned to the Chamber. On being acquainted of the position he rose to a point of order. He said he would be pleased to move the adjournment until 7.30 to enable Mr. Holland to resume his speech then. This met with general approval, and the House rose at 4.55. Continuing his speech on the second reading of the Employment Bi 11, Mr Holland said that . generally speaking people would object to the establishment of another State denartment in addition to the number already established. Because it attacked the problem of employment from the unemployment angle, the Bill was a DRAB AND UNIMAGINATIVE

document, and the Government exposed the fact that it had not two ideas to rub together, fine living standard would not be raised simply by putting more money into the people’s pockets. The only leal way was by increasing the supply oi goods which all buy. There was no evidence of a Government plan to achieve that .object, fhe immediate problem facing the Government was the absorption into industry of servicemen and women returning from overseas and those displaced by manpower directions during the war. He estimated, there would be 120,000 people involved, who could be placed into two categories—State employment and private employment. State employment offered little prospect of absorbing the men. The alternative was absorption into private employment, which had a proud record during the war years, and he was convinced it would rise to the occasion in the post-war years. New Zealand industry was equally efficient with that in other parts of the world, but the size of the population limited the industrial scope. The private employer would have to be regarded bv the Government as a national asset, and not as a public enemy, subject to abuse, criticism, and condemnation. . , , . , There were four points which should be considered, he said, firstly, employment should be given to people without unreasonable interference by the Government, bee-, ondly, competition must be allowed. Thirdly, private enterprise should be permitted reasonable profits. FourthTv. the amount left over after taxation should be enough to provide dividends and reserves. . . Mr. Holland said the provision of employment and the encouragement of those who could give employment was far more important than provision against unemployment. If the Government would

CHANGE ITS TACTICS and policy towards those who found employment, they would find that industry would expand almost beyond belief. , , Mr. Thorn (Govt., Thames) said the Opposition had approved compulsion for purposes of war mobilisation, and could not object to the setting up of an efficient organisation for ensuring full employment. Unemployment could be prevented only if the State was organised to deal with it, and that was what the Bill proposed to do. . 1 Mr. Algle (Nat., Remuera), compared the Bill to a publisher’s note bn a book jacket—making empty shallow, meaningless, blurbs. Theie was nothing else in the Bill except the establishment of a department which was already established and the creation of a registry office with certain enlarged functions. The motive of service must be emphasised in the coming period, no less than m war-time Thl Bill’as it stood was meaningless. They must infuse hie into it by a constructive, programme that would set private industry in motion, develop the small man to the limit of his capacity, and produce harmonious relations between employer and employee. . P Mr. Hackett (Govt., Grey-Lynn) said the Government did not intend to let the Bill remain an empty piece of legislation. It was a portion of the blueprints for peace-time security and stability, and helped to provide for the freedoms laid down m the Atlantic Charter The Goyernmpni did not intend to allow letui.ned men to come back to nourish smashed illusions. The Government would fulfil its promises .to the returned men, whether or not that meanf the retention of controls. 131 The House rose at 10.30 p.m.