“NO IMPOSING”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21853, 25 October 1945, Page 6

“NO IMPOSING”

EMPLOYMENT PLAN ACCEPTANCE OF WORK LOAFING NOT SUBSIDISED (P.R.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 25. The, employment scheme and social security benefits would completely collapse if the people were allowed to impose, and the public should realise that there had to be discipline, said the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, in the House of Representatives last evening, replying in the committee stage of the Employment Bill to Mr. W. S. Goosman (Opp., Waikato), who had asked what attitude would be adopted towards persons who were offered employment and refused to take it. It was all right saying that a man who refused to work would not be paid, said Mr. Goosman, but the State could not allow his wife and children to starve. Mr. Fraser said the State could not subsidise loafing, but it could not get away from the difficulty of providing for wives and children. Thank God, there were not many men with families who were lacking in the necessary sense of responsibility. There were only a few and they were abnormal. It was part of the spirit of New Zealand that men should go where there was work and, if a single man load no excuse for not working, it was his fault if he had no income. Work should be taken at the proper award rates of pay and, if persons did not take employment, they would get nothing personally, but their wives and families could not be-penalised.