CORRESPONDENCE

Grey River Argus, 4 May 1931, Page 8

CORRESPONDENCE

, POLITICS. j (To the Editor.) . 1 Sir, ’ j I would just like to review the pos- | i ition in New Zealand since. Mr. Forbes | has become Prime Minister. Two of : the Main planks in his plqtform ’ speeches were tho continuation of the i Alain Trunk in the South Island, | ’ and no reduced wages, along with a I I progressive move to absorb all the un- I I employed. Up to the time of Mr J I Forbes’s t/p to the Old Country, he | certainly led a lot of people astray, . including the New Zealand Labour | party, \ho had been responsible for . keeping him in power. AVe know 7 that > the New Zealand Labour Party will . try to j stify the backing of this dud horse by saying that he was better than the Coates Party. This is one of the things I strongly denied during the last Election Campaign, and contend it was the duty of the New Zealand Labour Party to vote for Coates, and then in turn vote out Forbes, and by this method they would have gained much more prestige, but they in their wisdom were led astray by those political hypocrites. When Air. Forbes left for England he appeared on the I surface, to be at least be/ter for the workers than the Coates Party but this has turned his head quicker than any other Prime Alipister of New Zealand. Anyone who made a close study of ri. woul have realised long ago that a Politi al weaklng is always a dan- ’ ger to the community. With "men who do not understand the class struggle, ; he ding with the idle rich always has 'an effect on the ; » i»-ti>Higcnee, and this effect on Mx, Forbes has become a j tragdey far New Zealand. j Armed with a little power, the tactics used by the money grabbers of England have had their effect, and the most Conservative Government in tho world to-day could not have be- i frayed their trust better than the Forbes Government. After this trip we find him ready and only too will- • ing to obey the definite dictates of f Sir Otto Niemyer. AVe are always I to’d. but only “mugs believe” that the Courts could not be interfered with yet they have their order to tear up awards, as the usual scrap of paper is ' torn up; but what a squeal when Russia was only supposed to .Io this kind of thing? Yet Air Forbes will bo ( feted and banqueted by those who are! living on interest and unearned salaries. I The Unemployed Act that has been pas. ed only last session by this per - ( nrcious Government has been torn up as if it never ajid to the' credit of the industrial movejneiit in New Zealand they never fell for this piece | of legislation, but pointed out that it was only a wage-reducing part of the present Government’s legislation. I said at the first meeting of the Greymouth Unemployed Committee, that this Act would be the means of creating- more unemployment than hag ever been known in this country, and if it was not put there lot| this purpose, then it only shows the utter incompetence of the present Government. There have been farm employers all over New Zealand discharging their workers to rte-engage thnm under this Act. There is hardly a public body in New Zealand that has not done the same thrng, and the result to-day is 50.000 unemployed, and the Prime Alinistcr is going to sentence all of them along with the'ir women and children to Already we have treated eases in the Grey River Hospital of patients who have been underfed and there are hundreds of families in New Zealand to-da J who ar|o not getting sufficient to eat, , let alone clothing, while the Govcrni ment goes on merrily obeying the dicI fates of the English Jews. It would 'be better) for the Prime Alinister’s I conscience if ho were to hand the out* j fif over to the Jews to run, instead iof trying to gull the people that what ho is doing isi the best for the counit ry, because anyone witn any intellig-1 ' once knows that it is Governments I like the Forbes Government that breed ' discontent and ultimately revolutions. J Tire men folk will not stand idly by : ' and see the v/omon and children starve : they wvll take action sooner or later. | Tn Ru sia the Czar thought 'that his I henchmen could go on doing anything' they wished, but where 'are~'they to*,

I day? Kings all over Europe are ruuning for their lives, just because they J | have blindly stood for a policy similar • ■to the* Forbes Government. Tho Gov- j I ernment’ wage cuts arc not going to i remedy the position one jot, but arc I i us t goiag to be the reverse. It makes ' one sfek to listen to these people who i appear to think that wage cuts “with I a cheaper cost of living,” which we I will not get, will benefit the position, and I y-enturb to say that, instead of the iGoverniuent balancing thekr Bud- ' get, they will find, themselves worse ; off in twelve months’ tinis< by their I most stupid policy. For the' purpose of this argument, we will say that we I owe £200,000,000 in this country and 'pay £10,000,000 a yca r '.interest. So as ie able to pay it back, we reduce the cost of living by 50 per' cent. i and wages accordingly. AVhere do we find ourselves'? AVe- find that we have 50 per cent, less income to tax (and wc increase the value of t-hfei £200,000,000 to £300,000,000 aifd pay in interest’ value. £15,000,000 instead of theoriginal amounts. Th'is is what tho Glovernmcnt callK* jgciod finance, -and we find middle class people falling for this piffle. AVe have* the Labour Party calling out for a lower cost of living. AVhat we really want is a higher cost lof living, with wages correspondingly higher. I know the Government will . say to tlus that the cost of our ex- ; I ports would then be* too high to find) a market abroad, and to this I would I say that wc would have- sufficient wealth to subsidise nur exports to see j that the received a fair return for thd-r labour. This is more than they are assured to-day. Then again wc could exclude imports of, commodities that could be' produced in I this country and thereby create still more wealth within our shores. 1 know that, these methods are only tern-1 porary remedies, as there is do total j remedy under tiho present .‘economic system, hut they are at lea.sf, better < rCmed'-f's t<hlan the starvation policy adopted by the present Government, and- after all is not tho protection and

l ea.re of our own people-the first duty .'to ourselves? T know T will probably tc called Bolshe-vick, IAV-W-J Anarch- ■ ist, Red Fed, etc., by the unintelligent, but bettor be called this than to be- jelly fish enough not to advocate a policy which one knows is based on justice; tta-n to stand idly by while the most incompetent Government that have ever sat in the- Treasury Benches of tliis country go on with their ■policy of starvation, wind, is going to mean a. generation of rveaklfngs, and an 'Unormous expenditure in hospital treatment for the people of this once called “God’ s own country,” as iveD as the filling of our jails with young nien and -wonion wlio are<- being gpadually .but surely, driven tbiere by the starvation method. I could take Mr Forbns or any of lii s a,round the West Ooast, anil shred of -human feelings is -still possessed by him, he would hang his head in shame at the results of his own stupid folly- I aip. etci, F. L. TUBVEX, GreymoutJii, 37/4/31-