SMASH AND GRAB

Grey River Argus, 3 August 1935, Page 3

SMASH AND GRAB

Seventy-six Days That Shook New Zealand (By John A. Lee 2 M.P.) On May* 5, the House reached clause 58 of the Finance Bill. During the election the Government had boasted about what it was doing, and what it intended to do to solve the unemployment problem among juveniles. In clause 58 of the Finance Bill the Smash-and-Grab Forbes-Coates Party smashed existing apprentice contracts and grabbed the young fellows’ chance of even learning a trade. Notwithstanding any contract which may have been entered into and which may have existed for two. three or ■ four years a magistrate was given power to: — (1) Amend, modify, suspend any contract of apprenticeship, or amend any of the provisions of such a contract; (2) Suspend the contract for a period; (3) Cancel the contract altogether. This clause was passed by a big majority and because of its passing boys were thrown out of jobs without any compunction. < Boys with half their training completed were dumped on the unemployment market. As a rule an apprentice is compelled to receive a low rate of wage for the benefits he is expected to receive fin- < ally. Boys who were graduates for some trade are to-day unskilled and are graduating to the unemployed queue because Smash-and-Grab Forbes-Coates smashed their apprenticeships. ;

Animals Before Men. When it is remembered that the Government had kicked the live-year-olds out of school, reduced the old-age pensioner, reduced firing allowances for the mid-winter school room, reduced hospital subsidies, beggared the charwomen, its attitude to clause 60 of this iniquitous Bill makes peculiar reading. Clause 60 abolished compensation payments for diseased stock. A’t once there was a clamour from the Government side of the House. At 5.15 p.m. we had abolished apprenticeships. At 8.15 p.m. the clause abolishing subsidies for the slaughtering of diseased stock was withdrawn. Smash-and-Grab were prepared to pauperise and repudiate but the owner of a diseased animal must have his compensation. This one-sidedness was shown all through the debates. More Power to Quell Agitation. At the moment there was pronounced unrest in the Civil Service and a volume of protest was welling up from the dispossessed. The Government decided that the Civil Service had lo be gaged and took immediate steps in that direction. The Labour Party had decided to circulate a petition demanding the retirement, of tin- Forbes-Coates Smash-and-Grab I Government and it was realised that Civil Service organisations were likely to contribute do the cost of the petition and help to collect names. Hence it was that clause 62 preventled any civil servant from making any statement calculated to bring Forbes-Coates into disrepute. In a democratic country this meant that if a civil servant said he was in favour of a change of government or joined the Labour Party he would be dismissed. The real intention of the Smash-and-Grab Government is seen in the demands of the Christchurch “Press.” Terence McComb’s position should be determined. The Labour candidate has dared to espouse the cause of the down-trodden. The clause was introduced at 9.45 p.m. At 11.55 p.m. the gag had been moved. On May 9 the clause was further considered in committee. The Labour Party moved to give a dismissed servant the right to appeal. This right was refused by a huge majority Under the threat contained in tTiis clause hundreds of civil servants withdrew from the Labour Party. Raiding the Roading Fund. Postponed clause 37 was next to be considered. With unemployment at its peak the Smash-and-Grab Forbes Coates Government smashed the Highways Acts and caused £500,000 to be diverted from road building to the Consolidated Fund. Left in the Highways account these moneys would have employed 2,500 men at £2OO a year and the money circulated would have employed hundreds of others. But wholesale sacking had to be indulged in so that dur interest could be met in full and so that our taxation might continue at the old level to the wealthy. Repudiatory Clause Withdrawn. It would only be true to say that during the passage of this legislation Labour’s protests were not completely ineffectual. The Forbes-Coates Party proposed to pass a clause, clause 52 setting aside the financial contracts entered into by the National Provident Fund. These contracts had been made long years before and the passage of this clause would have been anothei attack on the savings of the people Thanks to Labour protests the clause was withdrawn and the, contributors saved.

Seventy-Six Days That Shock. The first session of the ForbesCoates Party assembled on February 23. On May 10, seventy-six days later the House had adjourned. Looking back over the Hansards of the day, one can only be proud to have been a member of the .Labour Party which fought the Smashing and Grabbing with intellectual idealism and a passionate consistency. The Parliamentary issue clearly was “Wealth versus Welfare, Vested Interests versus the People, with 24 Labour men, and here and there an itinerant recruit, arrayed against a government as cruel, as blind, as ignorant as any in New Zealand’s history 1 shall never forget 'the impassioned zeal of/my colleagues. If their words 1 were the products of the mind, their accents came from the very wounded soul. T cannot single anyone out. Those were seventy-six days in which the least assumed the emotional power of giants in defence of the rights of the people. Forbes-Coates fought a class war while Labour fought for all the people Outside the House was intense excitement at the unpopular measures of a Government which had achieved a mandate by trickery. New Zealand new riot after riot. The House was * heavily guarded against the betrayed.

Let us see what devastation was done by May 30, 1932, by a Government elected in November, 1931. Summary of One Session of Smash-and-Grab. (1) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the principle of the Constitution and grabbed an extra year of life. (2) Smashed the Arbitration Court and allowed Big Business to grab the workers ’ prosperity. (3) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed prosperity by wage cuts. December 15, 1930, before cuts, 11,442 unemployed; 1931, after first cut, 51.408 unemployed; 1931, after second cut, 69281 unemployed; 1933, after further cuts 79,435 unemployed. They smashed prosperity and grabbed the worker’s job. (4) On March 1, 1932. Forbes-Coates Government smashed the Public Wofks policy and sacked thousands of standard rate workers, re-employing some at slave rates. They grabbed £4,308,000 from the Public Works Estimates. (5) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the worker’s home life and threw married men into unemployment camps. (6) The Forbes-Coates Government grabbed the unemployment fund to subsidise wealth interests. (7) The Forbes-Coates Government grabbed portion of the wage of a boy earning 5/- and keep, while leaving the income tax of the wealthy, stationary. (8) Forbes-Coates grabbed ninepence in the pound of workers in the Blind Institute. (9) Forbes-Coates grabbed portion of the woman’s wage but made no provision for sustenance for women. (.10) Forbes-Coates brought about a reign of Smash-and-Grab terror in New Zealand. Riot succeeded riot. (11) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed wages agreemens and grabbed millions from civil servants. (12) The Forbes-Coates Government repudiated humanitarian considerations and grabbed some of the charwomen’s wages. (13) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed our education system and kicked the five-year-olds out of the schools. (14) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed our Capitation Alowances to school committees and grabbed the money necessary for wood and coal in winter. (15) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed and grabbed the system of free denial clinics. (16) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed and grabbed certain privileges from children attending our secondary schools. (17) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the law that subsidised work era’ education. (18) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed citizens’ protection by indemnifying the Crown against any wrongful act on the part of a special. (19) The Forbes-Coates Government passed legislation compelling Hospital Boards to smash nurses’ wages, to kick people out of hospifa' beds at an earlier dale, !o reduce the cost of food lon the patient’s plate, to save in the cost of bandages. (20) The Forbes-Coates Government' smashed to Old Age Pensions Act sufficiently to grab some of the pensioners ’ allowance. (21) The Forbes-Coates Government gial'bed more of the old age pension where pensioners had other income. (22) The Forbes-Coates Government st igmat'ised old age pensioners as reci pients of the State’s bounty. (23) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the widow’s pension law and grabbed a .little of the widow’s mite. (24) The Forbes-Coa-t’es Government smashed the widows’ pension law and grabbed a little of the children’s allowance. (25) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the Miners’ Pension Act and grabbed portion of his pension. (26) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the Act providing for the miners’ widows’ pension and left the widow pauperised. (27) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the War Pensions Act ami grabbed 29 per cent, of an economic pension. (28) The Forbes-Coates Government smashed the provision allowance a soldier to receive l*he old age pension, plus a war pension. (29) The Forbes-Coates Government passed .legislation permitting -he grabbing of pensions where pensioners had received certain benefits* from lodges by socials. (30) Forbes-Coates legislation grabbed the War Pension of a boy in The P.lind Institute whose father lies in > Flanders. (31) The Forbes-Coates Government . smashed other soldiers’ pension legislation on the eve of Anzae Day. (32) The Forbes-Coates Government ] smashed tlie Motherland Endowment . Bill and grabbed a portion of the family allowances. (33) The Forbes-Coates Government (■ smashed its interest contracts and inj tortured with the income of The people. (34) The Forbes-Coates Government , smashed mortgage contracts and legal2 ised repudiation/ s (35) The Forbes-Coates Government t smashed the int’orest rates payable by , large financial institutions earning a f good profit on the meagre savings of r depositors. Q (36) The Forbes-Coates Government B smashed its own interest contracts and s grabbed a portion of the annual interest but has refused to make any alteration in rate for soldiers’ mortgages. (37) The Forbes-Coates Government I by forcing deposits from limited companies and building societies into the trading hanks permitted The latter to J. pey a rate of interest far below that paid on share capita' invested. ’ (38) The Forhes-Coates Government e smashed apprenticeship contracts. a (39) The Forbes-Coates Government I grabbed the liberty of the civil service * to agil’ate against the Government. 5 ‘ (40) The Forbes Coates Government after smashing the worker’s wage s grabbed a huge proportion of the remainder as a wage tax. (41) The Forhes-Coates Government smashed the Highways Acts and grabbed .-£500,000 which would have cnir" ployed 2.500 men at £2OO a. year. y Since when there have been single men’s roading camps» at.' a wage, of ' s 10/- per week. II This Smash-and-Grab Forbes-Coates Government promised “Present Secur- *• ity and Future Prosperity.” They reducod New* Zealand from “God’s Own Country” to an Economic Wilderness Put they are ready to promise again. Tf they could do a.T that is* enumerated 11 above and more in seventy-six days. ' c what will they do with another four e ’ years.