DEMOCRACY DE LUXE.

Grey River Argus, 29 July 1940, Page 9

DEMOCRACY DE LUXE.

[To the Editor.]

Sir, —The last few weeks of political happenings surely convey the last acts that can be allowed to pass without loud condemnation of the actions of the politicians who have been trusted by the people of this country to protect the class that fitted them out of the mines, factories, and workshops of New Zealand, and placed them in their position. Not by their own ability or initiative, but by the pennies of those who could ill afford them, thousands of workingclass people have gone short of ne-l cessities and have worked night and day to provide the campaign funds necessary to elect the present Government to power. If we just survey the .work of Cabinet recently for one moment we lind that important legislation was brought down and rushed througn Parliament in a great hurry. Firstly, the Bill to make provision for the payment to the Hon. A. Hamilton and the Hon. J. G. Coates the magnificent sum of £1,300 per year, apparently for their patriotic gesture in associating themselves with tne War Cabinet. No doubt such a political marriage was worth something for the personal sacrifice, or should we call it party sacrifice. Secondly, we find a Bill, to make provision for the Cabinet membeis not paying certain taxation on amounts received by them which they in turn pay to others. Finally, we see the sorry spectacle of a unanimous vote (with the exception of Mr. Lee and Mr. Atmore) against an amendment to the taxation proposals to prevent the extra shilling in the pound on wage and other income applying to tne workers receiving under £5 P er week. I remember the great fight .when the then Peter Fraser assisted to win Westland for Labour, at the time Mr P. C. Webb was deprived of his seat in the House because of his political beliefs. When one loo t <s back to these happenings of a tew •years ago and now finds the Hon Peter Fraser, Prime Minister, bringing down legislation to still further tax the worker receiving under to per week, one wonders why such change of front occurred. One remembers on another occasion when the Hon. J. G. Coates found it necessary to go to South Westland w think, and on e is of the opinion that a little meditation and solitude would do a lot of good to the Hon. Peter Fraser. He might then remember back a few years to th e time when hi s heart bled for the underdog. He might also be able to recall the he used to use in connection with tne economic system he now does so much to uphold. He might then oe able to tell the .worker with under £5 per week income just where the economic justice exists when tne worker has to be still further heavily taxed while tens of thousands 0 people are allowed well over £5OO a year to live on after paying all taxation. Or, after due meditation, amidst the solitude of the I V? Alps he might even regain his old “punch” or “dash” and again take up the cudgel for th e .workers where he laid it down when he 'assumed the heavy responsibilities of a Cabinet Minister, and the change of. opinions that evidently go with suph exfilt d rank. Anything is pissibie in the clear South Westland air. I just wish to take the case of the timber worker in New Zealand who receives the miserable minimum .wage of 19/- per day, and who does not average more than four and ahalf days’ work per week all tne year round. He e arns on an average the princely sum of £4/5/6 per week. When you deduct from this sum the 10 per cent wage tax and from now on the 20 per cent increase in the cost of living which has occurred since March, 1938, when the minimum (wage was made by the Lou™ we find that this is equal to £l/1/6 deduction, leaving the worker £3/4/per week on which to bring up w wife and family. What a glorious democratic government! It does appear appropriate that a few years ago a political marriage took place between the Tories and Liberals ,when they went out after the workers’ conditions and standard of living, the only difference being tnai the present Cabinet has just about brought th e lower paid worker down to the last Government’s lowest standard for married men.

One or two other matters artworth noting here, and that is the fact that the members of the present Cabinet squealed from the hous G tons about Mr. R. McMasters and Sir Francis Bell, members of the Upper House, who were non-elected representatives, but who had lengthy parliamentary experience to recommend them and were brought into the Cabinet by the last Government, but w e find that the present Government excel in this, as shown by the appointment to the Upper House of Hon, D. Wilson, late secretary .to the Party, a man with no previous political experience, as was the caSc ' ,with the first-named appointment. The Hon. D. Wilson has proved an utter failure politically. , According to Dame Rumour th e only way out i s his appointment to an ambassador post at Washington. Ye Gods! W G also have the three jobs created at £1.250 a year on the waterfronts of New Zealand and several minor ones round £650, and one cou continue exposing thi s kind of thing indefinitely. For a long time now the in au trialists of New Zealand have refrained from serious protests to i reactionary doings of the Gove [ ’ ment, but I think from now on tnrank and file of the movement wni demand something more from men paid servants than they have been receiving the last twelve months, in rebound to the extra taxation on tn • already overtaxed low paid J or^ e may ultimately prove to be tn “writing on thg wall” for sit in th e Cabinet seats and protess th e cause ol Greymouth.