A LIVING WAGE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 10 July 1928, Page 3

A LIVING WAGE

THE MAN WITH A FAMILY AND £4 A WEEK.

DUNEDIN, July 4

. Can a man earning £4 weekly, and with a family dependent on him, make ends meet?

A short debate on the question took place at t-lie Conciliataion Council .sitting to-day, when the quarry workers’ claims were disputed. When asking that the workers should bo paid for holidays, Mr. 11. Harrison sard lho men were unable to make ends meet.

.-“Who paid £20,000 towards tlje Labour Party’s fund?” asked Mr. A. S. Gcoksou (employers’ agent).

Mr. Harrison: The employers. , Mr. Cookson: The employers ? The workers paid the money, yet you talk about their not heiiig able- to make ends- meet. They can find the money for that purpose. “I know they cannot pay their way when they get £4 a week,” replied Mr. Harrison. “After paying £1 for rent, I’m blessed if I can see where a man with a family can make ends meet.”

Mr. C. A. Shiel said the New Zealand agitators should he placed on ,a boat and sent on a tour of the Continent to investigate the conditions under which the workers were employed. Ne.y Zealand was a paradise for. the workers. Mr. Harrison: Do you mean to say that if you were in power you would not consider the state of affairs in the Dominion could be improved. Mr. Shiel: They are my ideal. Mr. Harrison said it bad been conclusively proved that when the conditions of the working population wereimproved greater prosperity for -the nation followed, hut the workers had to continually fight against such arguments as had been raised by the other side. “It is not the distribution of wealth we are fighting against,” he said. “We are fighting so that the workers will .get a greater, proportion. There are 285 millions of national wealth in New Zealand, and we are fighting for the distribution of that.-. Mr. Shiel: Why not make the workers the owners.

“Perhaps: we will do that some dav,” stated the workers’ agent. ‘‘This is called a Conciliation Council, but I eanont see where conciliation has come- in.”