LABOUR DEPUTATIONS TO PRIME MINISTER.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 21 February 1931, Page 4

LABOUR DEPUTATIONS TO PRIME MINISTER.

It is difficult to appreciate the reasoning actuating Mr J. Roberts and the Alliance of Labour when they wait upon the Prime Minister in a time of economic crisis like the present with protests against wage-reduction and thinly-veiled threats of resistance. If Mr Roberts could discover a new formula for maintaining the wage standard in the face of falling prices and the disappearance of avenues of employment, there would be some merit in his activity. But he does not claim' to have made any discoveries. He merely reiterates “demands’' and scoffs at generally-accepted ideas regarding the futility of expecting first-class conditions for the erew when the ship is experiencing heavy weather. It is sad to i see Mr Roberts still declaring that the demand for wage-reduction is only the result of “pressure brought to bear by overseas money lenders.’’ If he has to say that sort of thing in order to maintain his prestige in the eyes of the Labour movement while well-knowing it to be clap-trap, it is deplorable. If he sincerely believes that what he says is true, it is still regrettable. Mr Roberts has been in the Labour movement for a long time; he has travelled, he has come into contact with many "men, and he claims to haye made a study of economics; but if he believes some of the things he has been saying lately—that high wages mean more employment and so on—it then becomes evident that the Alliance is not getting the right kind of return for the amount it spends on salaries and travelling expenses. Fortunately, the Prime Minister has shown no sign of being stampeded by Labour theats of resistance to wage-reduction. He plainly told the deputation that while recognising that hardship would be inflicted to some extent on everybody, he could not depart from the stand he had taken and would ask Parliament for its approval of his proposals. The country is looking forward to the forthcoming special session with the keenest interest, and there is not the slightest doubt that the vast majoriy of the moderate-minded section of the people are prepared to throw their weight behind the Government in OTder to assist it to carry out its economy programme and restore an even balance between the cost of production and the prices we are getting for all classes of produce.