PARLIAMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 173, 23 June 1926, Page 14

PARLIAMENT

NOTES FROM THE GALLERY. UNEMPLOYMENT QUESTION. [By Telegraph—Special to Standard.] WELLINGTON, June 22. Speaking in the House of Representatives to-night on the question of unemployment, and reiterating his previous statement that many statements had been made with a political motive, the Minister for Lands said that the president of a society in Auckland had forwarded him a telegram of 101 words on the subject. “The money expended on these 101 words,” the Minister stated, “would liavo paid for half a day’s work for at least one unemployed man.. However, I managed to reply to it in a dozen words.” STARVATION IN RUSSIA. “The Labour members talk a lot about unemployment,” said the Hon. W. Noswortliy in the House of Representatives to-night. “With all the advanced socialistic legislation Russia has, is she destitute of unemployment and starving thousands or the various other things tho Opposition tell us would not exist here if they occupied the Treasury benches?” LOCAL BODIES’ POWERS. The bill to enable local bodies to borrow for works to relievo unemployment is practically the samo as clause 6 of the Local Bodies’ Loans Amendment Act of 1022, , which provided that a local body, without taking a poll of the ratepayers, could borrow money for the purpose of providing relief for the unemployed. There aro the usual provisions in regard to the class of works that can be undertaken. Tho law passed in 1922 expired on December 31, 1923. RAILWAY WORKSHOPS. Replying to a question in the House this evening the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates said that tho railway workshops reorganisation would entail transfers of men. These transfers were being planned and worked out now so that the men could have ample notice. Married men would not be transferred where singlo men would suit, but some married men would need to be moved. These, however, would receive plenty of notice. LAND AND MONEY. “From the knowledge I have gained of the undeveloped land I am convinced that it would be criminal to bring men to this country who did not know the conditions and say to them : ‘There is the land; go on to it, and by honest hard toil you can make more than an ordinary week’s wages,’ ” said the Minister for Lands to-night. Mr J. McCombs (Lyttelton): There are men who have been here all their lives and cannot got land. The Minister: I know; but if you had a friend with only £SO, would you advise him to take on a drapery store or a grocery business? Mr McCombs: There are experienced men who cannot get the land. The Minister: Yes; experienced men without money, they constitute a general liability on the whole community.