BLUNT WARNING.
MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS. AGITATION MUST CEASE. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, June 23. “Men who are physically capable of working, but who refuse to work, have no claim on the nation. In some countries this type of individual is put into a concentration camp, where he can infest nobody but himself. A ta6te of that in this country would not do them any harm.” In these terms the Minister of Public Works (Hon. R. Semple) to-day issued a warning of what is in store for the agitator and the industrial pest. . “I am setting out,” the Minister said, “to modernise and mechanise the public works of this country, and I am setting out to organise a team of men who will be a credit to themselves and to their country. 1 have confidence in the majority of the men, but it will he my job to see that their camps are not infested or blighted by human pests. Mr Semple referred specifically to the recent developments at the Motueka aerodrome construction work, where a protest was made against the new public works agreement. He said: “I have power to terminate the agreement, and I intend to use that power as far as the Motueka men are concerned. I have removed any reasonable objection to wages and conditions, and if the men don’t like it they can go back to the old rate of pay and conditions. They have that option.’ Mr Semple added that he was satisfied that the rank and file of the men had nothing to do with the condemnation of the public works agreement. At the same time, they had allowed the resolution to go through. Because ot that they could not be entirely freed from blame. “I am not going to be embarrassed by the Communistic element, who are nothing more than wreckers, Mr Semple continued. “I am responsible, as Minister of Public Works, tor the expenditure of millions of pounds or public money. I want to protect and defend the public purse, while at the same time giving to the men who do the work what they are legitimately entitled to.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19360624.2.10
Bibliographic details
Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 174, 24 June 1936, Page 2
Word Count
358BLUNT WARNING. Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 174, 24 June 1936, Page 2
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