An Insult to the Miners

Maoriland Worker, Volume 6, Issue 243, 13 October 1915, Page 4

An Insult to the Miners

The Fusion Party's Phthisis."Bill

"This Bill is nothing tilt an insult to the miners," said the member for Grey, when speaking in the House of Representatives on the; Miners' Phthisis Bill. Mr. AVebb's language was altogether too mild- Briefly summed up the Bill's provisions are as fpllpws: 1. A miner must bo, TOTALLY INCAPACITATED, from work before he can plaim a pension. If }}g, is, pply partially incapacitated he has no legal claim. . 2. A totally-incapacitated married man or a widower with cjijidren urjder 14 years of age will be paid ONE FOUNT; PER WEEK. a. A totally-incapacitated single man .will be pa*d FIFTEEN §HIL-LING^iER-W^EK. 4. In every ease the, tptallyrincapacitated miner must prpvei Ifeut fee contracted the disease, in "New Zealand. 5. Even if he contracted the disr ease in N.Z., the totally-inpapaciT tated miner will not be erttitled tp any pensiQnun.iesshei!>a British subject, has resided cpntifpiously jn N.Z. for five years, and has worked as a miner for years prior to his application. '&.' Jf. a miner who fulfills all the foregoing conditions, dies pf phtlijsis, his widow MAY be pajd TWELVE SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE a week fo{- two years only; and the, State MAY; pay the husband's funeral expenses, which however, are limited tp £20. 7, Tptajly incapacitated miners in receipt °f the pensipps are to be liable to be called up fpr medjcal examinar tion at. any tjjr#. 8. The gold duty payable under the. Mining Amendment' Act, }§10, is now to be paid into the. public, account, and miners' pensions are to be pai4 . out of the consolidated revenue,. The soldier who js totally ineapacir tated on the, battle fjeld. is entitled to receive 35?. a week, in addition to an assistant's allowance. This paper, it will "Go remembered, fought for a higher rate of pepßJqri for wounded. and[ disabled soldiers. Now, no one wpul4 agree that the soldier- renders a greater service thari the wealth-producer; and it is for Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward to how %y figure it out that the Jpiner isef less than half the value of the soldier; to the community. How can a. marrjed man, s\\ifering the ravages of such a disease as pneumoconiosis, with a wife and say six children under 14 years depending on him, possibly lire on £1 a week? AVhen the rent is paid much will remain for food apj cjpfoingf' Mw Wl a widower with five or six children

under 14 appid to g • wages, a&4 provide for h|a pwn and hjs. children's, jyanta. Again, w-hen a miner dies his widow is to, receive 12s. 64. per week for •two, years. After that, ,uijeE_ ahe marries agajp, she is left to starve. How she ifl going tp keep herself and her'children on 12s. 6d. a week- the ~ Fusion 1 alone knows. The soldier's widow is to he paid 3p*s. a week, and in addition will receive 65. a weojf for each child up to a certain &£s••' Why should the useful wgrker'i} •' be condemned to a life pf misery, while the soldjer'g widow,is, jft'rdupj}' better provided for? At tie same time, we have no hesitation in repeating what we have declared all along, that the , pensions provided for soldiers' widows and orphans are disgracefully inadequate. It follows that the pensions provided for the mirjers' widows are , far worse than disgracefully inadequate. Originally, the Fusion Bill even hud it down as a hard and fagt rule $hat any miner receiving the shockingly small pension provided for. in its clauses would be debarred from drawing the Old Age Pension. The Social Democrats succeeded in having this objectionable clause eliminated. However, no, metel miner who developes ' phthisis ever lives to be 65 years of age; and it follow s that no man suffer* ing with the disease is ever likely to claim the Old Ag-a Pension. The only redeeming feature the Bill has is its provision'that the, jjgld duty .shall go. into the ppnsolidated revenue, out of whip), the miners' pensions are to b< paid. Otherwise, the Bill in its entirety is 1 an insult tp every miner. '1 boic is not a single reason/why the miner incapacitated by ph^hjsi^—whjcl) is positively an accident 'incidental to his occupation—should not have the same claim for compensation as any , other worker. AJso, there, is not a single good reason why the worker in Any calling whp is should not be wholly provided/ fpr. The minor is quite as useful a member of society as the Chief Justice. -Indeed, tho minor is a much, rqpjft ,usefu]i member of society than any judge. Still, whilo we give the Chief Justico a hugo salary —out of which he could easily provido for his old age-rrand *$ijle we'pay him some £40 a, week "as" pension money, we dole out 20s. a week' to tho married miner who is inoap'npitnted, and when lie, djfls>9'pe hjs. widow- 12s. 6d. a week, aud aro moan enough and ungrateful enough S nd. cgjjous enough to cut off that, rn!l"fir„|*lft do|o at the. end of two years! Every timo a Fusion M.P. or Cabinet Minister appear* on a publio platform Jl« liquid jp» tufked to explain the difarWPt Witm military Ran&iS'ig «_ $h« E9*f-WW» *" - be paid to the victims of phthjiia,