APPEAL TO LABOUR FEDERATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 24 November 1938, Page 14

APPEAL TO LABOUR FEDERATION

HOLDUPS IN INDUSTRY ADDRESS BY PRIME MINISTER l Uni'ed Press Association! WELLINGTON, This Day. 1 If the workers were going to begin ; by simply voting for Labour candidates ; arid then to hold up the work of the j country the Government would not be | able to get anywhere, said the Prime j Minister, Mr Savage, when addressing ; ! the quarterly meeting of the National 1 1 Council of the New Zealand Federation of Labour in Wellington on Tuesday The meeting was not open to the Press, j but a report of Mr Savage's speech was made available yesterday. The Prime Minister emphasised that it was necessary that there should be the fullest co- ; operation between the Labour Government on the one hand and the workers on the other. | The Government, Mr Savage said. , j had received wonderful assistance from 1 the Federation of Labour and its! I officers and he was hoping that that j ; would continue to be the case. He felt j ! that the Government ought to be in j I the closest touch with the representa- : tives of organised Labour all the time, j They had a glorious opportunity in New I Zealand to build a wonderful country, | but they could not produce wealth ! simply by turning a handle and printing money I There were enemies both at home j and abroad, said Mr Savage, who were ; prepared to wreck the Government in , the interests of those with other interests to serve. It therefore rested with the workers to see that those people did not make a success of their efforts. NO WAGE REDUCTIONS The Prime Minister said the Government was not going to ask any wage earner to work for less than he was receiving to-day. “We can't decrease expenditure unless we reduce wages or reduce the number of people receiving wages, and we are not going to do that. I have been telling a number of people that in the past few days.” j “Our job is either to implement our I programme or to get out, and we are ' not going to get out.” Mr Savage said. “We are going straight ahead and we want your assistance. If we can in- ,! crease the number of people in pro,l ductive employment in New Zealand [jour success is assured.” ; i Mr Savage said that the opponents of the Government were still hoping that in the next 12 or 18 months there would | be, another election. Just why. he did , not know, unless it was that they thought they could wreck the Government by causing financial difficulties. 1 It was the desire of the Government 1 that it should have the assistance of j the workers in getting the best organ- j ' isation possible to promote the develop- j ; | ment of secondary industries so that, j more labour could be employed. ! CHEAP LABOUR COUNTRIES “The Government.” he added, “has got to see that its efforts in that direc- ! | tion are not sabotaged by the importation of goods from cheap labour countries. For that purpose there will be j a publicity campaign, not only through | the newspapers, but over the air as j well, and representatives of the indus- ! trial movement will be invited to do | their share in influencing public opinIf the Government were able to get the advice and the co-operation of all there was no greater certainty in the world than that it would be successful in its mission. He said that it would i be necessary to employ fewer men on | work that was not directly productive J and more on the-production of consum- | able goods in the secondary industries. No action would be taken by the Government that would interfere with the conditions enjoyed by the workers to- | day except to improve them, he concluded. The meeting was also addressed by 1 the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash. 1 PLEDGE OF CO-OPERATION | Mr A. McLagan. national president . of the federation, said he felt he could pledge the wholehearted co-operation | of the members of the National Council of the f ederation of Labour with 41 the Government in any action which it considered necessary to carry on the affairs of New Zealand. The follow ing motion was carried ! unanimously:— “That this meeting of the National 1. Council of the New Zealand Federation j of Labour congratulates Mr Savage. Mr, Nash, and their colleagues on the splen-1 did win of the Labour Party in the j recent General Election. pledges the wholehearted co-operation of the Federation of Labour in carrying on the administration of the country, and further thanks Mr Savage and Mr Nash for coming along and frankly placing the position of the Government before us.”