Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY. AUGUST 30, 1945 A NEW DEAL FOR THE FAMILY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 30 August 1945, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY. AUGUST 30, 1945 A NEW DEAL FOR THE FAMILY

MR JACK ACLAND, , the young member of Parliament for Temuka, has a refreshingly forward-looking viewpoint on most topics of the day in New Zealand and his speeches in the House are usually marked by constructive thought. After six years, during which this Dominion, in common with other belligerents, has been unavoidably using up her capital as well as human lives, the prime need, Mr Acland says, is for reconstruction through hard work, with a young and virile population. Policy based on such a formula would be the best prescription for getting the country back into normal health. The family is presumed to be the unit of society yet Mr Acland stresses once again how mothers and fathers and their children—the greatest asset of any nation—are being penalised by the all-round burden of heavy costs. In arranging relief through income increases on a flat percentage or hourly rate no preference is shown in favour of the family breadwinner, the result being that, spread over the number of mouths to be fed and bodies to be clothed from the same pay envelope, such increases do not cover extra living costs. He cites the example of an income rise of 10s 6d a week. The net gain of this to the single man is nine shillings, but to a man and wife with four children it waters down to about 1/6 a member. Mr Acland says it is the Government’s duty to give additional help to working men with families. This enlightened outlook, which places the weight of assistance where it ought to fall, has never been strongly and positively reflected in New Zealand practice. The nearest approach is the system of payment in the armed forces, where dependants’ allowances are provided for, thus making the remuneration to the family man appreciably greater than that received by a person of the same rank with no family responsibilities. Such a principle ought to be incorporated in our wage and salary structure along with safeguards to protect the breadwinner against discrimination in employment through his requiring to receive more money. While obeying the maxim of equal pay for equal work there is an unanswerable case in equity for family allowances since they would help to build up that young and virile population by lifting some of the burden from the shoulders of those who undertake this national duty.

Social conscience seems to demand that a civilised country shall allocate part of. its national income to sustaining the sick and the aged. How much more necessary is it to take care of the most productive stratum of the nation, the section in the prime of its working life who, while producing the bulk of the national wealth, is also bearihg and rearing the children who are to be the citizens of the future. Mainly because of the way our social struc-

ture has developed the times are out of joint with the average family man and woman and readjustments of community binders are called tor so that full olay can be given to this fountainhead of our continuing life as a vigorous and progressive nation. That is what Mr Acland means when he asks that a greater snare of the energies of our administrators be devoted towards creating conditions where every incentive is given for the further building of a young and virile population.