DEMAND BY LABOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20365, 20 September 1929, Page 14

DEMAND BY LABOUR.

UNEMPLOYED INSURANCE.

'/ACTION THIS SESSION URGED

" TESTING LABOUR'S LOYALTY."

COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATION

(BV TELEORAPTT.-- BPECIAT, REPORTER.] WELLINGTON, Thursday. A recommendation to the Government to tako action this session to deal with unemployed insurance was made by the Labour Bills Committee of tho House today. The committee reported that it had considered the Unemployed Workers Bill promoted by Mr. P. Fraser (Labour — "Wellington Central). It was realised that

the bill could not proceed in its present

form. The committee's recommendation gained importance from the fact that it

was recently intimated that while the

Government recognised tho need of some form of unemployed insurance it was not proposed to tako action in the matter this session. ' ( "This is rather an interesting report," ■aid Mr. M. J. Savage (Labour—Auckland • West), in congratulating tho committee on its recommendation. "It'is a straight--out indication of the committee's that tho Government should do something this session. It will be interesting to hear what tho Government now has to say. There seems to bo a tendency on tho part of the Government to put tho question off—to shelve it," The Minister of Justice, the Hon. T. M. Wilford: That is not so. Mr. Savage: I much appreciate that Interjection; I hope the Government ,will produco the goods this session. , Mr. Wilford: That is another question.

Member Refuses to Wait.

Miv Savage: I think it is the same question. There is plenty of time be* tween now and Christmas, with the combined wisdom of the members of this Housei to draft a bill. I pit it to the Government whether it expects members representing Labour to keep on waiting. T think the Government' is testing our / loyalty a little too much. "Loyalty?" inquired Mr. A. M. Samuel (Reform —Thames). ' ' Mr. Savage: Yes. Loyalty to common ' eense.

Mr. Samuel: Oh, I thought you meant loyalty to the Government.

Mr. Savage: I dogmatically and absolutely refuse to wait until next year. Now I want to know what the Government has to say. .Mr. Fraser, as the author of the bill on which the committee had reported, said he considered the committee's recommendation a businesslike and sensible one. No Government could lightly turn down such a recommendation. Parliament would be failing in its duty if it allowed the session to conclude without dealing with the question of unemployment insurance.

* Grey Lynn Member's Support. "I am strongly of opinion that the Government proposals will not meet the situation as far as unemployment is concerned," said Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Government —Grey Lynn), who had expressed himself forcefully on the same subject a week earlier, when Mr. Eraser's bill-was before the House. "I look forward with trepidation to the situation that is developing in Auckland particularly,. and in New Zealand generally," said Mr. Fletcher. "The time is ripe for action, and l am going to support the recommendation of the committee." The ..report was laid on the table.

DOMINION POSITION.

REVIEW FOR PAST YEAR.

BETTER THAN OTHER COUNTRIES.

' '[BV TELECBAPH.—SI'ECML REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Thursday. "A comparison of unemployment in New Zealand with that of other countries still blio«vs that unemployment is much greater elsewhere than in the Dominion," states Mr. F. W. Rowley, Secretary of Labour, in his annual report presented to the House of Representatives to-day. Iho period reviewed was tho year ended at .. March 31 last. t number of applications at the de- • partment's employment bureaux rose steadily during the yoar from 2578 on April 2, 1928, to the " peak," 3414, Vor June 4, 1928, said Mr. Rowley. It was expected that tho number would con- > tinue to increase as the winter .progressed until' August. It dropped, however, week by week' to 1788 on December 10 last, sgain (after the Christmas holidays) rising progressively to 2787 at tho end of the year, March 31, and to 3896 on July 8, since when the total has again decreased. The engagements made at the department's employment bureaux during 1928-29 (in addition to 908 men placed locally by engineers on Government relief works) totalled 6409 for the Public Works Department, 1494 for other Government works, 5259 for local bodies and 3201 for private a total of 17,271, with dependants totalling 29,932. In addition, .422 other persons were assisted by the /advancing of railway fares or otherwise. In 1927-28 there were 15,246 engagements. • Of the number placed on Government works during 1928-29 (viz., 8811) 6126 loft f the works of their own accord. In previous years about one-half of the applicants at the bureaux have been unskilled workers. The proportion increased during 1927-28 to two-thirds, and fchdt i prpportion has been maintained to the present time. _____ '»