MEN FOR CAMPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21647, 13 November 1933, Page 15

MEN FOR CAMPS

THE ONEIIUNGA DISPUTE MEETING OF RELIEF WORKERS LABOUR PARTY CRITICISED Two hundred Onehunga relief workers met on' Saturday morning and unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the Opposition in Parliament "to demand that the question of unemployment bo immediately dealt with, and if necessary to take such action as will necessitate them going to the country, in the belief that this will be tantamount to a referendum on the unemployment question." The Minister's telegram in reply to the Mayor's protest was interpreted by one speaker as a definite order to the men to "go to camp or starve." The mover of the motion, Mr. G. W. Insley, urged that the time had arrived for direct action, not by the men, but by the Labour Party in the House. He suggested that if the Opposition failed in its attempt to extract justice from the Government it should leave the House in a body and force an election. Mr. W. J. Jordan, M.P. for Manukau, who arrived at the meeting after the resolution had heen carried, asked, "What can tho Labour Party do? Whose fault is it that some of the men are starving?" Voices: Yours. You arc not starving. "When the day comes," said Mr. .Jordan, "when I have lost the confidence of the working classes, I shall pull out." Mr. Jordan said he was doing his best in the House, but could get no satisfaction from the Minister. If the Labour Party walked out of the House in a body, the business of the country would go on as usual. Criticism should be levelled at the Government, not the Opposition. He contended that unemployed men should be paid the sustenance allowances provided for in the Act of 1930. The Labour Party had exhausted all the forms of the House to secure redress, and members had exhausted themselves in the fruitless struggle. . Speakers persisted that the unemployment question should be made paramount in Parliament, and that further united efforts should be made by tho Labour Party toward repealing the existing legislation and substituting a more sound and just scheme in its place. It was announced that 140 men had signed a declaration refusing to go into camp, and that many more signatures would be forthcoming. It was stated that at Onehunga last week 12 single men and 11 married men had been discharged for refusing to go into camp; four married and five single men had accepted camp work; and five married and 17 single men had been reinstated. POSITION AT NORTHGOTE DISCUSSION BY MEN The question of drafting men to camp was considered at a special meeting of the Northcote Unemployed Association yesterday. It was stated that 57 of the men engaged on borough relief works had been examined for camp purposes. Of these, 11 had been ordered to proceed to camp, and four others had been "stood down" for declining camp work. Steps were taken in an endeavour to minimise hardship. The position of the local men is to be brought under tho direct notice of the 640 residents who recently signed a petition protesting against relief workers being sent out of the district to camps.