VIGOROUS ATTACK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22401, 23 April 1936, Page 13

VIGOROUS ATTACK

PERILS OF MEASURE MR. W. J. POLSON'S VIEWS " INDUSTRIAL PARALYSIS " THE POWERS OF UNIONS [BV TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Wednesday "Economic chloroform, which could only lead to industrial paralysis," was the description applied by Mr. W. J. Poison (Opposition—Stratford) to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill during the second reading debate in the House of Representatives to-night. The bill, he said, contained all the evils of the old measure and in addition embodied principles which were a direct encouragement to the growth of Sovietism in New Zealand. "The Minister had his foot on the soft pedal when he was explaining the provisions of the bill," Mr. Poison said. "Ho did not touch on the worst clauses and indeed he seemed afraid of his own measure. The bill goes much further and much deeper than Government speakers have revealed." Defending the system which had been in operation under the last Government, Mr. Poison said that less than 10 per cent of awards had lapsed. "Principles ol Communism" The Minister of Employment, Hon. H. T. Armstrong: They were not real awards. They were "Ned Kelly" awards. "This bill is not socialism," Mr. Polson continued. "It embodies the principles of straightout Communism. It states that rules are to be obeyed by employers, but not necessarily by employees. Even the workers themselves when they understand the main points of the measure will largely disagree with them, and as for the employers, they will find it almost impossible to work under the bill. Industrial peace is only possiblo when all sections of the community can obtain justice and that state of affairs cannot exist under this bill. It is a handicap to industry and a shackle on the progress of the Dominion." Unions and the Court It was a fact, Mr. Poison continued, that the more powerful the union the more contemptuous it was of the decisions of the Court. Quito recently the Labour Bills Committee had been informed by the secretary of the Cooks and Stewards' Union that if awards did not suit his union it would defy the Court. Under the bill the man who did not wish to become a member of a trade union would have to go out of New Zealand to look for a job. A Government- member: What is wrong with that? Mr. Poison said the bill foreshadowed the position when a small coterie of union secretaries in Wellington could put their heads together and dictate to the Labour Government. The perils of the bill were such that if an election were to be held in a week's time the Government would go out of office as fast as it went in.

FLOOD PREVENTION RIVER CONTROL PROBLEM MUCH INVESTIGATION NEEDED [BY TELEGRAPH SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Wednesday The possibility of extensive surveys being made preparatory to a genera] scheme for the prevention of flood damage was mentioned by the Minister of Public Works, Hon. P. Semple, in replying to a question from Mr. T. D. Burnett (Opposition—Temuka) in tho House of Representatives to-day. Mr. Burnett had asked whether tho Minister would appoint departmental engineers to act on commissions to inquire into causes and prevention of flood damage. He added that most of the South Island rivers had their sources in mountain valleys and lakes and could be comparatively easily dammed or ponded, which was the latest method of preventing abnormal floods.

]\lr. Semple said the Government was fully alive to the necessity for better river control and protection from floods throughout tho country, but held that there was 110 need to sot up commissions.

"It is quito impossible for anyone to report on any scheme of river control until proper surveys have been made and data collected concerning; flood discharges," the Minister said. "The collecting of proper data concerning rainfall within river drainage areas, tho flood flow of rivers and the effect upon lands adjacent to the rivers lias not received proper consideration and much work must now be done to sec that this most important investigation is properly carried out. The question of controlling floods by detention basins as suggested by the member for Temuka is well worth investigation and has been considered already in connection with several rivers in New Zealand, but the absence of basins of adequate capacity for the purpose, on account of the comparatively steep slopes of our river beds, nnd tho cost of building dams to form basins that would be sufficiently large to hold back flood peaks, has, so far as investigations have already been made, precluded the use of retention basins."