STANDARD OF LIVING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 13

STANDARD OF LIVING

LOWER-PAID WORKERS j IMPROVEMENT NECESSARY APPEAL FOR CO-OPERATION £BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON. Wednesday "I can say that in the next year or two my job will not be a very pleasant one." The Minister of Labour, the "Hon. P. C. Webb is reported by the Labour journal, the Standard, to have made this statement to the conference of the New Zealand Federation of Labour. "In the first year or two of its existence the Government did much to improve your conditions," the Minister added. "It brought about a standard of living undreamed of only a few years ago. J venture to say that few if any ever dreamed that it was possible for a Labour Government to accomplish so much in such a short time.

"Now we have to stabilise things and to raise the standard of living of the lower-paid workers. Constantly chasing higher wages will not get us anywhere, and I want to appeal to you for co-operation along these lines. I am hoping that, with your co-opera-tion, I will be able to improve things for you. "I am relying upon the common sense and good judgment of your officers to co-operate with me and I assure you that I will co-opcrate with them to the fullest extent," continued the Minister. "No power that the capitalist class wields can block us marching on to our goal if wo do that. It is only by splitting up into factions and fighting among ourselves that we can lose.

"If wo combine together and! organise, and fight for what we know to be right, and intelligently direct the affairs of state, all the powers of the banks and Mammon will not prevail against us because I know that the Government will go to the full extent along the road the people want us to travel."