COCKIES AND CONSCRIPTION

NZ Truth, Issue 570, 20 May 1916, Page 4

COCKIES AND CONSCRIPTION

Dairy Directors' Deputation Ask Exemption for Expert Employees Massey Doesn't Mine© Matter* — ConecripU First Consideration Collapse m Che«s« Manufacture Po«---•iblo A large deputation, representing the chief dairy factories of TaraimkJ, had an audlenco with the Prime Minister on Saturday morning-, it wtm a most Influential deputation, and included among: Us number about half-a-dozen Reform member*. The question on which' they wished to address the. Parliamentary head of tho Dominion was one of vital public Importance, yet, strange to any, although ihe day-lie pre»» representative* were present. "Truth" ha« failed to glean even the slightest reference to the deputation m tho public prints. Tho deputation wuu Introduced by Mr. WUklnmm. M.P.. and carried the endorsement of "Cuptlng" Mine, M.P.. Mr, VounK. M.P,, Mr. Encolt, M.l*., and uthor Reform polltlciartit. Prenc'nt with Mr. Maxircy wore the Hon. Mr, MucDouuld. M,P., MlnlHU-r

of Agriculture, the Hon. Mr. Myers, M.P., Minister of Munitions, and Mr. Cuddie, representing the Agricultural Department. After a few words of introduction from Mr. Wilkinson, m which he referred to . the disadvantages under which the various dairy factories would be compelled to produce if INDISCRIMINATE ENLISTMENT, ; unqualified by a wise policy of exemption, was allowed to go', on, Mr. Morton, of the Northern Dairy Association took the stand. ; Mr. Morton explained that the idea of a deputation was first mooted to ;them by the Defence Minister,, whom they had interviewed after" a recent meeting at Hawera. -They had discussed their difficulties with Mr. Allen, and he 'had sympathised with them, but advised them to " see the . Premier a!hd Other Ministers interested on both} the military and industrial sides. One thing they strongly objected to was that young men had to enlist before applying- for ) exemptions. ; This rule the' speaker had no hesitation m declaring had been evol l d from a purely military mind, with iio knowledge or consideration for others. It was clumsy, and -he predicted the Govern r ment would find it unworkable. Once the worker enlisted and went into camp and experienced camp; life, etc.. he was lost to the factory. Anyway,, no young man of spirit, having once poiie into camp, cared to apply for exemption. Jt made him look like a cocktail. •■ : ■ ■ ■■■ :■■!■*■■ '.■ .During last season, continued Mr, 'Morton, the dairy factories of New ; Zealand ? exported £ 3,500,000 worth of cheese, of which the Imperial authorities took one-third. Now the industry was of such recent growtn that t^e faciory workers weie all young men. And as it WBL3 the young men who wore wanted for the reinforcement drafts, Mr. Massey must see, as they saw, that the industry would be brought to a standstill if no exemptions were made m their behalf. As it was, the great development which had taken place m the industry m the Auckland province had robbed Taranaki of its best men, and manufacturers -were finding it exceedingly difficult to replace them. If their staffs were further depleted the quality of their cheese must suffer. Mr. Massey: How many specially skilled men do you require m a factory? ■. : , . ■■;■ ' Mr. Morton: "We require at least one-third specially skilled. The bigser the factory, of course, the loss number of skilled hands required. In one factory he knew with -forty-nine employees there were eleven skilled.* In Bmaller factories the proportion of skilled to unskilled was greater." Mr. Massey: How long does it take to produce a skilled dairy worker? Mr. Morton: \ IT TAKES TWELVE MONTHS. There were murmurs of dissent among members of the deputation, and then Mr. Morton added: , "Of course, the specially skilled >man takes longer to produce— cay, three years," said the speaker, who concluded by declaring that what they sought was no class exemption, but an exemption for til e one or two men m the factories whom they could hot do without. Mr. Forsyth, the next speaker, claimed exemption for the dairy workers m the interest of the Empire. If the number of workers In the dairy factories was reduced they would have to reduce the output of their butter and cheese. If they were forced to do : this because they were unable to handle the milk to the best advantage, the cattle would find their way to the meat works and dairy herds would be wiped out that It had taken years to build up, and would take years to replace. He claimed that the dairy factory workers were munition workers, cheese and butter playing an important part m the war. Mr, Fori syth proceeded t^o declare^ that the Government * had ' made promises, and Ministers had made promises, but nothinff had been done. Mr. Massey : I m ust ask you to prove that.-/ .:■ ■■.'■■;. ,■■■•■■■:■. ■•:..' ■. After a bit of sparrlhg, Mr. Forsyth produced a document which, to a certain extent, bore out his claim. j Mr. Massey: No one had any authority t6 issue such a notice, and I shall have the matter inquired into. Mr. Forsyth then referred to the case of two experts m the employ of the Kaponga Dairy Company. Both enlist* ed, and then applied for exemption. One man was second m command and the other was the general manager. The general manager, whom the company could hot; do without, was refused exemption arid the other man got St. Hon. Mr. Myers : It is my duty to deal with applicants for exemptions. So far, I have refused only one In the case of a dairy worker. Mr. Forsyth: "That was the general manager of the Kaponga factory." Mr. Myers: Yes, but he is a single man, while the second m command, who, I was assured by certain members of the company, was quite capable of doing the manager's work, is a married man, I oxempted the married man and refused It to the slnglo man. Mr. Massey, m replying, said: Gentlemen, you can depend upon the Government giving your case every consideration. We know that it is essential that your Industry be kept going. A tribunal will be set up to deal with all such claims, but, I win bo frank with you, I am afraid thero will bo few exemptions We have sent and have In training altogether close on 60,000 men. Our drafts must be kopt up. I should advise you to see to the utilisation of female labor, for the demands of the war come first. So far as I am concerned, thero will be no going back. I will go any length to keep New Zealand's reinforcements up to the number promised.. So far as tho prayer of the deputation could be answered favorably It would, but he advised them to bring along the younger men and also to get females instructed In the art of butter and cheese making. Here Mr. Massey broke oft! to refer lo a special message he had received from the High Commissioner, first Instructing the press men present "not to print." "Truth" respects ihe confldenco of the Prime Minister, but cannot refrain from saying that it thinks that secrecy m such matters IS A GRAVE MISTAKE, the guilty, if tho thing is the result of deliberate doings, not only go free, but may continue the evil practice for the purposed of Immediate personal gain, although, as a result, New Zealand's good name and fame mny suffer unjustly for years to como. Mr. Morton then asked Mr. Massey If ho would communicate with the Imperial authorities m order to get the Russian Government to lift the embarKO upon rennet. About £30.000 worth of rennet 1h iiitftd la tho Dominion cheese factories each aoason. Tholr Htocks were all but depleted. Russia, from which country tholr supply came, hu>» forbidden export of rennet, and if this order wan persisted In thero would bo little or no choose mado m Now Zealand next season. If tho Imperial Government could not persuade Russia to lift the embargo, perhaps they could *end out to Now Zealand the neceswary plnnt tor tni? manufacture of rennfst. Mr. Majssey promised lo cablet tho Home authorities nt onct». And even though KiiHftia did Hft the embargo, he would a«k tho -High Commissioner to Inquire into tho possibility of obtaining a rennet manufacturing* plnnt for Now Zealand. Thoy had tho rnw material oml there whs no reason why New Zealand Hhould not manufacture nil the rennet n»« required for her own u»e. Sovferol other gentlemen. Including Mr. Cuddto. nltw wpoke. After thanking Mr, MttJijrey an«l the other MlnlHtcn* for the patient hearIng they had given the varlouit speakers, tho deputation withdrew.