BROKEN HILL STRIKERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18032, 4 September 1920, Page 8

BROKEN HILL STRIKERS

SUBSCRIPTION LISTS IN TIIE DOMINION. QUESTION IN PARLIAMENT. PEOPLE BEING PREYED UPON. IFkoii Ooh Own Couhespondent.) WELLINGTON, September 3. A question regarding the. subscription lists that _ are being circulated in the dominion Hi aid of tho strikers at Broken Hill was asked of the Primo Minister by Mr R. W. •smith (Waimarino) this afternoon. Mr Smith inquired whether tho Prime Minister would take stops to place before the public of New Zealand tho true position in connection with the ■ strike. He said that for some months past subscription lists had been in circulation in this country, and that as a result of tho plausible tales told by tho collectors many unsuspecting people had been induced to part with nioney that they could not afford to give. The collectors stressed tho statement of a medical man regarding tho hardships endured by mothers at Broken Hill, on account of the strike. He had been told that the strike had been going on for some 16 months now, and that during that time tho workers had been content, to remain idle and induce others to beg for them, while their wives and children were forced to starve, and while there was nothing to prevent them from taking up other work. I ask, Sir, Mr Smith concluded, if it is fair to allow the hardworking, unsuspecting people of New Zealand to be preyed upon by a section of men in another country, who of their own accord have lived in idleness for so many months? Mr Massey replied that he was not in possession of sufficientlv full information to give an opinion on all the points raised. He knew that the strike had been in operation for some considerable time past. Personally, ho know of no reason for which the men should not obtain employment in other directions. Conditions might be different in Australia, but in New Zealand it would not be difficult for men who were willing to take any work that might be offered, to obtain employment. If it was pcssiblo for the men to obtain work he thought that by obtaining it they would be following a much n;ore self-respecting course than the present one. Mr Smith's question might have the effect of letting tho people of this country know as nearly as possible what had taken place.