APPEAL TO WORKERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23671, 1 December 1938, Page 12

APPEAL TO WORKERS

" THE BOYS IN THE MINES " FUTILITY OF STRIKES SOUND ADVICE BY MR WEBB (Per United Puebs Association) WESTPORT, Nov. 30. The Minister of Mines (Mr P. C. Webb) delivered a special message to " the boys in the mines " on Tuesday evening at a social gathering held bv the Hector branch of the Labour Par|y. " Don't get heated," he said, " ut trivia] questions. Remember that every day you go on strike it is recorded against the Labour Government." The Minister urged the miners and the members of all other unions not to take matters into their own hands v/hen a dispute cropped up, but to carry on work under protest and allow the dispute to be put through the right channel. It was not right to strike. There undoubtedly were heart burns at some of the treatment, but these should not be allowed to get in the way of the work. " Why stop worl. at these things? the Minister asked. "If the miners have disputes let the federation deal with the matter and go on. A strike does not help any union, and it reflects on the Government." During his term of office as Minister of Mines, Mr Webb said, he had done his best to assure a state of economy. He had done his best to keep Australian coal out of the country in order to allow of more work in the New Zealand mines, and unless his work for providing better and more work for the miners was recognised by the miners themselves it showed that his efforts were not appreciated fully. If New Zealand could not produce bituminous coal, that coal would have to come into the country from abroad. When the miners kept stopping on trivial questions" they were doing themselves no good, the Government was being harmed, and they were crippling the main industry of the district. CO-OPERATION WANTED "ONLY WAY TO INCREASE WEALTH" "Good work for good pay is all the Government expects from the workers," declared the Minister of Mines (Mr P. C. Webb) in an address to the Westport branch of the Labour Party. That was necessary, he said, for the Government to achieve its aim of increased production in order that the standard of living might be maintained and improved. , . The Minister made a strong plea to workers not to cause unnecessary stoppages on the job. By the new social security legislation, he said. New Zealand would have a standard of living for all sections that would be the envy of the world. If the Government's plans were to be successful, production had to be maintained and stimulated. The Government had no intention of inflation by using the printing Dress to put more notes into circulation. That only meant, with more money and only the same amount of production, that the people would compete with one another for goods. Wealth, the Minister pointed out. arose from labour applied to raw materials. ~ . The onlv wav Labour could be beaten, said the Minister, was by the people in its own ranks who consciously or unconsciously stabbed it in the back. Many business men supported the Government because of the increased purchasing power it. gave the people. He was also confident that the banks would also cooperate with the Government in its aim to develop industry. " Labour has no intention of sweating the workers," the Minister concluded, " but if we co-operate, organise and work, no one can stop us from our objectives."