CRITIC OF THE GOVERNMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 3662, 20 May 1924, Page 9

CRITIC OF THE GOVERNMENT

RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION CONDEMNED. STRATFORD, May 12. Mr R. Masters, member for Stratford, and a member of the. Liberal-Labour executive, addressed a good audience in the Town Hall to-nignt, generally criticising the Massey Government’s administration and finance. Dealing especially with the railways and the recent strike, Mr Masters said that the Liberal Party was opposed to strike methods and would not tolerate direct action. It stood by its own legislation, and the only proper procedure was for employer and employee to have their differences settled in a constitutional manner by the -arbitration and Conciliation Courts. Where Mr Seddon stood in 1894 with regard to the strike the Liberal Party stood in 1924. Unfortunately, both the Labour Party and the Reform Party had taken advantage of the late strike for political purposes, and the real issue from the outset had been obscured, while the claims and counter-claims were clouded by political propaganda. The railway employees became merely a pawn in the game. New Zealand was not going to be dictated to by such irresponsible leaders as had organised the strike. Mr (Masters predicted that the time was not far distant when the A.S.R.S. would cut adrift from tile Alliance of Labour. The men’s representatives at the conference had not shown mature judgment and had acted in a hasty manner without serious thought of what wa.s due to the men they represented and the public of New Zealand. No self-respecting man could have acted otherwise than the Minister of Railways had done in rejecting the ultimatum. Discussing the points at issue, the speaker contended that every man was justly entitled to a wage which would enable nim to keep his family in comfort and provide his children with a good education and make him something more than a chattel of his employer. In 1921, Mr Masters pointed out, the same general manager and the same Government had granted the second division a 44-hour week. “We now r find,” he said, “when the net earnings of the railways are higher than they were when the reduction in hours was granted that the Minister reverses his former decision and demands that the men shall work 48 hours.” The Minister had made the statement that if the men went back to 48 hours he did not propose, to dispense with the services of any of them. It was therefore proposed to work four hours a week more and not to do any more work. They would be paid £168,146 per annum for having their work spread over a longer period. The speaker generally condemned the railway administration, and said that theLiberal Party represented neither extreme of public nor political opinion. It stood for settling all industrial trouble in regard to wages by arbitration and conciliation, and the conduct cf the i ail wavs by proper business methods without waste and extravagance. The soldiers’ settlement policy was severely criticised, it being pointed out that on thS 15,000-acre settlement at Whangamomona not a soldier remained. A motion approving of the Liberal Party's policy cf appointing a permanent board in connection with railway administration was carried unanimously, and also a vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Masters.