PARLIAMENT

Southland Times, Issue 22158, 28 October 1933, Page 6

PARLIAMENT

IMPREST SUPPLY UNEMPLOYED RELIEF A TEDIOUS DEBATE BILL PASSED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, October 27. After a long and somewhat tedious debate on the unemployment policy of the Government, the Imprest Supply Bill was finally passed by the House of Representatives at 5.45 this morning. The debate on the Bill lasted from approximately 2.45 p.m. on Thursday and was the occasion of the first all night sitting of the session. The Labour Party’s amendment to the first reading of the Bill was defeated by 42 votes to 23 at 4.20 a.m., but the Bill was put through its remaining stages rapidly and was passed. Subsequently the Rent Restriction Bill was passed, and the House adjourned at 5.50 a.m. until 10.30 a.m. Replying to various points that had been raised, the Minister of Employment, the Hon. A. Hamilton said that critics of the Government’s action were in a very favourable position. It was very much easier to criticize than it was to suggest ways of improving the position of the unemployed. "I sat on the Opposition benches for a little while,” said the Minister, “and I was never very happy in criticizing. If the Labour Party ever gets into office I will be on the Opposition benches, but I will still be ready to give a hand. In one sense I would like to see the Labour Party in office at the present time. I don’t know that it would not do them a world of good, and I don’t know that it would do the people of New Zealand a world of good.”

The Minister said that New Zealand had done a lot for the unemployed and he did not think all the sympathy for the unemployed was on the side of the Labour Party. The Government was just as sympathetic and just as helpful to the unemployed as the Labour Party. At the same time they did not want to let their sympathy run away with them, as that was apt to warp their judgment. He believed the Government was doing as much as it could in order to assist people to find work. Replying to complaints in regard to piecework, the Minister said that piecework was no new thing. It had been the settled policy of the Public Works Department for years and years. Labour members: That is quite wrong. The Minister said it was essential that local bodies should receive some return on the money they borrowed for the prosecution of works. Mr D. G. Sullivan: What about the men’s side of the case? The Minister said the Unemployment Board did not wish to be hard, but when borrowed money was involved it was essential that the work should be done efficiently. He admitted that the bulk.of the work was done efficiently, but there were instances in which it was not. The Minister went on to refer to allegations made that unemployment was leading to malnutrition amongst children, and quoted figures from the Health Department’s report denying the suggestion. Mr P. Fraser: Don’t give us statistics again. People don’t live on figures. The Minister* concluded by paying a tribute to the manner in which the members of the Unemployment Board had carried out their duties. Members of the board were doing their work in a wonderfully able way. Mr Fraser said that although unemployment taxation might be a hardship to many people, there was no doubt that the unemployed themselves were the hardest hit of any section of the community. In spite of the deplorable plight of the unemployed, the Government was adopting an attitude of armour-plated complacency which could not be pierced. Furthermore, the Unemployment Board was not doing anything essential to alleviate the position. Mr Fraser said that the report of the Health Department had shown that there was malnutrition amongst children and any officer who denied that there was poverty and distress at the present time was distorting the situation. It had been said that camps for single men were well run, but it might also be said that the gaols were excellently conducted. No one however wished to turn the country into a gaol. Something more was required than camps in order that the men could retain their manhood and not be reduced to serf conditions. Young men were being organzied in camps and were being paid a miserable amount which was destroying their manhood. The Labour amendment was defeated and the Bill was passed.