IMPREST SUPPLY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18382, 28 September 1929, Page 21

IMPREST SUPPLY.

ALL-NIGHT DEBATE ON UNEMPLOYMENT. LABOUR MEMBER’S REMEDIES. By Telegraph- -Pre«» Association. WELLINGTON, September 27. The House of Representatives resumed at 7.30, and went into Committee of Supply to deal with the Imprest Supply Bill (No. 4) providing for appropriations amounting to £2,345,000. Mr J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn) asked the Government whether it had any constructive scheme to deal with tne pressing problem of unemployment. He said the position would become more serious at the end of the year, when hundreds of young people leaving school would be added to the pressure on the labour market. The subsidies which the Government had granted to local bodies for relief works were fast coming to an end. He gave the Government every credit for granting those subsidies, and also for the endeavour It had made through the State Advances Department to 'meet the situation. He suggested that part of the Highways Fund should be capitalised, and With the money obtained It would be poatlblo to And work for 3000 men on a roading scheme In which labourers, carpenters, boilermakers and lorry drivers would participate. He did not claim that tide was tho best scheme possible, and he would support a better scheme, if it were put forward. He wanted the Government to give him an answer, and he would oppose the passage of the Bill till he Tecelved that answer, • The resolution was put in Committee. and carried on the voioee, Mr Fletcher being tho only "No,” Speaking on,.the second reading qf the Bill, Mr M. J. Savage also asked the Government what constructive proposals it had to offer. "They will tell us v/hat tiny have done, but some of us have a pretty shrewd idea what they have done,” he said. "They have put a hundred men on, and taken a hundred and five or a hundred and ten off. I don't say they have done thut all the time. There have bee-, rises and falls, but over the period the position Is not getting any better.” Mr Savage said the Goverment had stated that it would absorb men through a land settlement scheme, but It would probably state that legislation would be necessary to carry out that scheme He did not agree that this was so. There was machinery at present that would enable the policy to be carried out. It war the responsibility of she State to provide work for people who were looking for it dally, and he was not going to remain inactive and allow things to go on in the present condition. Unemployment insurance would help the position, but it would not strike at the cause of unemployment. What was the Unemployment Committee doing? The country wanted the Government to do something now. In addition to land settlement, there were other ways in which the Government could help to absorb the unetnplayed, and he mSntidneti the Mom-, ingside tunnel, 'Auckland' Harbour bridge, and the Paeroa-Pukeno railway as works which should be undertaken.

Mr Lysnar urged that the Government should see that the Meat Board functioned -properly to enable primaryproducers . to receive - fair prices for their exports. Encouragement should be given for Investment of capital In primary industries; land nothing : should be done to hamper that class of community. Such a course would go a long way towards solution of the unemployment problem. He also expressed approval of the plan formulated by Mr Fletcher. >*.— s Mr E. J. Howard (Christchurch) stated he considered the' building 'lndustry would offer one of the most suitable means of employing labour, because it set wheels going in so many directions, and was the cause of employing men in a wide range of trades. New Zealand had drifted into a shameful position. Instead of asking people to come put here to help us to 'produce, we had to erect a fence ' round the country and beg people not to come in, lest we be starved to death. He had lost faith in the Government. It was just going on in the same oid way. All that was required was visualisation of , the . possibilities of this country, and, initiative to set the wheels spinning in every direction. It did not require much vision to picture this country supporting ten millions of comfortably-housed desklents. The trouble rested,; not with the country, but with the administration. Mr J. H:' Y.oung (Hamilton) raised the question of dismissal of casual employees in the Post and Telegraph Department -,at Hamilton. Mr R. Semple (Wellington) submitted that pne of the gravest responsibilities resting on the shoulders of the House to-day was to open.the door of opportunity to those, people who could not find work. There was something radically wrong with-? a system which permitted vast wealth on the one hand, While on the other hand, there were hundreds of willing workers who could not obtain means of sustenance for themselves and their families. This session should not close until some-' thing had been done for the people who were hungry and out of work, He advocated a vigorous policy of settlement of Crown, and other lands, ‘ncluding the best proportion of- pumice land. He called for a road construction scheme in rural districts, With extension and widening of main highways. Other suggestions were -development of a carbonising plant to utilise by-products, of coal, and avoid the waste that existed at present. Other schemes were increase in the' school leaving age', by. one year, and reduction in the old age pension age by five years, revision of working hours, with reduction wherever possible, and elimination of overtime ter. provide work for others. The Hon. E. A. Ransom said he wished to give some figures relating to employment. Excluding local body men, there were 684 more men employed by the Forestry and Public Works Departments to-day, than at this time last year, and there were 855 more than when the present Govern-

ment assumed office. The Minister read a list of men placed on Government and local' body works, through 1 the Government bureau, since April 1, 1929, the total being 7192, of whom 4257 were employed on the former, and 2935 on local body works. A considerable number of men had also been engaged in country districts by the Forestry and Public Works Departments direct, and it would be sale to state that 6000 men had been placed since April 1 on Government works. During the same period 2500 men had left Government relief works of their own accord. The only places where unemployment could be regarded as serious at present were in Auckland (with 874 registrations), and Christchurch (with 630). Arrangements were being made for placing further men on Government works as follows:—'Auckland 200; Napier 20; Wellington 50; Christchurch 100. The Minister added that the labour bureau at Auckland had difficulty in filling orders for men ‘ on road relief works In Taumarunu) I district recently, owing to the men do- ; siring work nearer their homes. He said It had been complained that tho Government was not moving as quickly In the matter of absorbing unem- ; ployment rs might be desired, but he j pointed out that much of the work it ! had In mind first required the authorisation of Parliament beforo It could ! be undertaken, In this respect he reI ferred particularly to railway construction. Then there was tho Land Bill, which In his opinion mado wonderful provision for employment of labour in bringing land Into a state suitable for oooupatlon. He looked forward to great development of mineral deposits on the West Coast, and of Irrigation schemes In Central Otago, The Hon. J. G. Coates said unemployment was not Parliament's responsibility alone. Anyone Who followed the progress of the Industrial Conference had been gratified at the feeling manifested there by employer arid employee In regard to all questions affecting unemployment, and it had been anticipated last summer that the conference would have been called together again next bummer, but the General Eleotion had mads that difficult. Howovor, tho conference should have been oalled so that the House might have had recommendations before it on the unemployment question. Ho preferred to treat unemployment as a national rather than a party question. Parliament looked for recommendations from the Industrial world. At a round-table conference he had found the worker was always ready to admit what was possible and reasonable. Mr Coates said that no \ reply had been given to Mr Fletcher, f but the Minister seemed to have i dodged the point. Personally he agreed I that something could be achieved | along the lines suggested. The United Party had promised that if it was ! elected to the Treasury Benches unemployment would disappear like mist before thtf sun. That had not happened. Men appealed to him dally to fihd work.

Mr P. Fraser supported the schemes outlined by his colleagues and by Mr Fletcher, and declared that people who had., returned the nineteen Labour membetSito Parliament did hot expect them to allow the session to end without some guarantee that the problem of unemployment would be dealt with. Mr A. E. Ansell urged that development of secondary industries should not be overlooked. He advocated the appointlrient of a Minister of Unemployment,) as in Britain. Mr Fletcher stated that the reply of the'Minister of Public Works did not .satisfy him. He hoped the Prime Ministe*,, would not state .wftat .jt was 4ntended to do in the dim-distant future, but what it was intended to do right here and now. Mr D. Jones appealed for a decision in the matter of education policy, to enable the building of schools to he expedited, thereby absorbing surplus labour. He also expressed opposition to the proposal to cut up the land surrounding the Prime Minister’s residence In Tinakori Road. The debate was continued, by Messrs McCombs, Hall and MacMillan. The debate was carried on by Messrs Mason, Dickie, Barnard, Williams, Harris, Kyle, Martin and Bitchener. Sir Joseph Ward stated that he was prepared to do his duty,, but he was not going to be forced into doing anything. (Left Sitting at 2 a.m.)