EMPLOYMENT BILL

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23323, 5 October 1945, Page 4

EMPLOYMENT BILL

Second Reading Debate Views Of Leader Of Opposition Attack From Wrong Angle (N.Z.P.A.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 4. Speaking on the second reading of the Employment Bill in the House to-night, Mr S. G. Holland. Leader of the Opposition, after reviewing employment legislation from the slump to wartime and various clauses of the Bill, said that, generally speaking, people would object to the establishment of another State department in addition to the number already established. The functions of the present Bill were similar to the Unemployment Act, 1930, and the Government was open to criticism because it attacked the problem of employment from the unemployment angle. The Bill, Mr Holland -went on to say, was a drag, unimaginative document, and the Government exposed the fact that it had not two ideas to rub together. He felt that the country expected the Prime Minister to give some constructive proposals, but ail it had heard was a review of the depression period. The Government had misjudged the temper of the people who wanted to hear about work and jobs and not the dole. The standard of living would not be raised simply by putting more money into the people’s pockets. The only real way was by increasing the supply of goods which all could buy. There was no evidence of a Government plan to achieve that object. It was vital that purchasing power should be equated with the supply of goods, and that was how the Opposition would tackle the problem when it became the Government. Moreover, the Opposition was determined, when it was the Government, that there would be no repetition of the 1931-35 depression. There was general acceptance by the community that it was the responsibility of the Government to take up the slack of unemployment. He considered that there should be no excuse for unemployment in this country which had so many open avenues. The Immediate Problem Mr Holland said he believed that the immediate problem facing the Government was the absorption into industry of the servicemen and women returning from overseas and those displaced by manpower directions during the war. He estimated that there would be 120,000 persons involved who could be placed into two categories—State employment and private employment. So far as the prospects of State employment were concerned, Mr Holland said that in 1935 there were 9766 State employees, excluding the Post and Telegraph Department, Railways Department and school teachers. There were 17,243 in 1939 and 28„779 in 1943. He could not see much scope now for further absorption into those avenues. In 1935 there were 16,189 employees in the Railways Department and in 1945 there were 23,976. The alternative was the absorption into private employment which had a proud record during the war years, and he was convinced would rise to the occasion in the post-' war years. New Zealand industry was as efficient as that in other parts of the world, but the size of the population limited industrial scope. There was one primary essential which he emphasised—that the Government would have to change its attitude to those who gave employment. Every man who by word or deed did anything to discourage employment was an enemy of the State. The private employer would have to be regarded by the Government as a national asset and not a public enemy subject to abuse, criticism and condemnation. This country was a nation of small employers. There were only 200 factories with more than 100 employees each, and the average number of employees in all factories was 19. These employers were the very foundation of our whole productive system. There was no lack of enterprise among them and no lack of organisation. Four Essentials There were four points which should be considered. (1) Employment should be given to people without unreasonable interference by the Government. (2) Competition must be allowed. (3) Private enterprise should be permitted reasonable profits. (4) The amount left over after taxation should be enough to provide dividends and reserves. Mr Holland said that the provision of employment and the encouragement of those who could give‘employment was far more important than provision against unemployment. If the Government would change its tactics and policy toward those who found employment they would find that Industry would expand almost beyond belief. Everything possible should be done to ensure that the greatest number of jobs would be available at good rates and under good conditions of employment. If this country had a longrange programme of employment thousands of people would come here, many of them paying their own fare. He believed that if industry were given the right encouragement the problem in New Zealand would not be one of finding jobs but of finding sufficient workers for the jobs which would be available.

Mr J. Thorn (Government, Thames) said the Opposition had approved compulsion for the purposes of war mobilisation and could not object to the setting up of an efficient organisation for ensuring full employment. Capitalism had never provided full employment except during the period of totalitarian war. That fact should convince anyone that the capitalistic system was incapable of providing full employment under normal conditions. Unemployment could be prevented only if the State organised to deal with it. and that was what the Bill proposed to do. “Meaningless Blurb” Mr R. M. Algie (National, Remuera) compared the Bill with the publisher's note on a book packet—empty, shallow, meaningless blurb. The Bill contained little for debate. There was a National Service Department in the country already with a Minister and a director. That department when the war officially was declared over would lose the support of the regulations which brought it into being, and would have to be dispersed. There were 900 persons in the department and they-would have to be provided for. This was a Bill which did it under the camouflage of a title to promote something better for the wage-earners of the Dominion. It did nothing for them, but did do something for those who already had been provided for under the regulations Bill giving the necessary statutory authority. Mr W. T. Anderton (Government, Eden): That is unworthy of you. Mr Algie suggested that the appointments which would be made pursuant to the powers of the Bill should be watched. There was nothing else in the Bill except the establishment of a dena-tment which was already established and the creation of a registry office with certain enlarged functions. Members of the House were being given a policy of Socialism of which the Bill was the first chapter, and were asked to accept Socialism by instalments—to buy a pig in a poke. Mr Algie said the motive of service must be emphasised in the coming period no less than in wartime. We must encourage individual citizens to go all out in the use of their faculties, provided their dominant motive was to help others to develop their own faculties. It was essential for the postwar period that people should know that in time of need the community would look after them, but the counterpart of that was that the workers must recognise that when they were fit and well they owed something to the community. Under the new legislation, of which this Bill was part, any worker who did not give of his best was robbing his fellowmen. Control of the cost of living was truly in the hands of the workers themselves. The Bill as it stood was meaningless. We must infuse life into it by a constructive programme that would set private industry in motion, develop the small man to the limit of his capacity and produce harmonious relations between employer and employee. Security and Stability Mr F. Hackett (Government. Grey Lynn) said the Government did not intend to let the Bill remain an empty piece of legislation. It was portion of the blueprints for peacetime security and stability, and it helped to provide for the freedoms laid down in the

Atlantic Charter. It had been said that the Government would face the problem or reabsorption into employment of up to 120,000 persons from the forces or who had been displaced from their normal employment. The Government did not intend to allow returned men to come back .to nourish smashed illusions. The Government would fulfil its promises to the returned men whether or not that meant the retention of controls. Mr Hackett paid a tribute to the National Service Department for its wartime work. He said that onlv 3500 appeals had been made out of 180.000 directions of workers made by the department. With this Bill and the Social Security Amendment Bill introduced earlier in the evening, the Government had gone a long way toward the elimination of the fear of starvation and unemployment. The Government intended io write finis to an era when the rich became poor and the poor starved. The House rose at 10.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. to-tnorrow.