GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 14612, 30 August 1913, Page 7

GENERAL.

GO-o?csaTi¥£ umm.

IT'S THIIEATEiX'EiD EXTINCTION

The threatened extinction of the co-operativ- labour system of Public Works was briefly du-'cnp.V'd in tho House when Mr McCalluni moved po-i* a return .showing 1 the number of cooperative labourers ••who have been dismissed! thus year. The Minister of Public Worts strongly objected to giving tilie information siimply io provide iparty material. Such a ieturn would riot, fairly show the position, as the men might be still <n*rajzed but uaider small contracts. Ihirinsr the first, ten months of list ■rear the Government spout £20,000 more on Public Works than during the corresponding period of the provikms year, though it did not attempt to equal the. lavish, expenditure of two .months under the Mackenzie Gov eminent. The object of the co-oper-ation contract system, declared Mr. Russell, -was to give opportunity to the necessitous poor to obtain work and so avoid the ■altenwi'tiw. Wh.'it wms the alternative? demanded Mr. lllnssell. It was, he declared, the Charitable Aid Board, the snup lsitchen, and other thrinjrs of th^ like nature. CDcJiisivG Covernmenf. Jamrh-j ter.) "UnJeissi xhc co-opera live system is continued, to a;bsorb the ineompefnl and necesisitious ■wru-kman "svho '■aniiiot zo into the open market with his labour, the alternative will be that these people will have to <ro m the public chiatM.ty,' said the member for .Avon.