MR MASSEY’S PROPOSALS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16642, 26 January 1922, Page 5

MR MASSEY’S PROPOSALS.

BIG PROTEST MEETING, PUBLIC SERVANTS’ ALLEGATIONS. A united protest against the reduction of salaries in the Public Service as outlined by the Prime Minister was voiced by a very large attendance of Civil Servants in the Jellicoe Hall last night. All branches of the service were represented, but the meeting had been called by officers of the Post and Telegraph Department and the principal speakers were from that Depart ment. The meeting was by no means’ dull, and there were seme lively interjections. A resolution identical in wording with the resolution carried in Wellington was carried unanimously. THE “ RED ” ELEMENT PRESENT. Mr W. H. Winsor, who presided, said that ho was there merely to keep order. A very debatable subject lay before the meeting, and he had no doubt that some of the speakers would be carried away, but he hoped that order would be prose rved. Mr Winsor then sat down, but in response to promptings from behind, requested ike meeting, as had been done in Wellington, to sing “ God Save the King.’-’ “Cut it out!” shouted voices from various parts of the hall. “ Come on. stand up!” said Mr Winsor, and the meeting stood, section after section, and joined in the National Anthem. Mr V. Duncan, chairman of'the local branch of the Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association, was the first speaker announced. “ Give us a verse of the ‘ Red Flag,* Bill.” said a raucous voice.

A MOTION PROPOSED. Mr Duncan said that the meeting 1 vrns the outcome of tho activities of the executive of the Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association, 'which had found itself up against a brick wall and had net been able to do what it would have liked on behalf of Public Servants all over the Dominion. The public meeting in Wellington had been very successful, and about 3000 Civil Servants had carried the resolution which he was about to present. He liked the resolution, which could not bo improved on. The meeting was open to the Press as its object was to giye publicity to the question of the salary reductions. 110 moved : That this general meeting of J Christchurch Public Servants enters a strong and emphatic protest I against the proposals to reduce their | salaries as outlined in. the Public ExI pendiiure Adjustment Bill, on the grounds:— (1) The basic wage of £165 of 1914 was only increased by 56 per cent when the April, 1920, adjustment, took place. (2) Although the cost of. living subsequently lose to 80 per cent above tlie 1914 level, no adjustment was made to restore the loss of t-he spending power of Public Servico incomes. (3) The cost of living having not yet receded to 46 per cent above tho 1914 level, no adjustment on tho basis of the cost of living is due. /’4) The present proposals are therefore nothing more nor less than special taxation levelled against one section of the community—a section which in the aggregate ia far loss able to bear tho burden of the tax than other sections(s) It is impossible to reconcile this special tax of Public Servants, tho majority of whom are only on the bread-and-butter line, while at the same time special relief is being given to the wealthy per medium of rebates. (6) That it cannot be shown that tho duties of Public Servants have been lightened either in weight or responsibility since the basis ol : their remuneration was last fixed. The meeting therefore calls upon the Christchurch members of Parliament to oppose the proposals both on principle and in detail. ✓ A BONUS TANGLE. “ Hear, hears ** punctuated the mot.'on. Mr Duncan said that he merely desired to deal with the £95 bonus, which had been discussed in tho Christchurch papers. Newspaper editors seemed to have caught on to Mr Massey’s statement that £95 had been paid to Post and Telegraph officers. Tliis hud been referred to us the first and second bonuses of £45 and £SO, but this statement wus a thorn in the side of the officers. No £95 bonus had been paid. The first bonus was paid prior to the 7 e-grading in 1919, when it ceased to bo a bonus. Mr Massey had said this himself because it suited him at the time, when the officers were after tho Sir Joseph Ward bonus, which they did not get. Mr Massey, replying to representations on the matter, bad referred to the findings of Sir Robert Stout, who had investigated

tho claim for a bonus, and stated, <l it is quite clear from tho decision of De(Vtinbor 5, 1918, that the bonus would cease as soon ns any re-grading took plaea.” At tho time of re-classifica-tion all bonuses wore cast on one side and a salary schedule was drawn up to pay for services rendered. The new salary came into being on April 1, 1919, and Mr Massey eaitl that tho re-grad-ing “ was not 'affected by any bonus, past, present or future.” Mr Massey was not stating a fact when h© said that when £SO was taken £45 remained to :•<.• attached at some later date, j The Press were supporting him in this misstatement. Hundreds of officers in j th.i Pcs. and Telegraph Department l hsgl never received the £-50 bonus, but j : t was proposed to take £SO, of what | they had received. Rather than writi dig leading articles about first and j second bonuses, the editors would be I better employed going into the ?Rcts of the case. As the position vras now, j tjio public believed that £ls remained. PERCENTAGE REDUCTIONS. I Mr R. .B. Reynolds, in seconding the • motion, remarked that tho red rose he | mas wearing must not be taJieii as an | indiertioh of political colour. A Voice: Why not? , Mi- Reynolds replied that he wan j bound to admit that the advised in- : edition underlying the Bill would almost make one believe that there was only one colour to wear. (Applause.) Some officers were asked to forgo over j 29 per cent of their salaries. The r;.ui! oil £325 would lose £45 under the | Bill ■> while the man o?i £9OO would ' loso only 7 per cent. ■ Serve him right-,” said an usaerii ous voice. I'he reason given for this differentiation, said Mr Reynolds, was that the wealthier man had to pay more income tax. The lower the scale the higher the percentage of reduction- • But he’s doing useful work,' said 1 From the :,earl of the '.Jeparlmror,

who lost only 10 per centv Mr Reynolds continued, tho percentage of reduction increased, until in the caee of a youth joining the Department (who was assured in print, that he might rise to “dizzy heights” by applying himself to his job), the reduction was £4O, or 54.5 per cent of his salary. “If he get® any at all he’® lucky,” said a humourist. Mr Reynolds said that the Statistician's figures had been questioned when they would have meant an increase, but they became rigid when a reduction was entailed, and the Department “ went tlio whole hog.” “ We are told that the finances of thd country and of the Treasury absolutely compelled tho Government to take this action,” said Mr Reynolds. “Then why last year did the Government bring in a Bill to give a rebate of 10 per cent on the land taxP This is no good to you or me, or the man on the small holding. The man with his thousands of acres who does not need the money will gain hundreds and hundreds.” “ Well, he put Massey in,” shouted a man from the back of the hall, “ what do you expect?” “Join the Labour Party,” shouted another. On top of this, Mr Reynolds said, came a rebate on income tax to some companies- If that was so, why not tax shareholders? “ Bill Massey’s class conscious,” said a voice frequently heard in Victoria Square. CLASS LEGISLATION ALLEGED. Totally blind citizens, Mr Reynolds continued, had been denied a pension by Mr Massey; but a rebate of 10 per cent could be given to the large landowner. No increase was available in old age pensions; but the money lender could be assisted by reduced income tax. Naturally they could not expect the, blind citizen or the dis-

abled soldier to get anywhere. The Railway Department was going to be met, said Mr Reynolds, provided a reduction other than by salaries could be effected, but tliis only meant dismissals. ' “ Cut down the General Manager 3 wages.” said a- voice. c; Oh no/’ said Mr Reynolds, “he will never do that.” Very long anplauFe marked the close of Mr Reynolds’s speech.

“ AMMUNITION FOR LABOURITES.” Mr L. G. M’Donald, of the .Post and Telegraph Executive Council of Wellington, said that the executive had been in close session for a week, and the work had been very heavy, throughout New Zealand the executive had. been working with other Departments in opposing the Bill, and if the Railway Depai tment looked like “making a score ” lie could' only say, ‘ Gooo luctv ” to them ior they had worked for it. However, the nonuses were so mixed up in the various Departments, that there was .some complexity in preparing tho ammunition qdiich, it appeared, .was being used principally by the Labour Party. It was not desired to pull the top salaries down. These salaries in his Department were, not above those paid for equivalent service outside and very few of* the motor-cars rolling around the district belonged to postal officials. Both Mr Massey and the newspapers were tangled up regarding bonuses, and he defied anyone to say that the Post and Telegraph Department had ever received a £45 bonus. It might, however, apply to the Railway Department, who got a bonus twelve months before the P .and T. Department; but Mr Massey had said : “I am not going to retrench on salaries, only on bonuses.”

'A voice: Did you got it in writing? (Laughter.) “ No,” said Mr M’Donald, “ there’s a lot we ought to have had in writing.” He added that when the Post and Telegraph Department was reclassified it was paid ou the basis of work performed, and it was on record that bonuses and cost of living were not taken into consideration. The rail way men were pretty solidly supported by the Alliance of Labour, Mr M’Donald continued. He wanted to be quite honest in the matter when he said that ho had not thought much of the Alliance of Labour, but when he went to Aie meeting of the executive of his association and heard tho speeches of Messrs Roberts, Mack and Sullivan he changed his previous view that they were a lot of fire-eater*?. He could not say what attitude his association would take rewards the Alliance, but it seemed to be worth while in the present crisis to have its backing, and it was significant that concessions were to be made to the particular body affiliated to the Alliance. If affiliation meant the raising of wages, it was worth serious consideration. THE PRESS ATTACKED. Referring to the demands of the newspapers that the Government should live within its revenue, Mr M’Donald said that the Government wjjfs losing (thousands of pounds every year by maintaining a telegraph service for the benefit of the newspapers; and if the Christchurch Press desired to be consistent it.should come forward and pay its share in the way of a decent rate for press messages. When that was done they could believe in the sincerity of the Press. MEAT POOL AND MEAT PRICES. It was impracticable, said Mr M/Don- 1 old, for Mr Massey to talk of cutting down the bonus, for of 8000 employees, some 2000 had never received the £SO bonus. He went on to say that Mr Massey was working hard on a meat pool, which was going to, send'the price of meat up, and everybody knew that the price of butter woitld not remain down very long. The officers were prepared to take a reduction of 10 per cent on their bonus, yet the Christchurch papers told them they were unreasonable. The money taken from Public Servants would be handed over to big farmers and income tax payers. The Farmers’. Union was composed not of farmers, but of tourists and stock buyers, and tho man who followed the plough never attended a meeting. If the money saved was to go to the soldier settler nobody would complain, bub it would go to the big men. If money was wanted, why not bring income tax to £2OO, with exemption up to £IOO bn wives, and then graduate it solidly to get at tho big man. Hearty laughter greeted Mr M’Donald’s remark that the cut was now to be graduated until the final reduction came after the general election. No self-respecting married man would accept the charity proposed by Mr Masbey in the way of an investigation qf his domestic affairs- He believed the Bill would have “ a rough spin,” bub unfortunately tho House was so cut up into sections that it. wan difficult to concentrate the opposition to the Bill. WASTE AND INJUSTICE. In Trentham at present, the speaker continued , there was two million Bounds worth of property, including blankets, waiting to be distributed—he did not know what for. A Voice: The next war. Mr M’Donald added that £BO,OOO worth of telephone material had been lying idle for eighteen months or two years, while married men with families were being “ pushed out.” One man, with a family of ten, who had been working for ten years, was told on the Tuesday ha fore Christmas that lie • r:sl • leave on 'the hturday a nice

Christmas-box. In this and two similar cases the executive had secured reinstatement, but the ridiculous part of it was that when the men were put off it was necessary to make new appointments to fill the positions. This was coming near the scandalous point. (Loud applause.) MR MASSEY’S BROKEN PLEDGES. Mr TV. Cummings, of the Post and Telegraph Department, Christchurch, said that when men joined the service they had something in view. They were told that they must be loyal and honest ; but it seemed to him that Mr Massey was. a man who had had little training in honesty of purpose. (Hear, hear.) Otherwise the agreements and understandings come to from time to time would be ratified, and not, os at present, be pushed aside. Mr .Cummings said that he wan well primed up about the Alliance of Labour. The railway men had made a great song about their tribunal, but now that tribunal was not to be heardIf the « railwaymen had gone before their tribunal and got a cut of 10 per cent, not one of them would have squealed. (Dissent.) “More than squealed,” said a voice. “I wish to contradict that statement,” said another speaker. Mr Cummings said that many returned soldiers had been cut down, and no man could stand a cut of £l9O. He charged the-Government with breaking clown on the agreement made by the Arbitration Court. Mr Massey had now had a brain wave, and instead of taking . £45 off in nine months ho would do it in fifteen months, but there was not a man in the room who believed Mr Massey’s suggestion that next January the cost of living would be down to the 1914 figure. Meanwhile Mr Massey was planning the meat pool, which was designed to get the very highest price possible for the meat. “ Will it do so?” asked a member of the audience.

BARGAINING. The big landholder, Mr Cummings said, was not hard pushed. He had simply kept on buying land until ho had more than he could digest. Apart from that, all land had gone up 30 per cent.y The Question was whether the Government would honourably ratify its agreement. (Applause.) As for the railways, the Minister of Finance was being allowed to bargain with the General Manager of Railways. This, to his mind, simply meant that the General Manager could sack as many men as .he liked as long as lie kept expenditure down to a certain point, and he did not think that the railway service would like it- Mr Mas- j sey had said, 11 you don’t carry this ! Bill I will resign.” (Laughter.) ; “He will, ’ said an ironical voice. ! “In eleven months,” said another speaker. A RAILWAY DELEGATE. Messrs Turton and Toomey, oi the Railway Department, were called for by the chairman. There was no response. Better luck attended the call for Mr W • S. Moyle, who wus loudty applauded on mounting the platform. Me said that if Civil Service had come in with the Amalgamated Society and other branches of tho Railway Service the present crisis would not have arisen. He was sorry that the/ sister associations of the Amalgamated Society were not with it in aifiliatiou with the Alliance of Labour. Bolshevism need not bo feared so long as men of intelligence were at the head j of affairs, and it was a. mistake to | think that affiliation would bring mem- j hers into disrepute in the social atmos- j phere. The Amalgamated Society was ! proud to know that its executive saw > fit to have the. ■ Prime Minister’ signp- I ture t 0 its agreement. (Applause.) Mr Moyle made an appeal for a united front, adding that diplomacy had not yet failed, and he wished the Civil Servants success. He hoped that all branches of the Public Service would be* united under an executive, when they would have nothing to fear from any Prime Minister or Government. | (Applause.)

RESULT OF BALLOT. Mr M’Donald said that a ballot of his Department bad decided by four to one some months ago in favour of affiliation with the Alliance of Labour. However, even the railwaymen In joining up had been frightened that tho wharf labourers would embroil them in a strike. When the Alliance of Labour had prepared its propaganda department, it was hoped that it would place its views before all branches oi the Post and Telegraph Department. A speaker at tho back of tho hall, who stated that he. was an officer of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Serrants, said that ho. wished to protest against the statement that the | railwaymen would not have objected to a cut of 10 per cent, for they held that the present wage was quite inadequate. He added that the railwaymen had not had anything to do with the organisation of the meeting, and if they had they would not have selected as chairman a man who was not a Civil Servant. The real power behind the Public Service cut was the Employers’ Association. THE CLOSING SCENES. Another speaker said that the resolution should be sent to aIV members of Parliament- Previous .resolutions had been sent to Canterbury members, and Dr Thacker had replied, “ Will carry out your instructions,” but his name, had not appeared in the first division list on the Bill. “ TV ire him again,” said a voice. “ Wire him?” said tho first speaker, “lie ought to be wired to tlio roof/' This speaker commended the strikers in South Africa, and besought “ you fellows ” to join the Alliance of Labour. “It may be a. bit red,” lie said, “ but it is class conscious.” The chairman said that he was not n member of the Employers’ Association, but of the Building Trades Union. “Six of one and half a dozen of the other,” said the speaker who had preattacked him. Another speaker said that it was useless to carry the resolution. The best thing to do was to decide to join tho Alliance of Labour, and then tele- f graph it to Mr Massey, who would j understandThe motion was carried unanimously with applause. A vote of thanks to the six Labour members of the House was proposed by a man in the audience. After n moment’s consultation the chairman agreed to put it, and it was declared carried unan irnonsi V. A vote of thanks to the chairman closed tho meeting.