PROTEST MADE AT WAGE REDUCTION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 144, 19 June 1931, Page 7

PROTEST MADE AT WAGE REDUCTION.

TIMARU MEETING SAYS ORDER IS UNJUST. (Special to the “Star.”) TIMARU, June 18. Putting the case against wage reductions at a large mass meeting of protest at Timaru this evening, Mr J. Roberts, secretary of the New Zealand Alliance of Labour, declared that if the workers of New Zealand were allowed the same treatment as an ordinary criminal and placed on the judgment of a jury, then there would have been no 10 per cent reduction. Mr W. Tutton, chairman of the Timaru Labour Representation Committee, presided. The speakers were Mr J. M’Combs, M.P., Mr Roberts and Mr Clyde Carr, M.P. Mr M’Combs said that the workers of the world were up against a definite frontal attack which threatened to de» prive New Zealand workers of all the good done since the days of Seddon and Ballance. Mr Forbes and his good friend, Mr Coates, were doing this. The official figures showed that last year more sheep than ever before were shorn. There was a greater wool production than ever. Yet 100,000 bales less were exported and exports were down, considerably as a result of holding this for higher prices. There had also been a record production of butter, too, and an increase in cheese. The export of sheep carcases had held its own and the export of lamb carcases had increased tremendously. Attitude of Court. Mr Roberts said that one might as well speak to a concrete wall as to address the Arbitration Court on the question of wage reduction from the workers’ side. If the workers of New Zealand were allowed the same treatment as was given an ordinary criminal and were placed on the judgment of twelve men, good and true, then there would have be#n no 10 per cent reduction. He had visited eighty Wellington shopkeepers yesterday, and all had said that the cut was the worst thing that had ever been done. If there were other constituencies like Timaru and Lyttelton to return Labour men to the House the Arbitration Court would take its directions from the Labour men as it had done from the Forbes Government. It took £5 4s a week to keep a family. Mr Justice Blair had said that adult males in New Zealand had only 0.4902 of a wife and 0.98 of a child. His wife was 100 per cent. (Laughter.) The average Wellington rent was 36s to £2 a week, and the average wage in this particular district was under £4 a week. Mr Justice Frazer in his latest pronouncement gave these workers only 14s 6d a week to pay this. If the people patched and mended their own boots, wore rags and loin cloths and were all teetotallers, it would mean less employment. The less money they spent, the more unemployment was accentuated. “You have your duty,” concluded Mr Roberts, “and it is the duty of Labour to restore the 10 per cent cut. Form a committee here and go round your shopkeepers and ask them to reduce their prices 10 per cent. If they will not, then demand the cut back. Mr Forbes and Mr Coates have caused thousands of hungry children in New Zealand to-night. Are you men going to stand it and allow this Government to stop in an hour longer than you can help ? Put Labour in to restore New Zealand to what Seddon and Ballance made it, “ God’s Own Country. ” (Loud applause.) Financiers Responsible. Mr Clyde Carr, M.P., quoted an instance in Timaru where, it was stated, a firm had reduced the message boy’s salary from 15s to 13s 6d and another instance where the 10 per cent reduction took an employee’s w r ages down to £1 19s lid and the employer was too mean to pay £2. What New Zealand wanted was not pettifogging politicians, but statesmen who would deal with the root of the trouble. They were dabbling about with effects and cutting here and there. Quoting a book by A. M. Field, entitled, “The -Cause of the Slump,” Air Carr said that a group of German Jew financiers was responsible for the economic trouble of the world to-day. They had engineered the South African and Great Wars and now controlled American finance and the policy of the Bank of England. Motions Carried. The following motions were carried unanimously:— (1) This meeting of Timaru citizens protests emphatically against the Government’s wage reducing policy, being convinced that it can only intensifiy the present deplorable economic condition of the country, besides being cruelly unjust to the lower paid workers. (2) This meeting calls upon the Government to provide at least some substitute for the No. 5 scheme from June 20 until Parliament can deal effectively with unemployment. A resolution of appreciation of the action of the Christchurch Labour councillors in endeavouring to keep up the workers’ wages there was also carried.