UNEMPLOYED WOMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 851, 26 August 1933, Page 9

UNEMPLOYED WOMEN.

“ Government’s Callous Treatment.” “ When I think of the Government and unemployment I remember that there are ten Ministers of the Crown and every one of them has twelve thousand million brain cells—all unemployed,” stated Mrs E. R. M’Combs, amid laughter, at the opening of her political campaign at Lyttelton last night. “ The downright injustice of the Government’s attitude in taxing the women and girls of the Dominion to the extent of £750,000, and at the same time taking up an attitude of indifference towards unemployed women and girls, i is nothing short of a scandal. “ The fact that the Government has [ been so callous in their treatment of unemployed women has aroused the indignation of all thinking women, including members of their own party. With regard to the problem as it affects the whole community, we have been watching over again the application of the old remedy of placing an ambulance down in the valley, instead of fencing the top of the precipice, and a very inadequate ambulance it has been. Depression Aggravated. “The fact that the depression as it developed in New Zealand was aggravated unnecessarily by the mistaken methods adopted to deal with certain phases of it, is one on which some of us hold strong views. Take, for instance, the wage-reduction policy which brought about further huge reductions in purchasing power. In a country already suffering from insufficient purchasing power, this was disastrous. It is estimated that the total loss in buying capacity occasioned by the wage reductions, was not less than £12,000,000. The cessation of many necessary public works drove numbers of men out of employment. To take men off necessary and reproductive public works and put them on to unnecessary and unproductive works seems little short of madness. “ The Government’s ill-advised attempts to assist certain wealthy classes of the community have also increased our difficulties. The main fact that confronts us now, however, is that this country is passing through the worst period of its history, and it is imperative that some action must be taken in the immediate future to get New Zealand out of her difficulties.” “ Official Figures Doubled.” It had been estimated, stated Mrs M’Combs, that the actual number of persons, including women and youths, unemployed in the Dominion was nearly double the official figures of 80.000. Added to those there was a very large number of men and women who were working part time and half time. They were earning in many cases no more than relief rates of pay, and probably exceeded the number of the totally unemployed. Was it any wonder that the business of the country suffered when nearly a quarter of the adult population, with all their dependents, were deprived of the means of purchasing sufficient for even the bare necessities of life. Under the Labour Party’s plan real work for real wages would take the place of charity. It was true that the unemployed were getting plenty of kindness, but what they wanted was real work to vary the monotony. ‘ I cannot believe that the people of New Zealand are willing to tolerate these conditions,” stated the candidate \V.e have traditions of independence, initiative and resourcefulness, and we can alter these conditions without waiting for the world to recover. It has been amply demonstrated that measures such as wage reductions, high exchange and sales lax, have only served to increase the difficulties for most sections of the people.”