NO POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 233, 2 October 1928, Page 8

NO POLICY.

REFORM AND UNEMPLOYED.

WORK LESS ARMY INCREASING

PUBLIC WORKS CAN'T ABSORB ALL.

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Monday. The Government was raked fore and aft by the Labour Opposition on the score of its failure to produce a solution of the unemployment problem, when the Public Works Statement waa before the House of Representatives th'S afternoon. The range was found by Mr. 'V. E. Parry (Auckland Central), vho fired off a lot of ammunition of the "hunger and want" variety. Hunger and want, he declared, weie "a living nightmare" to a largo section of New Zealand people. The Government had no policy, it stood by, staring idly and stupidly, doing notmi'g to remedy it. Un 'inployment in Auckland became worse and worse. The cnairman of the Auckland Hospital Board had made statements which substantiated that assertion. Even the untrustworthy unemployment barometer— unreliable because it did not account tor anything /like the real i;um'ier of workless men— an increase. All tne evidence of the past three years went to show that unemployment was drifting into such proportions that it had become a problem which could not longer be sidestepped. "The policy of the Government —if one can call it a policy—has played no part in making unemployment less," declared Mr. Parry. "The giggle of the Minister of Lands is familiar to us, when this question is being discussed!" observed Mr. Parry, when sounds were heard from the direction of the Hon. A. D. McLeod. Mr. McLeod: You always take a newspaper report when it suits you! Mr. Coates' Figure Challenged. Mr. Parry said the extracts he had read were true enough. "I know that the sufferings of these people amuse the Minister." (Reform laughter). The Prime Minister, said the member for Auckland Central, had quoted figures to show that the proportion of unemployed to total population in New Zealand was lower than in other countries. Mr. Parry argued that the ratio quoted was unfair and misleading, because we had no information as to how it was compiled. The Labour Bureau in New Zealand was by no means a true reflex. The Prime Minister: What would be? Mr. Parry: There must be better, more accurate machinery. Mr. Coates: Well, we have multiplied it by two, at any rate. "I still say that the ratio quoted by the Prime Minister is wrong," persisted Mr. Parry. "He said there was one per. son unemployed in every 375 of the population, but that would work out at only 3663 unemployed for the whole of New Zealand. Why, we have that number in and around Auckland! We have had that number for the past two and ahalf years. What has the Government done? They have spent £500,000 from time to time, but what is that when an unemployed army of 20,000 was built up by the 10,000 who left the land and the 10,000 immigrants who came here? That sum—which looks a lot in one lump— would provide work for 1500 men for two years, at twelve shillings 'a day! Something practical and effective must be done before this session ends." The Department's Policy. "There is another side to the question of throwing open the public works to all and sundry," declared the Hon. K. S. Williams, Minister of Public Works, and he proceeded to explain that a definite programme of regular public works was laid down over a period of years. To carry this out, a considerable number of men followed up these works, and he and other members of the Government felt it their duty to protect the livelihood of these regular workers. Therefore, he had been careful as Minister of Public Works hot to flood the standard works with men who for some reason or another required temporary employment. It would not be fair to allow the tegular works to be flooded in a wholesale manner, and the regular men ousted. H. E. Holland: We do not suggest that. The Minister: The demand is always made—put these men on public works. It is impossible to find profitable occupation for everybody on public works.