"I ASK NO FAVOURS."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 228, 26 September 1929, Page 24

"I ASK NO FAVOURS."

MR. THOMAS IN CANADA. IMPASSIONED SPEECH. HOW TO HELP BRITAIN. ■ (From Our Own Correspondent.) VANCOUVER, September 4. After an exhaustive tour of Canada, during which be had persistently declined to be interviewed, pleading he had come to the Dominion on a campaign of observation, the Rt. Hon. J. H. Thomas, Lord Privy Seal and Minister of Unemployment in the Labour Government of Great Britain, consented to express his views before the assembled delegates of the Canadian Trades and Labour congress held at St. John, New Brunswick.

'■'Some people think I came here to solve the British unemployment problem by dumping labour into Canada," he said. "They don't know me. I realise as well as you do that your country cannot be exploited and I endorse your policy absolutely. I'll tell you now, that of all the proposals I have made, there is not one that will cost you dollars. 1 ask no favours. All my proposals are to ask that, those of you who need it be given'a chance to hold up their heads.

"It is easy for politicians -to come here and tell you how good you are. From constant repetition you begin to believe you are the only pebbles on the beach. But I'd like to point out that for every pound you spend with us, you spend five pounds with other people. I want you to substitute work for charity and give my young people, who are walking the streets from day to day in . search of employment, a chance to live. I don't ask you to buy anything from us that you can produce yourselves, but I do plead for a chance for those who are in sore straits in the Old Country." "For the Whole Empire." ■ The British Minister, in. one of'the most fiery and impassioned speeches ever heard in Canada, stated definitely and absolutely that he had no-intention of dumping British labour in Canada. "I believe I can find work for some of our people on the grounds I have outlined," he said. "I ask for nothing except on an economic basis." For some time Mr. Thomas hna held conversations with Government officials in Canada, and it is well known that he discussed matters pertaining to the unemployment situation in Great Britain. There had been some speculation as to whether or not this means that eventually there would be a migration of British unemployed to the Dominion, but this speech definitely laid these questions. "The Labour Government realises that.it is a government, not only for one country, but for the whole British Empire," he said. "It is far from their wishes to solve our own problem by giving you people in Canada a still harder problem to face.

Higher Standard of Living. "From year to year the process of evolution goes on. Men and women say: 'I'm going to give my son or daughter a better chance than I had,'" said. "That's why generations to come will demand a higher standard of living. Ignore those who point out the short cut for you to follow. It results only in revolution, Avar, pains and strife that result in absolutely nothing. The greater your power, the greater your responsibilities. But. power, becomes a danger when it is prostituted. What is our ideal? We are saying to the world: 'Follow us and help to put into practice the gospel of peace. • "Who could have lived through the terrible years of the war. without hoping and praying for peace?" he asked "The working class of all countries may be misled for a time, but they finally ask 6f their leaders: 'Have you delivered the goods?' and that ends that. _ When you start preparing for war in time of peace, you usually get what you are looking for. That is why Premier Mac Donald is on record as standing for reduction of armaments. .

"Finer Day Is Coming." "The British Commonwealth of Nations ' is .something more than a jilirase. It is not only the foundation, but also the bulwark of the nation. The Commonwealth is as safe in the keeping of the Labour Government as it ever has been. We measure greatness by' the standard of comfort and the cottages of the workers," he said, amid wild applause. "We lost in the war one million. Employed in industry to-day are 800,000 more. On what' is called the 'live register' are one million and a-quarter unemployed, Our birth rate is faster ..than our death rate. Since 1918 we have spent £800,000,000 in unempolyment insurance. We spent £109,000,000 in relief work in the same period. But we are not down and out. We will come out of the furnace harder and better' for it all. It is not in our blood to':be discoux-aged.. A finer day is coming for us. "I want you to substitute work for charity. ■ When you have young people walking the streets day after day you realise they are losing that moral fibre and spirit of independence which is so vital to our nation. I ask for nothing except oh an economic basis. I do not ask you to buy anything you can produce yourself, but I do ask that you buy things from us in preference to anyone else, and thus give my people a chance to live. No body of men coming to this country will be so jealous of their independence as those who will come from the Old Country.

"I am proud to be in Canada for my ninth visit, because my blood is yours," ho concluded, "and if I can go back to my shores with the knowledge that I have left a country which will take its rightful position in the world, I shall be satisfied. If I am able to restore the spirit in my peoplej I shall look back with pride and veneration on this meeting."