NATIONAL PARTY POLICY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22512, 21 September 1938, Page 12

NATIONAL PARTY POLICY

"Dictated by Outside

Force"

MR ARMSTRONG'S ADDRESS

The assertion that the National Party policy, as announced by the Leader of the Opposition, has not come from the Parliamentary members of the Opposition, but from some force outside Parliament was made by the Minister for Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, in an address given in the Choral Hall last evening. There was an attendance of about 900. and the Minister was given an enthusiastic hearing, with very few interjections. "In the paper this morning," said Mr Armstrong. "I was able to read the long-awaited policy of the National Party. It was merely a mass of words, and the ideas it expressed appeared to have been taken mainly from the legislation passed b.- the Labour Government in the last three years. Their, programme apart from this could be' printed on the back of a postage stamp. I could talk about it. but I, have more important things to discuss."

Every one of the 12 points of Labour policy as announced before the last election had now been written into the law of the country, said Mr Armstrong, the last being the social security legislation, which the Opposition said it Would not put into operation if it came into power. The first action of the Labour Government was to restore to the people their full wages, and that had not ruined the country. A voice: Just about. The second action, said Mr Armstrong, was to return to. the workers their right to have their wages and conditions adjusted by the Arbitration Court. That right had been restored not only to the workers who had enjoyed it before, but also to tens of thousands of others who had never before enjoyed it, the result being that the income of the country had increased by tens of millions of pounds. The Arbitration Court "The Opposition say they will restore an unfettered Arbitration Court, but in what way is the Court fettered or interfered with to-day?" asked the Minister. "We have at least not resorted to ordering a reduction of wages and the breach of every award and industrial agreement in the country. They say they will abolish compulsory unionism, but as far back as I can remember there has been compulsory unionism in this country. In fact, in a great many occupations, the employer has insisted on the worker being a member of a trades union before he will give him employment. Strikes had been almost unknown in New Zealand since the Labour Party came into power,, said the Minister. There had been a number of skirmishes, some of them involving the stoppage of work for half a day and some for a few hours, but there were none worth mentioning. Industrial disturbances which appealed in the statistics were not necessarily strikes, and no country in the world in the last three years had been so free from strikes as had New Zealand. There had actually been 134 so-called industrial disturbances, but not one had resulted in a worker being fined tor a breach of the law? The employers had incessantly broken the> law. In the period of two years to March 31, lUdtf» there had been 22*281 alleged breaches of the law by employers. These complaints had resulted in 1J57.2 prosecutions. Beside this, more than. £77,000 had been collected by the Labour Department for arrears of wages due to workers, and the amount collected represented only a small part of what had been owing at various toes, tecause most employers when they had been told that they were committing breaches of the law were willing to i pay up at once. . "The Opposition now says that it will not repeal any of the legislation the Minister for Labour has been responsible for, r * saia Mr Armstrong. "Either the members of that party ( are arch-hypocrites, or they have thought better of it, and have had. a deathbed repentance." Farm Workers' .Position

■• The legislation that the; was > most proud, of, said Mr Armstrong, was the • Agricultural. Act. ■, ; It had resulted in a vast improvement in the lot. of .the men on farms, and, with the increases in the guaranteed price, had resulted in farm labourers receiving £2 5s a week with their, board and a-month's holiday every, year, on full pay, instead or the £l;'l3s, or 10s a week Without holiday that they hadv previously received. There had how been a further increase in the guaranteed price, and of this increase the 1 workers would receive a substantial share. -^?'\.,' '"•• '■■•■ /;> - ' : The 1 National Party scheme of social security was still going to humiliate a great number tte.people, said Mr Armstrong. What (they;,, proposed would still require of relief to prove themselves paupers before they iould benefit. It was frequently said that the. medical profession Would not co-operate in the scheme, but the same had been said 21 years ago*when : ihe British scheme' was being established."- -The Brltishv scheme had actually been' warmly: Welcomed ; , by the S" rofession^ancr-"there "were hundreds f doctors in N«w: Zealand-who would Wiilinglytd-operate with the Government, and who were enthusiastic supporters of the scheme, and, in fact, were prime movers in it. The Opposition had tried to.frighten jthe private hospitals, but, like the public hospitals, they .would obviously: be much better off under the provisions of the *ocia! security legislation, than they Were now.

"Wicked Propaganda"

"There has been a great deal of wicked propaganda against the doctors, the hospitals, and the friendly societies," said Mr Armstrong. "They will all benefit under the legislation. The medical profession will make a grave mistake if it refuses to operate this legislation, because I believe that the people of New Zealand are determined to have it. There is still in this country rhe spirit that made New .Zealand lead the world in social reform, i . "The Opposition platform in this respect is very ill-considered. I don't believe that it came from the Parliamentary members of the Opposition, but from some force outside Parliamentr altogether. Mr Hamilton had very little to do with it. There was a time when education was the privilege of the rich alone, and when it was made universal, the old cry was raised that it would lower the standard of the profession. Yet the teaching profession in this country is the equal of any in the World. Opposition to the Labour Government's humanitarian legislation has been" made in words identical With those used against progressive gov-* emments 40 years ago.. The. original old-age pension was proved by the professors by. statistics to be certain to bankrupt the country within 25 years. It is now considerably more than the original 5s a week, and we still come up smiling." ■ Mr Armstrong concluded by saying that the Labour Government had followed the wise policy of borrowing Where that was necessary from itself, and not from outside sources. In this way the rate of interest to be paid had been kept.low„ and repayment/was riot a matter of anxious dependence *n overseas prices for primary pro*