HELPING THE WORKERS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2324, 4 December 1914, Page 13

HELPING THE WORKERS.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE i FOR LABOUR A RECORD OF DEMOCRATIC REFORM. THE OPPOSITION CRITICS DISCONCERTED; I

The Maasey Government has been accused by its opponents of being antagonistio to Labour and being no friend to the working man. The people who make these charges are: The Wardists, now in alliance with the Red Feds; the Red Feds themselves, and union secretaries and other Trades Hall officials, who constitute a. petty bureauoraoy, but havo never been able to construct theseniDlance of a. political party, because they are in no sense representative of the working population of - New Zealand. Most of these so-called Labour leaders have comfortable billets, and the working men pay them i higher wages than they could earn at -their trades; - Some of them are the worst enemies .the working man and their wives have - ; They .live by promoting discord and indus'trial strife, and 'the working man and his wife and family suffer through etrikes and strike levies. The Massey Government is hated by this class of Labour agitator because it has taken steps to protect the working man and give him the right to work. Every working man's wife should remember this, and vote for Reform candidates.

But let us look at the performances of the Massey Government for Labour. In rebuttal of the charges made by its opponents for their own limited and selfish ends, the Government is able to point to a long list of legislative and other reforms effected in the interests of the people who are commonly; grouped . under' the designation of that is to say, a very large majority of the population of New Zealand, Bomb of the more important of '■ these reforms are listed below. Even if tney had been'effedtod in years of smooth prosperity, these reforms would absolutely disprove the charge that the Government is indifferent to tho interests of the working population. Carried out as they have been in years of Btress and difficulty, they represent a remarkable achievement in the interests of Labour and democracy such as has been parallelled in rib other Parliameut in the history of the Dominion. Here are the proofs that the Government has at all times studied and promoted the interests'of tho workers :— Democracy, in Trades Unions. The most important service rendered by the Government'to organised Labour was the passage of the Labour.Disputes Investigation Act, •'- which provides _ for the deinocratio control of trades unions by- a majority of their members by drreoting that a strike must be preceded by a secret ballot of the union concerned'. ■ , ■ The.Act lays it down that before 'either a strike or a lock-out takes place every effort must be made by conference and investigation to settle the dispute: _':Evcry sane and reasonable trades unionist should welcome this, and every unionist's wife. v Heavy penalties are., imposed, in the event of employers or-workers resorting to look-outs or strikes in defiance or these provisions. >'.- In a word the Act extends the benefits of the- arbitration 'system to' unregistered unions,'and it is because it hasmade this provision for reasonable methods and democratic control that the Government is so cordially hated by the autocratic strike-mongers of the Bed Federation. '/'""■ It is interesting to note some of the opinions: expressed upon the Labour > Disputes Investigation Bill when it -was before Parliament! The Hon. Ji A.'Millar, a.'veteran; Labour leader and Minister of Labour in the Ward Cabinet, said, inter alia ;— , "I am surprised at any represon- ' tative of Labour opposing this Bill. } What does this Bill do ? It simply : 'provides the missing link in our legislation. "The unions that are re- " gistered under the Trade-Unions Act, and, who decline to take advantage of the.Arbitration Act, are by this Bill provided with the machinery of settling any disputes. ~ . . From a leader's point of view I should think that the provisions of the Bill would be accepted with • delight,' because the ' leader - who knows he can say to the public, 'My men by ballot have agreed to this strike,' is in a long - way stronger position -with the public--arid with his own men than when it is accused of being simply an agitators' movement. Under this Bill the whole machinery is laid down fromthe inception of the dispute ..' . . I' congratulate the Minister of Labour'tor having introduced the v Bill.'' Support From a Bittor Opponent. ; ; Mr. W. A. Veitch (Labour member for Wanganui, and a bitter opponent of the Government just now);saia: "I am hound to say' that ithis ■ Bill contains a principle that can-, not be logically opposed. I am' convinced that the first and fairest principle that we can possibly adopt ... in connection with labour'. disputes - V is to provide that no 6trike can • take place until the majority of the ■ members of the union 'concerned : ■have agreed to it, and I cannot ' - understand how any labour leader can oppose that principle. That is a sound demooratio principle which has not been applied as generally as it ought to be in public matters. . . . There is' another. principle in this Bill which I believe in—that is,,'- • that an. important investigation must take place in connection with , an industrial dispute before any step can be taken by either party to the dispute; and the findings of that investigation are to be published. . ... I do not think we oan prevent strikes, but I think this will discourage strikers, and that is why I am so strongly in favour of it. y ' '■■"■.'! It will be seen that even opponents of the Government had to admit the merits of this Aot, and many of thorn were forced to vote for it. Now they have tho effrontery to attack the Gov- | eminent as the enemy of Labour, Before the Government took offloe Its. opponents said that it would reduce wages. . The Government has raised Railway employees' salaries by approximately £120,000 per annum. Salaries in tho Post and Telegraph Department were raised by £42,500 a year in 1912-18, and by, j £43,000 more in 1913-14. I In the General Publio Sorvioe J salaries were raised by £49,500 in ,1912-13, and by another ■■ £51,600 in 1913-14. Salaries in tho Police Force have been increased by £18^000, a J'oar. Minimum Salaries Established. The Massey Government, on the recomriieiidation of the Public Service Commissioner, has granted a minimum salary, to all married officers in' the Public Service, of £140 a year.* Railway, servants and Post and Tele-

graph offioers had enjoyed this priTJleg» for years,- but it was withheld from l officeni in the General Public Service until the Massey Government arrived! to do them justice. All male' officers in the Pub-, lio Elervice who Have had three years' service and have attain-; ed the. age of 21 years, are puap. anteed under the Public Service Aot »' minimum salary of £100 a year. The Weekly Day of Rest. For twenty years, ' under' the Continuous Government, hotel employee* appealed in vain for a six-day week.> Under the Massey Government this roV form has been accomplished. Creat Pension Reforms. The Massey Government passed a law | to permit women to get the old-age pen-; sion at sixty years of age, instead of' having to wait until they were 65. The concession involves a total annual charge of £70,000^ —and. every woman ' entitled to a pension gets'the benefit. Other liberal amendments to the Pen- . Sions Act, effected by the Government,''' including an increased exemption apon ; . the pensioner's homo, involve an addi-V tional outlay of £10,000 per.year.' • An amendment passed last session . grants a pension' of £6 a year to every', child under fourteen whose mother'is a" widow. Under the Ward Government' the widow's pension was limited to £30, which sum was paid to a widow with' four or more children under fourteen. As tho law now stands, a widow with' : nine children (and there is such a one' on the roll) will receive a pension of £60 .' a year. .-■'.• ';'. The People's Savings and Workers' ..■.■;.; Homes. ; The Government has raised the T&ta of interast upon the people's Bavings in ". the Post Office Savings Bank from 3J " to 8} per cent. •. . More has been done by the Government in two years to provide workers'-•. homes than the Ward Government did in sis years. In six year* the Ward '

[ Tale, for example, Sir Joseph ij Ward's spectacular, _ bonus of £5 per baby.. T]iat.waa; : a very handy sort,.of carrot, '■'■■ £ but he suggested that "it''was" '"' ; ' hung on much too longdsticli — (laughter)--and, if the 'money .•,':'■ was required at all, it was re- ~■ -■. quired when the child .was born.: . —Mr. W. Downie Steward,. He-" -.'.. form candidate for Dunedin

Government ereoted 210 homes j in two years the Massey Govemnient'ereoted : ' ! 305. The rate of .progress ' is" being ' : still farther accelerated. -Two ■ hunr C dred and five homes have been;arranged-, for this year,.five less, in pne.yearthan •,, the Ward Government provided in: six. ,-. The Footwear Regulation Aot, 1 which"., comes into operation next month, pro-"* vides thatall boots and shoes must be • branded with a true description of their materials, thus guarding against too." workers being sold brown' paper Mid shoddy in place' of honest' leather.';' V Compensation Law Liberalised, : { The Government has greatly, improve; ed the Workers' Compensation Apt: . Claimants entitled to compensation* may now have their cases heard,in the .Magistrate's Court, instead of waiting, for a sitting of the Arbitration Court. Employees of the Crown now have ' the same right to recover •compensation'-'" as if they were in, the service of private employers. ;■■■'.-■,'■'■ The value of chattels exempted from' distraint for debt has been raised from ' £20 to £50. ' ... -.'.v.. Radical-, improvements in the accommodation provided for flaxmill employees and other agricultural' workers have been enforced by an amendment of the Shearers' and Agricultural' Labour-/ ers' Act. AND IN FACE OF THESE THINC9 THE WARDISTS AND THEIR RED FED ALLIES DARE TO TRY AND FOOL THE WORKING MAN WITH, THE STORY THAT THE MASSEY GOVERNMENT IS THE SNEMY OF - LABOUR. l

I Ee would not say the present i Government was the best New Zealand had ever had. The Ballance Government was : the best and most fruitful, but the Massey. Government certainly ranked next to if.—Mr. Pirani . Ii at Gonville. jj

Mr. Wilford had objected to til© '; amount of' Mr. Garlick's- salary, 'but as v a matter of fact the £600 referred to ; ; was put on the Estimates by the Mackenzie Government for a physical drill ■ !• instructor before Mr. Royd Garliok was.: ever thought of.—Mr. G. Pearce, M.P., - at Hawera. ' ;. ■■■■? At Ws meeting in the Eugby Methb-.: dist Sohoolroom on Monday evening, ;' Mr. L. M. Isitt recalled in.the. course '.■ of his address that he was a Methodist preacher (says a southern paper). "I see many before me," .he said, "whom I have seen while X have occupied the pulpit." The remainder of his speech, From being a political address, became, .for all practical purposes, a'sormon or a Tather melodramatic character. On the boholusion. of the speech a young' man in the middle of the hall rose aha ' said forcefully: "Mr. Chairman, for twenty-five years I have been a Methodist, and to-night is the first occa€ion on which I have felt Bhame of being, one. Mr. Isitt, I have absolutely boiled under youv 'Christian' epeech tonight.""fiu James Oirroll, ft appears, nad displayed a little heat in tlie. courso of ''' his address because: Mr. de,La'utour:' had tnlttatl him with having secured Outside help in connection with his campaign. . . . If Sir panics -Carroll docs ;not think that lie needs ull the help i that is—well let us again bay-r-being t'orust upon him, it would appear that his kind and insistent friends must bo of quite a different opinion.: The elec-. tors will find no difficulty inarriving at the real explanation as to why S3?r .Tamos Carroll has got such an unusunl hustle on at this particular juncture. l -' —Gisborno "Times." . '■ . Mr. Nat. Seamisli, HRstiags, has 18,000 aores oi Ha wise's Boy freehold land for sale. .*:•