THE HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 4, 29 September 1917, Page 9

THE HOUSE

: : The House of Representatives met r -at 6.30 p.m. -.-!.' An Imprest Supply Bill was introduced at 2.10 p.m. ' LABOUR LEGISLATION. "A POLICY OF NEGATION." ';' Mr. W. A. VEITCH (Wanganui) said ,!that the National Government had failed to meet public opinion with respect to the administration of tho Labour De- p partment and tho amendment of Labour laws. Prior to tho advent of the Reform Government Labour legislation had been (an important part of tho activities of Parliament. But sinco Mr. Massey became Minister :■!' Labour' the policy of tho Labour Department had become a •policy of negation'. This was a most unfortunate state of affairs from the point of -view of the country. Ibe present Prime Minister had deliberately neglected the welfare'of the workers so far as Parliamentary-, action was concerned; Owing to the. neglect of the Minister mili-. tancy- had been encouraged among tho organised workers. The unions which had threatened to strike or had gone on strike were in a better position than the ■unions which had played the constitutional game. Tho advent of tho National Government had not improved, matters. ' The National Government was a strengthed: Reform Government. It .was. a political combine. ; Sir.Joseph Ward: Who says that? -Mr. Veitch: I say that, 1 Mr.' Massey: You do not count. Mr., Veitch: "I may not count here, but the opinions I. express . count in the' country, as the/right honourable gentle-, man may find out at the next general election. The National Government is !a political combine brought into exist- . once by an intrhrue." ■ Mr.' Massey's 'Temedy for: all labour . troubles las .discipline : for the ■ work--.-•ere. "Nothing had .-been done -to remedy the legitimate grievances of Labour, and apparently nothing was proposed to be done. He himself had asked Mr. Massey to take-'up a'Bill proposing a very reasonable limitation of the hours of shop girls. He had not recoived any reply at all. , ' Labour's Part. _ The great majority of the workers of iNew Zealand had played the game, notwithstanding anything that had been done by a few loud-mouthed persona who professed: to represent, the workers. But Labour could make no progress while the -Labour. Department was directed by a Minister who took no interest in the welfare of tho workers. He would not say that Mr. Massey was hostile to Labour, although many people in tho. Dominion felt that to bo the case. He bc- ■ lioved that the Xabour Department, acting . without Ministerial direction, had gone further in the interests of the' 'workers than Mr. Massey•• would have / gone if he had taken an active part, in. Labour administration and .had not' regarded the Labour Department. merely as a side-line. Air..Veitch added that he would quote an illustration: with regard heating of shops in Wellington. It had taken l the Wellington Soft Goods lOuion live years to secure' recognition of the fact that the law with respect to the heating of shops hnd hot been observed. The law had been passed in ,•1913. .'.'.. v . ' Mr.- Massey: who was Minister then? . Mr. Veitch: I do not know. It does Bot matter. The point is.that the law has not been carried out. '-. Mr. Massey: It was my-law as a matter 'of fact. Mr. Veitch said thatithe union had repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the law with regard to the. heating of 6hop3 was not being.observcd. The Labour Department had taken no effective actionuntil. 1916, and had then told the "union that notices had been served on Bhop-owners who wero not complying with tho Act. But even in 1917, after ■ . four winters had passed, the Department had admitted that in fifteen shops .the heating regulations were still disregarded. The case supplied clear evi- , denco that the Labour Department was neglectful of the interests of the workers. Mr. Massey's Reply. The PRIME .MINISTER said that tho member had seemed to be very >-nxious to find something to complain about. iWages had never been higher, than they Itvero at the present time, and conditions"

had novor boon hotter. The. workers naturally had been affected by tho war. Thoro would have boon more .Labour legislation, but for the fact that ptocedenco had to be given to tot* legislation. Mr. Yeitch had complained that be had not received a reply to a letter regarding a Bill in which, ho wag interested. The letter had been posted' on August 31 last. It dealt with Labour matters, and was referred to tho Labour Department on September '.3. The reply was now in his office awaiting signature. With regard to the heating of shops, ho believed tho law waa being administered fairly. A great deal hadT to be left to the discretion of the inspectors, becauso conditions varied quickly throughout the country and temperatures varied in (liferent parts of tie same shop. But he was- assured by his Department that every complaint was investigated promptly, and that no complaints tad como from anybody except the Wolling- ■ ton Union secretary. Mr. Massey added that he certainly did blame men for going on strike in war time. It was absolutely criminal for men to strike in) the time of tho nation's need, or for other men to incite them to strike. Mr. Veitch: I have fought against it harder than you have, and under greater difficulties. The Seamen's Dispute. Mr. Massey said that as a matter of fact New Zealand was in a better condition industrially than other parts of the Empire. There had been very few industrial troubles here. Thete had been: only three strikes during the last year, and that was a very good record. , Mr. R,, Fletcher (Wellington Oentral): There lis one hero now-. Mr. Massey: Yes. There is' one on the wharf here, and I would like to see it settled.. But what is it compared to the great strike, that has been experienced in Australia? . Mr. P. C. Webb (Grey): It might easily develop into the samo sort of strike. Mr. Massey: The wish is often father to the thought.- AVo are trying to prevent it, and will do all we can to avoid industrial trouble. If employers or employees break the law they must take the consequences. , Mr. Fletcher: What is.being done now ? Mr. Jlassey: "The position has beßn stated in the newspapers. Certain people have been inciting a strike. I had got the workers concerned so far as to agree to a tribunal to which the dispute was to hi referred, but unfortunately during the last few days a condition has been inserted that is impossible as .fnr as we 'are concerned." Ho would like to see all disputes settled by the Arbitration' Court, but unfortunately somo unions had made up their minds not to go to the Arbitration Court. He did not know why. Recently the Labour Government of Queensland had asked permission to refer to the New Zealand Arbitration Court a dispute that had arisen in the Queensland railway service and that had proved most difficult of settlement. That was a very great • compliment to New Zealand. Jiatters in connection with tho Labour Department had never been running more smoothly than at present. Ho did not want any sand poured into the •bearings, and he would adviso Mr. Veitch, instead of stirring up trouble, to tell his Labour friends that tho propef'thing was to assist the Government in winning, the war. Skins and Wool. Mr. G. J. ANDERSON (Mataura) said •he'wished to ask for information as to the working of the scheme for the requisitioning of sheepskins. He was informed that a gross injustice had been done to fellmongers. . The effect of ; the working of the scheme was that one of the biggest works in Canterbury bad been put' out of action. It was said that the people in charge of the requisitioning had arranged things for the purpose of injuring their opponents in business. These people now squeezed out asked that they should be" allowed to buy all their requirements- in a free market, , the Government requisitioning tho finished products at the port at an agreed price. This plan would allow business to go on as usual. There was no need for the present restrictions. A fault of the system/ was that freezing works got about 2s. lid. more for skins than the ordinary farmer or a butcher. This should not be. , He. asked; the Government to reconsider the matter with the object of discovering whetlior another scheme could bo devised. If the Requisitions Committeee was set up again thoro should be a man thoroughly conversant with ~ wool-scouring and fellmongery work. It was not in the' interests of the country. that local buyers of wool should go out of business, but the object of fh'o people directing the requisition scheme.was to force the local buyers out of the market. ■ ,-.-■'■

, Repatriation. • The Hon. D. BUDDO (Kniapoi) said that more, money wns needed for expenditure on the repatriation of soldiers. It was not enough to mate provision for putting a certain'number of men on the land. The effort should extend in many other directions. But the Government could do nothing without money. Mr. G.'R. SYCES (Masterton) urged that the fellmongers had not been treated fairly in connection with the requisition of wool. It was a fact that wool had been sent from. Wairarapa to Auckland' and elsewhere for treatment, while the local fellmongeries were idle. He hoped: better and more economical methods for the treatment of wool and skins in the' Wairarapa would be made during the coming season. The events of las.t senson had given a great .deal of dissatisfaction to the people directly concerned, i Dr. H. T. J. THA'CKER (Christchurch

East) asked if the Minister of Railways would make 'adequate- arrangements for holiday excursion faros during tho summer. Tho peoplo need not be deprived <rf their normal holidays in time of war. The Wheat Purchase. The Minister of Agriculture (Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald) referred to the purchase of tho wheat crop. Ho said that his original promise to the farmers line! been to pay ss. 10(1. f.o.b. for good milling wheat. Later ho had been urged to pay according to grade, this being tho desire of Canterbury farmers. But delegates of the Farmers' Union Conference had insisted that they relied upon his original promiso and were prepared to accept ss. lOd. per bushel for tho 1917-18 crop. He hnd accepted that claim, and he could not make any change now in tho direction of paying on grades. The Government realised that some millers were holding , considerable stocks of wheat, but those millers had bought tho wheat in the ordinary way. Other mills which had not bought wheat when the opportunity offered would have been supplied with Australian wheat by the Government if the big 6trike had not delayed transport. The Government had not thought it a wise policy to take whoat from some mills and hand it to others, since tho effect would be simply to increase prices. The Australian wheat would become available when the strike was over. The Wool Clip. With regard to wool, the system last year had been to issue licences to men who bought small lots from the farmers. The wool had .to be delivered to certain brokers, who were nominated as agents oii behalf of tho country. He thought that tho same course would be followed uRs > year. The Government had offered on behalf of the Imperial Government a prico to bo ascertained by valuation of tho whole of tho wool clipso that any farmer could send his wool to a port, where it would bo valued and assessed in store.' If there were portions of jtho clip that should be sent to scouring works for treatment that was arranged, but tho whole of tho clip was sold to the Imperial Government in the grease. He realised tho importance of tho wool-scouring industry, and had arranged that as far as possible the Government, in dealing with the clip, should follow normal lines. Clients of companies -were allowed to consign to .those companies as usual, and pieces could be sent to the scouring works in the usual way. That management was being carried out. The Government hod considered tho position of the fellmongoring works, very carefully, aud one reason why tho freezing works were' shut out from competition in fellmongering and scouring was the Government's decision that private wool and Government wool must not.be mixed at the scouring works. The Wheat-growers' Grievance. Mi'. J. Anstey (Waitaki) .said that when tho Minister had -mentioned' ss. lOd. per bushel ns the prico to bo paid by the Government for wheat, the growers generally had regarded that as the average price. They had suggested that the graded prico should be ss. 9d., ss. lfld., and ss. lid. Some North Canterbury farmers had said later that they regarded ss. lOd. as the minimum price. Differentiation in prico was absolutely necessary. The harder varieties wero' less prolific than the soften sorts, but they wore necessary for mixing, and they ought to have a higher price if their production was to be encouraged. Mr. Anstey said that the Government bad made grave mistakes in the handling of-the wheat question. . It shoul control the whole of the wheat after the harvest, distribute it properly to the millers, and provide for the shortage if one. was found to exist. He protested that the wheat grower had never had a fair deal from the Government. When there had been a surplus of wheat m New Zealand the Government had allowed the market to be flooded with cheap'' imported flour. The wheat grower waa treated always as though he was an exploiter, and yet he was appealed to when the people's food was required. After further debate the Bill was put through its final stages and'passed. The House rose at 12.45 a.m. j