COST OF LIVING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 8, 4 October 1917, Page 6

COST OF LIVING

PROTEST MEETING

MARCH ON PARLIAMENT

DEPUTATION TO PRIME MINISTER

A NQISY DEMONSTRATION

'■There were about 3000 people present 'at a meeting held in the Town Hall -"last evening, convened by the Labour ■ -. Unions} to protest against the rise in the . cost of living. Mr. J. Head, president of ■'■• the Trades and Labour Council, vas in the chair,- and .he was supported on the '.platform -by a number of Labour officials, aid Messrs. J. M'Couibs, M.P., A. H. Hindmarsh, M.P., and W. A. .Veitch, M.P. The meeting protested against the cost • of living, and, after speeches had been • made , and a resolution, carried, the gathering marched on Parliament to i.ut its /views before,the Prime Ministeor. The prooession numbered about 2000 people. It was headed by the Waterside , Workers' Band, and arrived at the 'doors ■ of Parliament at about 0.30 p.m., just .after the House had risen. ; Mr. Head, in opening the proceedings . ,; at the Town Hall, said tho meeting had /been called because various Labour bod- ' •':; ies felt that the. public had become so incensed at the increases in tho cost of living that it was imperative that 6cmething should be done. The man who felt the rise most was' the wage-earner. Many . : others could pass on any inoreases they had to meet, but the wage-earner had to ■ '■ bear the burden. , Mr. Bead said that the Government Statistician's figures did not agree with figures he had in his possession. The average rental'for a fcurroonied house was set down at 14s. 3d., .but how many present found"that to be .their positionP ■.-.'.:. Voices: Not one. -->;.' The Government Statistician said the . r.cost of living had risen 82.7 per cent. ; Bince July, 1914. A storekeeper in a Wei- ■•-"". lmgton suburb had advised him that he 'lad taken a, line through 160 articles, ,' and the increase was 52.2 per cent. It ": was said that wages had risen 28 per V cent., but that was not correct. '■•' Voices: No. -•The only unions who had got decent inoreases were those who had taken up •,a militant attitude, and if the militancy c.was going to pay<'them,the union's would -have to be militant. If they could get , ;What they considered just'they would follow quaet methods, but if'they could not get justice that way they would have to fight. (Applause.) And' then there ' were some fine patriots in. this country fattening on high prices. But what had '.vhey done for the workmen who were ■' risking.their lives? What had they done ■;for the seamen? The rises the eeamen had got, wore not equal to one-fourth ■'•. Jthe rise^ , . in freights; and when an at-, .tempt was made to get some measure of : justice for the eeamen the officials of the .union were prosecuted. only ways to do justice to the workers were to secure lower prices or higher -wages. Wages should be made equal to the ■1.8-ages of 1914. - ,■'■;.. ; Sir. W. Maddeson moved: • ; , That this meeting of Wellington ■' ■ citizens views with alacm the; con- ..■•■• tinued increase in the cost of living, - and looks upon it as nothing less •■< than a national calamity, making as •' it does for the inefficiency and phy- '. ■'■■■' sical Regeneration of not ! tnly the present, but also the future, genera- • tion of workers, and calls i ppn the Government to make such reductions in the cost of living, or to so increase wages thaf'the efficiency of the workers and the rising genora- ... tion of workers, may be assured and ,■'-■ maintained. Mr. Maddeson .said there was considerable profiteering in Now Zealand. In : th'e old days men used to stick up people on lonely roads. Now they did it behind counter's, in counting-houses, through :-chambers'of commerce, through employ-; ois' federations, through merchants' associations. (Applause.) The old order still applied; it was still & case of "Your money or your , life!"—(applause)—and what happened to the profiteers? They were shielded, by the Board of Trade, and the board was in turn, protected by the Government, and. the" Government sheltered-behind the board. Why Sid not the Government prosecute the N employers who were causing industrial strife ? The minimum wage to-day ' was - " not enough for a man to keep a, family on. The Government should dp something respecting the questions of tho cost of living and' the living wage. ■ (Applause.) - Mr. L. Giovei , (Watersiders , Union) sec- •'■ ouded the motion.. He said the present prices -were too high for the workers to live properly on present wages. There were fooa profiteers'in New Zealand who ' ct)(t not. want tlie war to eud 100 soon. He : would like Messrs. Massey and HerdMnari to go round with him and see soine of.the homes of the workers'. Mr! Massey ■was .Minister of Labour. ■ ; A voice: Hard-labour! _' .■ . Mr. Massey'had never come along to eny. of the' working men , presfiit and asked if there was anything he wanted w anything that'could be done for him. (Laugh'Eer.) But it was- not 60 with Mr. Herdman. : If he had not come himself ' he had'at least sent his men. (Renewed laughter.) Mr. : ".7.-M'Combs, M.P., supported the '■ resolution. He said that shortly after the war began the Prime Minister said 'he would not tolerate exploitation of-the. people, but that promise had not been redeemed. The Board of Trade was not clothed '.in adequate powers to deal with the costi, of living. The Cost of (Living Act had ; been rightly described as the greatest piece of political hypocrisy ever foisted on the people. Under the administration of the Prime Minister cost of living had increased, and under the. administration of the Hon. AV. D: S. Mac Donald (in the Prime Minister s aheence)" It had gono still higher. • TiTe resolution was carried unanimously, and cheers were given.for Labour.

'DISORDERLY DEMONSTRATION

MR. MASSEY SPEAKS

CONTINUOUS AND NOISY INTERRUPTION. The Prime Minister met the procession at the steps of the Parliamentary Library. More than 1000 people had gathered at the foot of the steps, and they listened while Messrs. Bead, Bruce (waterside workers), and Maddison ijpoke in support of the resolution that tad ' been carried at the Town Hall. When the Prime Minister replied, he ■was subjected to continuous and r.o.isy '"- interruption. , He spoke for ten minutes, but during much of that time he was audible only'to the persons immediately around hi.yi. There,may have.been peitineiit interjections, but if so they wore lost in the uproar. r \ ■ Mr. Massey said he was not gowg-.to ' deny that the workers of New Zealand had'been affected by the wa-. The v-oik-crs were a'ffected in the same way a; every other class in the community was affected. The increase in the cost of living was one of the results of the vsir. . The articles required by the p.-.ople might be divided into two groups, the articles produced in New Zealand and Uie articles imported from abroad. ' There was prolonged interruption at this stage, and Mr. Massey remarked that he had consented to meet the deputation, and hi expected to be treated courteously. ' — ■ The Prime Minister said that the Government of New Zealand could not control the prices of imported goods.. In--1 ' creased freights, extra charges for insurance, and the higher cost of production in countries engaged in flie war had combined to bring . about increased prices. In fact;'there was no power on cartin, that could prevent prices increasing in time of-war. With regard to the nr-' 1 ides produced in New Zealand, there had been a suggestion that the interests ofi-the workers had not received attention in Parliament. The fact was tl.at-. the Government and Parliament had 1 > *iven a great deal of attention to the Interests of the workers. (Interruption.) jnrliainent had increased taxation by pillions of pounds annually during the present session. Could any person point

to a single item except tea used by the worker on which taxation had been increased ? 'Voices: "Whisky and beer!" Mr. Massey: "Whisky is not a. nfccssary of life. I cannot agree with you there. The tax on whisky has beon increased and the tax on beer has been increased. Tea is n necessary of life, but I venture to say that 80 per cent, of the workers of this oountry aw prepared to pay the tea tax as a small share of tho cost of the war. With regard to the articles produced in tho country, I think every man and every ■woman knows that the cost of production has gone up enormously. I have asked the-members of Parliament twice to quote to me a 6ingle case of profiteering on which-1 could base a prosecution. (Uproar.) 1 ask you peoplo to quoto a case. Thero may be a couple ot thousand people here to-night. I nsk each and every one of you to quoto a case of profiteering." \ .. „ Thero were cries of Shipping, "Wheat," and "Butter." A man n.ounted tho steps and stated that ho had just come from Taranaki, where the freezing works were filled to the doors with meat and were extending their spaco ' in Uib interests of the big exporters." "Mr. Massey: "My friend says that the freezing works are crammed to , the doors. It is admitted there is a lot of meat m the stores. What is keeping this country going at the present lime? '/he exports that we send away bring in the money that makes it possible for us to keop going. If for just two mouths the exports were stopped we would have the big»est depression that the Dominion had ever seen. (Prolonged interruption.) It is because we have been able to export many millions of pounds worth of goods from this country during the war period that the people are able to pay, and receive, the wages that are current today. Make no mistake about that. Wβ have done all that was possible.to keep down the cost of living. Wo appointed a Board of Trade on which Labour is well represented' by Mr. Pat Hallcy. Ho is as good a Labour man and as good a unionist as any man in this crowd. Tho board has been working day and night at times in order to cope with its duties. Then I asked Parliament at the beginning of this session to appoint a committee to inquire regarding the co3t of living. That committee has heard a great deal of evidonce and is going to nia-lco a report to Parliament presently. I asked them to go thoroughly into the different phases of the subject, and tliey have done it. I do not know what that report will contain, but I ask you to watch for it and see whether labour can point to a single instance where the cost of living could have been reduced, and it has not been done." (Uproar.) • „ , , Mr..Massey said it was an unfortunate thing for humanity that more than halt the world was plunged in war. Which of the nations engaged in the war had been nblo to keep down'the cost of living? 'Kfot one of the contondmg nations had I>een able to keep prices as low as they -were in New Zealand that day. mo cost of living' was much lower in New Zealand than in Australia, where Labour Governments had tried their hand at keeping down prices. The'cost of livingin England was double what it was m New Zoaland, while the wages were lower. The simple fact of tlie matter was thatthe Government and Parliament of Aew Zealand deserved congratulations for hav-_ ing kept the country prosperous. , ■ At this stage the crowd, which was drowning the Prime Ministers words in continuous uproar, proceeded to count Mr. Massey out. "That is a token ot aeteat, said Mr. Massey, as ho left the steps. After a period of disturbance, Mr. Read addressed the gathering again. Mr. -Masbey has seen tit-to leave the deputation because you were father rude to him,, he said. ' "I want to say that Mr. Massey was absolutely straight and direct, ana he showed you where he stood, it is up to you now to look after your own interests That is i,U I have to say. It one door is closed another opens. It larliament will not deal with our grievance,, we have to deal with 'them ourselves. ■There is more than one. way to kill a cat. We can show them there is more than one way, and I think we.will do so. The best thing now is to go home quieti). We can consider this matter in our organisations and deal with it better than Mr. Massey hafi done.' The crowd was not disposed to disperse, and. noisily demanded the presence of the Labour ■ members. Alter some delay, Mr. P. C. Webb (Grey).appeared and spoke briefly.. He was given f quiet hearing. "I want to say to you that it is always best to give your opponents a good hearing," said Mr. Webb. "The workers have .always suffered most from not having the right ot free speech. My advice to the workers is this, -aXwaya give your greatest opponent the utmost freedom of speech. ~...-, Mr. J. Payne (Grey Lynn) said that if the workers had grievances they lau. £&»*&%?&£s& round, and he did notexpect the election quickly, because the members ot t el* fes^^wXr^f l^ XTrowd dispersed, slowly without further demonstration.