NEW LABOUR LEGISLATION

Evening Star, Issue 22449, 21 September 1936, Page 10

NEW LABOUR LEGISLATION

LONDON EDITOR'S VIEWS SUPPORT AND CRITICISM It has greatly surprised many people in England that the industrial system in New Zealand has adapted itself to the five-day working week with so little inconvenience to all concerned, according to Mr John Morgan, the agricultural editor of the ‘ Daily Herald,’ London, who is visiting the Dominion to study present conditions in order to write a series of articles for his paper, and who outlined some of his impressions in an interview with the Christchurch •’ Press ’ yesterday. He has met the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. M. J. Savage) and , the other Ministers and has had informal discussions with them. He also intends to spend a week in Wellington in consultation with members of the Government before his departure on September 29. Ho will publish his articles in London during the visit of the Minister of Finance (the Hon. Walter Nash). , , Mr Morgan said that he saw practically no disturbance in industry- in New Zealand. There -was a general undertone of business prosperity, and optimism for the immediate future could be felt on every hand. In England exceptional interest was being taken in what was taking place m the Dominion, and the scale of operations was considered of sufficient experimental value to'enable an opinion to be formed with a view to attempting something of the same kind in Great Britain. EFFECT OF COMPETITION. “ But New Zealand is not faced with industrial competition, as England is, said Mr Morgan. “We have to sell our goods produced under improved industrial conditions in competition with manufacturers abroad where such conditions do not exist. Even you in New Zealand expect us to sell our goods m competition with , the foreign manufacturer. New Zealand .has made a. discrimination between town and country. Where it is necessary to sell abroad the industrial policy has been weakened, and changes have not been made in conditions in primary industries to the same extent as in the secondary industries. ' .■ “ Another thing for which New Zealand niust feel herself blessed is that she is free from the complications of foreign politics. At home we' are necessarily obsessed with the task of keeping the peace, which imposes enormous burdens. Here you can go straight ahead and improve social conditions. _ One line of criticism that he had to make, said Mr Morgan, was that in New Zealand there was feeling of uncertainty and a - relative lack of support by the trade unions in standing beside the Labour movement as an organised labour force. There was an almost complete lack of any equivalent of the Trade Union Congress in Great Britain, where the congress formulated a general trade union policy' and collaborated with the Government. In New Zealand the tendency was to leave the initiative to the political section and take too milch for granted. Mr Morgan, who is thoroughly familiar with the conditions of marketing primary produce in Great Britain, having spoken on the subject over the air for two years on behalf, of the National Government, saw no likelihood of any curtailment of the amount of imports accepted from the Dominion. Within reason, however, New Zealand must expect any request for, expansion of her markets to be offset by an expansion of the Dominion’s markets for Britain’s manufactures. This conflicted with the present policy of industrial development in New Zealand, but the difficulty might be solved by expanding the population or raising the standard of living. EXPANSION OF POPULATION. “It is a marvel,” he said, “ how a population of 1,500,000 has succeeded so well in developing the resources and services of the country, but one is stiff left with the feeling that all the possibilities in sight cannot be developed without expansion of the population, which inevitably raises the question of immigration. It is possible, however, that if the conditions of life in New Zealand are so attractive those who can afford it will come of their own accord. The country is all the time confronted with the problem whether the present population forms a sufficient, foundation for the scale of operations, but no elements who are not capable or useful are wanted. “ At the moment there is a significant draining away of the population from New Zealand. Young people who wish to make good seek to go abroad. The Dominion cannot absorb the services of trained and artistic people to its full extent.” Mr Morgan said that to some degree there was a lack of complementary machinery in Great Britain for industrial experiment in the Dominion, but to the extent that it had the co-opera-tion of Great Britain it must succeed. New Zealand had set out on a programme of industrial legislation in 1 a unilateral way. In addition to writing the articles for his paper, Mr Morgan will report to the advisory committee of the Labour Party in Great Britain, of which he is a member.