Urgency Accorded

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 1, 24 September 1937, Page 5

Urgency Accorded

•Press Assoclation.)

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY

Debate Must be Out of Way for the Budget GOVERNMENT & BANKS

(By Telegraph—

WELLINGTON, This Day. On the motion of the Prime Minister, the Et. Hon. M. J. Savage, urgeney was accorded the Address-in-Keply debate in the House of Eepresentatives this morning. Mr Savage explained that the debate had to be out of the way before tho Budget could be introduced on Tuesday. The debate on the Address-in-Reply was then continued by the Minister oi Hines, the Hon. P. C. Webb, who dealt with tho unemployment problem and said that it was the Government 's objective to do away with relief work altogether if possible. There was not one measure passed by the Government in connection with its humanitarian legislation which tho Opposition would dare to repeal. cantihueu Mr Webb, and he would suggest that Opposition members should be fair in their attacks upon the Government. Mr S. G. Smith (Nat., New Plymouth) said that, notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, the Government had failed to deal successfully with the unemployment problem. He would admit, he said, that there was a shortage of farm labour in Taranaki, but he stated that, once a man had left work on a farm to take a Public Works job, he always preferred to continue with the latter. Mr Smith said that financial circles had been seriously alarmed at loose talk by members of the Government party hinting at Government interfereneo with the private banks of the Dominion. It was time that an authoritative statement was made by the Prime Minister on the matter. He pointed out that it was a curious fact that the first intimation regarding the Government 's intentions towards the private banks had not come from the Prime Minister but from the member for Roskill. * After criticising the Government 'e broadcasting policy, Mr Smith said that he knew of many people who were having a harder time now to make ends meet than during the slump. Mr Smith said that the Government had a great responsibility in checking all forms of extravagance, and he hoped that the Prime Minister would bear that in mind in drafting his legislation for the coming session. Shortage of Skilled Labour. The Minister of Labour. the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, said he kneiv that the position of some farmers at present was unsatisfactory but that their position was not due to the legislation of the present Government. In referring to the Opposition's contention that the Government was not solving iinemployment by putting men on Public Works, the Minister said he had had an opportunity of seeing some of the Publio Wo'rks in the olde'r countries of the world, and he could assure honourable members that New Zealand had not even started to "scratch the surface" so far as Public Works were coneerned. What he was worried about, the Minister eommented, was the difficulty of securing skilled men to carry out necessary Public Works.. Mr F. W. Schramm : We will have to bring them into the country. The Minister went on to outline what had been done by the G'overninent to absorb the unemployed, and stated that on a per capita basis the unemployment position in New Zealand was more satisfactory than in any country in the world.

Apprenticeship and Basic Wage. Many members of the Opposition, said Mr. Armstrong, confused the Apprenticeship Act with the basic wage. The latter did not apply to apprentices and, as far as he knew, it did not affect any one person in New Zealand to-day. At the time the basic wago was introduced it had been necessary to see that a working man with a family would not have his income reduced to starvation level. There was to-day no award that he knew of which stipulated a minimum wage as low as the basic wage. The Minister stated that he had been attacked and accused of undermining the Arbitration Court because he had effected a peaceful settlement to an industrial dispute. All he had done was to arrange for a settlement which had /been borne out subsequently by an Arbitration Court award. He had not and would never do anything to undermine the Arbitration Court. Members, he said, had wanted to know why the unemployment tax had not been reduced because the number of unemployed had decreased. It had not been reduced because it was carrying invalids, pensioners and disabled soldiers, and it would not be reduced while these people were in need of assistance. In the near future members would have the opportunity of voting on a measure that would remove the necessity for the tax altogether. The House adjourned- at 1 p.m.