BIG RANGE COVERED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 25, 22 October 1937, Page 3

BIG RANGE COVERED

-Press Association.)

Public Works and Farm Labour "LESS REAL POVERTY"

/By Telegraph-

I " WELLINGTON, La«t Night. ! In the Houee to-day the debate on ithe Financial Statement was continued by the Minister for Mines (Hon. P. C. iWebb), who said the Opposition was jdoing the country a great disservice in denouncing Government expenditure on public roads. There was not one member of the Opposition who would vote for elimination of one item of the road programme. He xeferred to the work which the Government had done in connection with irrigation projects in midCanterbury and said the Government was pushing on with its big public works policy throughout the Dominion. Hon. A. Hamilton: Are you not competing with farm labour in your Public Works scheme? Mr Webb: As far as Southland is concerned there has not been a single request for farm labour which has not been met. The Government is meeting farmers'. requirements for labour in a way no other Government has ever met them. Mr Webb continued that it was hisopinion that they were not doing enough in the direction of expenditure on public works even yet in view of the ever-increasing appeals from country, electorates. He appealed to the Opposition to co-operate with the Government in placing every unemployed man who was able to work in employment, and he said that never before in the history of the country had workers been so, well off as they were .to-day. Less Keal Poverty. There was less real poverty than ever before in any epoch of the country 's history. The greatest political crime ever committed in .this country had been perpetuated in the last seven or eight years, when the young men of the country had been denied the opporfunity of learning trades. "Let us continue in a co-operative spirit, ' ' he said in conclusion, "to buil'd up this young country of ours, and let the Opposition give the Government credit for the happinesa which has been created among sthe people.'" ! Mr H. E. Herring said New Zealand was naturally a wealthy country and did not have to depend on the value of ;its exports for the maintenance of prosjperity. The Government was spending jthe people 's money wisely in the creaition of national assets and the country 'had vast resources upon which to draw in the development of secondary indusr tries. It was possible for New Zealanders, by using their own resources, to support themselves in a state of prosperity and happiness. Referring to tho national debt, Mr Herring said its reduction overseas was to tho nation 's interest, while here there was little to complain of in the slight increase in the debt within the Dominion, since this meant a redistribution of assets. Mr Ratana expressed appreciation of the Government 's policy in its applica> tion to the Maori people and stated that the conditions existing for Public Works employees were sucli that if the Maoris had their own way every one of them would be an employee of the Public Works Department. He had every confidence that the Labour Government would lead the country intp tho paths of righteousness. When Mr Ratana concluded his speech, which was his initial address in the House, he was greeted with a round of applause. Exports and Prosperity. Mr B. Roberts, cuscussing external trade, said it had been provod in New Zealand that increasing exports did not nccessarily mean' mternal prosperity. During the ten years before the slump exports had been on the increase, but unemployment also increased until 1929, when exports reached a record up to that date. There were then 16,000, adult male workers out of employment. Those in authority should have realised some^hing was wrong and that investjgation was needed. Even to-day it was obvious that the late Government had not learned the lesson from those ten years or from the disastrous years of the slump. During the ten years before 1930 £54,250,000 had been raised in London,' althougl only £51,5000,000 had actually beei received. During the same perioi £5,489,200 had been paid in interest oi the existing debt, so that the money t pay interest had almost all been bor rowed, and any Government thai operated a policy of that sort had n« right to call a Labour Government a spendthrift administration. Labour Minister 's Defence. When the House resumed at 7.30 the Minister of Labour (Hon. H. T. Arm-% strong) continued the debate. He admitted that the expenditure of tho Labour Department had certainly increased because the department was now a live one instead of a dead one. If they increased the wages paid to the unemployed from 30s a week to £4 5s a week the expendituro of the Department must of necessity be increased. While he was Minister, ho said, he would insist on having an efficient department, whatever it cost. He attacked the Associated Chambers of Commerce for its attitude towards secondary industries. It said the Government must help secondary industries by abolishing the 40-hour week, but tariffs must not be increased. Manufacturers, he contended, were receiving quite satisfactory returns, but they would be grateful for protection through tariffs. The Asso-' ciated Chambers of Commerce had misreprescuted the position in New Zealand to mislead people overseas concern-

Ing the legislation of the present Government. Speaking of farm labour, the Minister stated that no government had ever catered so well for the farming community as had the present Administration. It had been stated that the Government 's policy was going to be fletrimental to industry because it would prevent the employment of young people as apprentices through the operation of the Shops and Offices Act and the basio wage. The Government, however, was encouraging the employment of young people in industry, especially in the uunamg traues. Wlien tne Government .had come into offlce 3300 apprentices ihad been in employment in the iDominion. To-day there were 7135 apprentices. He also referred to increased employment generally and said the Government 's legislation was apparently not proving as disastrous to the country as had been stated. Dealing with the avenues of employment which the Government had opened up and which were of assistance to farmers, Mr Armstrong instanced the fact that 368 men were employed in the destruction of ragwort in the North Island. Most of their earnings were boing paid by the Government. Maoris were to-day being treated better than they had been for many, many years and wero to-day placed on an equal footing with whites. The Government was finding useful work for Maoris to do in developing their own interests. He could go on for hours instancing juccessful schemes financed out of employment fupds by the present Government which were developing national assets. In conclusion, Mr Armstrong said he had nothing to apologise for in spending the funds at his disposal, because he believed those funds were being spent in a good.cause. Mr H. Atmore congratulated the Minister of Labour on what he had done towards a reduction of unemployment. ^At present, he said, we were fighting against the leisure which the machine age was giving .us. He contended that if the Opposition came into office again it would hardly elimiiwte one measure which had' been 'placed on the Statute - Book by the present Government, and. he deprecated the party recriminations which had occurred during the debate, wherein there had been very few constructive speeches. He wished to congratulate the Minister of Education on the provision he had made for education in the Budget and the facilitics which were being provided for the training of further pupilteachers. The Opposition, he said, had attempted to balance their Budget and in doing so had unbalanced every domestic budget throughout the Dominion. He contended that the Government could not carry out all the .housing required in the Dominion under the present monetary system. Passlng of Great Scientist. The Minister of Agriculture (Hon. Lee Martin) paid tributo to the late Lord Rutherford. The passing of this great scientist, he said, left the world much poorer but others would carry on the work he had commenced. The Minister said the Budget was a comprehensive and intelligent review of Labour ;s first year in office and gave good indication of its i'uture policy. It had refuted all the Opposition ;s predictions of Labour 's failure and must have been a fairly bitter pill to members on the other' side of the House. He accused the Opposition of attempting to stampede the people into the belief that the Labour Government 's financial policy would prove disastrous to the country and quoted the opinions of the overseas press, which had praised Mr Nash's Budget. He expressed surprise at the leader of the Opposition 's quotations from the Bible during his Budget speech, because both times ' ' eat, drink and be merry" appeared in the Bible it conveyed directly the opposite impression to that which Mr Hamilton had intended. The Minister also criticised the member for Awarua 's statement before the Coronation that New Zealand should only be represented at the Coronation by men who had been born in tho Dominion when he knew perfectly well that neither the Prime Minister nor Mr Jordan had been born in the Dominion. Mr Massey, he said, had represented New Zealand overseas and most of New Zealand 's leaders hzd not been born here. The Minister referred to the action of an Opposition member who had organised a noisy meeting at Pukekohe. Mr A. C. A. Sexton: The interruptions were not organised. "The farmers were dissatisfied. Mr S. G. Holland f Didn't they give you a hearingf Mr Lee Martin: No,' they did not. They howled down Mr Armstrong. Mr Sexton: Yes, after he called them boneheads. Mr Lee-Martin said he had attempted to quote returns from farms at the meeting but tho interruptors would not let him give them. He would never have a repetition of what they had experienced at Pukekohe. The Minister went 0n to state that J farmers were receiving better returns for their labour than ever before. The debate was interrupted by the adjournment at 10.30.