AN ARGUMENT FOR “ SAFEGUARDING.”

Hokitika Guardian, 21 September 1929, Page 8

AN ARGUMENT FOR “ SAFEGUARDING.”

“Last year a friend of mine'sold 5000 tons of rags. He told me that these rags would he made into cloth I by skilled men in Poland who were receiving from 13s to 15s a week. If any bon. members opposite were in business, could they say how they would compete with that country if they were having to pay £3 per week to men doing the same kind of work? A man in my division who has a woollen mill comes to London and buys certain materials. The man in France also comes to London for the same purpose. The freight charges from London to Roubaix are no more than they are from London to the West Riding of Yorkshire. In Roubaix they have their mills well equipped ; rebuilt out o'f reparations since the War. The mills are well fitted up and they employ workmen who are probably as skilled as the workmen in Yorkshire. That is the reason why we cannot compete with them. Simply because in Roubaix the worker in the woollen mills receives a standard rate of £1 2s lid per week, while for the same work in the Dewsbury and Batley area in the West Riding of Yorkshire the standard wage Ts £2 14s lOd. Can the House say this is a fair and reasonable competition?” —Mr C. V. Gibson, M:P., in the House of Commons.