WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 April 1932, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS

LABOUR’S DEMANDS. MR H. E. HOLLAND’S BATTALIONS. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, April 11. The deputation Mr H. E. -Ilol.and, the leader of the Labour OpposiiTi/i, introduced to the Prime Minister was representative rather of'Hvb'fleers’ advocates than of the workers themselves. Mr Holland, indeed, told Mr L.orbe.s as much as this in introduein r his companions. “This deputation ha', come,” he said, “from the combined conference sitting in Wellington, representative of all the industrial organisations of New Zealand and some o. the Public Service organisations as well.” One can understand that the deputation consisted of a very impressive party. Air James Roberts, the doughty secretary of the Alliance of Labour, was the first principal speaker and it must be conceded that lie made the most of his opportunity. He attributed the slump and unemployment to fhe replacement of labour by machinery, which, many people thought had occurred more than a century ago, and urged that wages should be increased and hours of work reduced to thirty-five hours a week.

BREAKING POINT. Mr Roberts was followed by the secretary of the Post and Telegraph Employee’s Association who let the Prime Minister know that the deputation included representatives of four public services representing well over foi'ty per cent of the public servants in the Dominion. “It is just a question of how far your Government, or any Government, can test the loyalty of the service,” he told the Minister. “Tlie public servant is also a citizen, He is a man with a home and when lie finds he is being driven down below the level on which lie can live# J. .tell you frankly sir, there is -a breaking point, and that is the breaking point we are reaching at the present time.” The secretary’s final demands were State control of currency, cancellation of war debts and abolition of tbe wage cut, all simple requests that must, have brought the Minister to attention.

SAVING TIME. Mr A. Cook, the president of . the Alliance of Labour; Airs A. Herbert, of Dunedin, and Air E. L. Mcllvride, secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants also spoke to more or less purpose, and Mr Holland having had his appropriate say the Prime Minister rose to reiterate bis previous statements incidentally suggesting that a great amount- of timewould b'e :;t saved' oiv-ebotli -lift written statements were substituted for deputations. “Deputations,” he said, ‘‘are of little use if they mean simply that people come along with set speeches in order that tidy may be reported and so spread abroad. In most cases the time of both parties would be saved if remarks and suggestions wree put into writing for deliberate consideration.” There obviously was a good deal* of truth in this suggestion, which lias been iterated and reiterated by many previous Prime Ministers without making any lasting impression upon their tiresome visitors. .

FRANK SPEECH. Having listened attentively to the representations and suggestions, of the speakers of the deputation, and having suggested to his guests the advantages of tile written word, Mr Forbes asked his guests what they meant by the repudiation of the Dominion’s debts. Did they really mean,' he inquired, that such a proceeding was actually in their minds. “Oh dear no,” was their retort in effect. “We referred only to the war debts,” a trifle of seventy millions and which represented only part of tile sacrifice made by the Mother Country for her offspringduring the world’s great convulsion. There was no other country in the world, Mr Forbes said in conclusion, that was doing relatively as much for its unemployed as New Zealand "’as doing for its out-of-works and other sufferers and it was deplorable that reports to the contrary should he wilfully spread abroad. The Prime 'Minister scarcely would have said this had lie not been sure of his facts.