THE UNEMPLOYED.
The statement was recently made in Foxton by Mr McCombs. Labour M.P., that the Government were deliberately forcing down wages to create unemployment. The Hon. W. Downie Stewart, speaking on the debate on the Budget in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, said the Government had been subjected to cross tire during this debate inasmuch as the Liberals charged them with extravagance and wastefulness ajud that they show no
signs of repentance or economy, while on the other hand the Labour Party charged them with ‘parsimony, callous treatment of the unemployed, and that they had been hai'd hearted to the civil servants while they had millions in the Treasury. He then proceeded to show the manner in which the revenue conies into the Treasury, emphasising that the early months of the year are the worst, from the revenue point of view, and that to-day, so far from having £7,500,000 in hand, k there was only £1,750,000 in the Treasury, which would have to be paid out to -meet certain charges within the next month or six weeks. The expenditure on public * works was far beyond what the country had ever known before and thousands of men were being given employment. Ministers, especially the Premier; were taking the keenest personal interest in the whole position of the unemployed. Even individual cases were not neglected so that it was utterly incorrect to -av that the Government was in any way callous regarding the unemployed. Moreover, he contended that the whole responsibility did not rest on the Government, and they had passed a bill authorising the local bodies to raise loans for the purpose of providing work for the idle men, but no sooner had they done so than they were charged with putting their responsibility on to others. He even went further and thought that the rich trades unions might very well devote some of their funds to the relief of unemployed. Labour members: They are doing it everv dav.
The Hon. Stewart, continuing, -aid he was glad to hear that, but he would like to see the returns of -ueli fund.- as he had not heard of them before.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2475, 2 September 1922, Page 2
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360THE UNEMPLOYED. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2475, 2 September 1922, Page 2
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