CHEAP LABOUR

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3659, 30 June 1927, Page 3

CHEAP LABOUR

AMERICAN CONDITIONS,

PROBLEM OF THE “UNDERDOG.”

Speaking in the debate on the Imprest Bill in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the Minister of Labour (Hon. G. J. Anderson) expressed the opinion that Labour conditions were better in New Zealand than in America, and narrated the remarks of an American visitor on the subject of unemifiovnient as it affected that eoun-

Reeently, said the Minister, a gentleman came from America to take charge of an institution in the Dominion, and he remarked to him 1 , “1 notice you have unemployed here.” lie had replied: “Yes, we have! have you any in America?” “Any amount of them,” was the answer. In further 'reply to the question, “What do you do with them?” the visitor said, “We give them a plate of soup, and do not take much notice of them.” The Minister went on to ask the Leader of the Opposition whether he was in favour of American methods. The Leader of the Opposition i Mr. 11. E. Holland): l am not, and never was.

The Minister expressed the opinion that if American methods were introduced into the Dominion it would he a pretty had job for the “under-dog." America was deluged every year with very cheap labour from Eastern Europe, with very had results t« the American labourer. In flint, country the “undcr-dog" did not get much chance to rise on account of the importation of cheap labour.