IMMIGRANTS AND WAGES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3867, 6 November 1928, Page 2

IMMIGRANTS AND WAGES.

LABOUR CANDIDATES’ AIISREPRESENTATION. Up and down the country the La - bour party candidates are stating that immigrants have been induced to come to New Zealand by a Government publication which they say infers that workmen’s wages here range from £7 10s Od to £ll 10s Od per week. Here is the statement of Mr. D. G. Sullivan as reported in the Lyttelton Times “British workers were given the inference that the workers wages here ranged from £7 to £ll 10s a week.” The same statement only slightly varied, is being made by others of the party in various electorates. The ground on which they make that statement is a booklet issued some time ago by the Governmenc Publicity Department, and entitled “New Zealand The brighter Britain.” Now we challenge any of these candidates to deny that on page 28 of that booklet the rates of pay per hour is plainly set out for the various trades and occupations and that at such rates no workers could possibly earn anything approaching £7 a week. •It is a contemptible misrepresentation for these Labour Party candidates to ignore the fact that these rates which are correct, are in the booklet. Instead of taking such an honest method of criticism they have turned to a paragraph on page 39 which does not state rates of pay or mention earnings at all but deals with income tax and have drawn an inference of their own which is not even correct as applying to that paragraph. Will they tell us why they do not take the booklet as a whole and draw their inference from that? or will they show how workers can earn £7 a week on the rates set out on page 28? Wjhat they are actually doing is presenting to their audiences a booklet those present have never read and are deceiving their hearers by withholding the fact that the very booklet they are using on page 28 disproves the statement they are making. It is a most gross and contemptible method of misrepresentation to thus present matters to the public. Men such as Messrs D. G, -Sullivan, P. Fraser, D. W. Coleman (Alayor of Gisborne), and others who have held public positions ought to be ashamed to use such a palpable method of deception.

The paragraph on which they are retying reads thus: “In New Zealand the average working man with a family of tln*ee and an income up to £7 10s Od a week would pay no income-tax at all, and less than £4 pc-r annum in income-tax with an income up to £ll 10s Od a week.”

They are reading that to mean that the average working man with a family of three earns £7 10s Od a week etc. However, it does not say so. If we wrote “the average married woman with a family of seven has a very hard struggle” they would not read that as meaning that the average married woman has a family of seven, why then do they read into the booklet words that are not there. It appears to us simply loose writing* but the positive statement about wages is on page 28 where the minimum Award rates are set out in detail. Plasterers (about the highest) is shown as per hour, weekly hours 44. Others shown are much lower. Work it out and ask where does their £7 10s Od a week come in. YV)e make no apology for saying suc-h misrepresentation is contemptible. (Contributed by the N.Z. Welfare League).