General Agreement By Both Parties

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 63, 17 March 1944, Page 5

General Agreement By Both Parties

(Per Press Association.) , WELLINGTON, March 16. An indication that when the House of Representatives rose to-day an adjournment -would be taken until 2.30 on Wednesday after which tho business of this part of tho session would be carried through without further delay was given by Mr. Fraser in the House this afternoon. Mr. Eraser said tho reason for the long adjournment was that transport difficulties prevented memoers getting back sooner if they went to their homes. He had discussed the matter with the leader of the Opposition and they agreed that if a long adjournment were taken this week-end the House woulu then (subject only to any interruption, which was unlixely) go right through until the business of this part of the session was finished. In other words there would be no further adjournment. Mr. Coleman (Gisborne): Does that mean sitting on Mondays and Saturdays? Mr. Fraser: Yes. Importation of Gumboots. The Minister of Supply (Hon. D. G. Sullivan), answering an urgent question by Mr. Poison (Stratford;, said that although New Zealand had recently been advised that Canada would be allowed to export u quantity of gumboots, the total supply of gumboots to New Zealand was governed by the overall limit fixed by the Combined Raw Materials and Resources Board in London irrespective of whether the gumboots were imported or locally produced. Mr. Sullivan added: “We are aiming at a minimum of about 200,00 U pairs of which probably 100,000 pairs will be produced in New Zealand anu we are endeavouring to have our allocation fixed so that we may import approximately 50,000 pairs from Canada. ’ ’ Finality in the matter was expected in a few days when the Customs Department would grant licenses. Freezing Workers’ Fines. Mr. W. Sullivan (Bay of Plenty) gave notice to ask the Minister of Justice if the fines imposed on the Kaiapoi freezing workers for going on strike had been collected and if not when did the Justice Department propose instituting the processes of tho law for the collection of the fines. Annual Paid Holidays. Resuming the second reading debate on the Annual Holidays Bill, Mr. W. Sullivan (National) said ho agreed that many of tho hardest workers had not been entitled to holidays by right and the provision of holidays for them was a good one. Ho suggested that some provision should be made where casual employment was for under a week so that a -worker such as a jobbing gardener who might work only a uay or two in any one week for one employer although ho worked at his trade the whole year would bo entitled to a paid holiday. A fortnight's holiday woulu mean an increase of about 4 per cent, in a worker’s pay. Manufacturers would ask for the light to increase prices to meet that and that would mean an increase to the primary producer for his purchases and the Government should rememoer that when considering the farmers’ claims for increases the Bill placed the obligation on industrialists to find two weeks ’ holidays for employees but did not place an obligation on the employee to refrain from absenteeism. The Minister should consider a penalty for a worker who was absent without cause. He suggested that part of the holiday should be deducted. Mr. Chapman (Wellington North; said the Bill was only endorsing what had become a general practice in the majority of industries and was extending the privilege to a comparative few. Mr. Webb (ivaipara; said the Crown was an employer of Labour and so should be bound by the Bill. The Minister interjected to say the Crown was bound. Mr. Hackett (Grey Lynn) said the answer to the claim that tho cost of holidays would be added to the cost of production was answered by the fact that the majority of employers were already giving holidays. Tho Bill orought tueir competitors into line. He instanced the case of coat workers. In Auckland, he said, these workers were put off on Christmab Eve for a holiday out were paid only for Christmas Day, tioxing Hay and New Year’s Day as provided for in their awards, but in Dunedin they were given a fortnight’s Holiday on pay. Mr. Oram (Manawatu) asked why waterside workers wero excluded from the provisions oi : the Bill and left under the care of the Minister. Was it another case of a pressure group exerting influence, he asked. Mr. Richards (Roskill) said tho Bill involved a great moral principle whiefl v»as 60 or 80 years overdue. He challenged the Opposition to substantiate their claim tnat the National Party were the real sponsors of paid holidays for all. Mr. Poison said if tho Bill were do sioned to give workers a rest it should insist that-they took their holidays ana suould not simply permit them to collect 4 per ceut. more money and go on working, lie was concerned with the effect of the Bill on stabilisation. Presumably the stabilisation Committee had been consulted and had given its approval of the addition to the wages which tho Bill involved —an addition which would affect primary producers more than any. Hon. D. G. Sullivan: You have already said all farm workers are receiving holidays. Mr. Poison said if the Stabilisation Commission had agreed to tho Bill then the ease of tho primary producers for an increased return was strengthened a thousand per cent, and tho farmers should get equivalent treatment. Mr. Anderton (Eden) said the Opposition’s approval of the Bill was merely for the preservation of tho system they represented. Technological advances meant that capitalism would be obliged to make such concessions or collapse. If there were any fault in the Bill it was its failure to provide holidays longer than a fortnight for workers in such categories as mining and the chemical industry whose uuties were particularly injurious to health. Miners, for instance, worked in the bowels ol the earth for 52 weeks of the year. Mr. Wheat (Patea) said tho Opposition supported the Bill because it believed it would result in greater efficiency. If the effect of the Bill should, however, prove to be a reduction in output then it would defeat its own object as industry would be unable to afford the extra cost of tho paid holidays involved. Mr. Langstone said he hoped the provisions in tho Bill were merely a fore runner of a guaranteed anuual salary for every worker. Hon. P. C. Webb said the measure was a new mark in the social progress of tho world. As far as his officers could discover there was not a country

in tho world where such liberal pro vision had been made for workers. The Holidays Bill would provide a kind oi equality for all sections of workers. Op position members had raised the question of absenteeism being punished by a reduction in holidays. When they talked about absenteeism he felt he would like to take them to some factories at the end of a hard week and after seeing the faces of the girls working there ask them if they could blame those workers if they were away for a day occasionally. He had had absen teeism in coal mines investigated and it was found that very few men were absent from work unnecessarily. It might be argued that it was not necessary for them to bo absent because oi influenza or bad colds, but it should be remembered that work in mines or in a sawmill was not like work in an office. Men who had to do hard physical work had to be physically fit. Ho would like to take Opposition members down into the mines and when they had seen the men at work they would be prepared to take their hats off to them with him. As to penalising absenteeism, there was ample provision in the Manpower Regulations for that. The Bill before the House was not meant to be a penal Bill. It was a measure for the good of tho health of the workers. Other points haa been brought forward and he would be glad to go into them. He was prepared to look into the question of making provision for workers who wero en gaged for less than a week, but personally he thought the minimum of a week was a sound basis for the scheme. He would welcome any improvement and suggestions could be considered when the Bill was in Committee. Some Op position members appeared to think the vvatersiders would get too much under tho provisions of the Bill. An Opposition member: Why not leave them under the ordinary' pro visions of the Bill? Mr. Webb said they could not conveniently bo brought under the ordinary provisions because such a large number of employers were involved. Tho sub-clause covering then, aad been agreed upon after consuita tion with the Waterfront Commission and the employers. The Bill was read a second timo and referred to the Labour Bills Committee. Manpower the Main Problem Mr. Holyoake (Pahiatua), speaking to the finance Bill after Mr. Sullivan had formally moved its second reading, said the Opposition concurred in the Bill—their second concurrence that da} on a Bill before tho House. Proceeding to discuss primary production Mr. Holyoake said the x'roduction of foodstuffs was declining in the face of repeated British and American requests ror larger shipments and the likelihood that New Zealand’s main postwar rolo would be in the feeding of starving Europe and perhaps Asia. The crux of the problem was manpower which would be the main problem lacing Parliament iu the next three years. If tho Government had the policy it claimed to have for manpower in food production it was the war’s best kept secret. The farmers’ basic difficulty was the shortage of experienced labour. Dther handicaps were the need for a fair price and more fertilisers. Tho morale of the farming community also was impaired and there was a * deepseated sense of injustice and frustration to-day throughout the primary industries. He was aware that tho Minister of Agriculture was trying to overcome this psychological handicap, but it required the thorough sympathy of the wholo Government. The shorter hours, better conditions and frequent industrial stoppages seen in other sections of the community often weakened 'the farmers’ magnificeut effort. Mr. Holyoake advocated the raising of the morale of the whole country by a realistic presentation of our problems. Tho Prime Minister should tell the people that the hardest part of tho war was still to come. Every skilled farm worker possible should be permanently returned to the land from the forces and other workers should be combed from the less essential industries. Country girls should be discouraged from leaving their homes for other employment and farmers should get a just price, en abling them to pay more attractive wages. Internal Marketing Defended Mr. Osborne (Onehunga) said chat not only the farmer wanted a just price. That went for other workers, and the fact that somo of them haa got a just price for what they had to .sell might account for some of tho irritating things that had occurred in New Zealand in recent weeks. Tho Opposition claimed that they would abolish the internal Marketing Division. If that were done, with it would go price control and ceiling prices. Opposition members: Oh, no. Mr. Osborne said the only alternative to the Internal Marketing Division and price fixing was free marketing and that meant the law of supply and demand. Just what that meant was illustrated by oranges. Australian oranges had h*d the price fixed from 2s 6d to 6s a dozen, but New Zealandgrown sweet oranges which were net controlled had been sold at 10s and 12s a dozen, and he had seen some offered at Is 3d each. Internal marketing and price control had saved the consumer not tens but hundreds of thousands of pounds. Lower Hutt’s Colossus. Mr. Algie (Remuera) entered a protest against Ministerial silences. He claimed that more information should have been given the people through Parliament. The Government was sfly and coy, almost reticont, concerning information which the people were seek ing. The Minister had said the miners were producing more coal collectively and individually than formerly, but the people wanted to know whore that coal was going. Were the restrictions on rail travel, gas supplies, etc., to be a permanent part of tho nation’s life. Parliament should be told of the Government’s plans concerning the solution of these problems. Mr. Fraser was leaving soon for the Imperial Conference. Would the people know nothing of the plans he would lay on the Empire’s council table until those plans were an accomplished fact? Would the xvlinister of Education not indicate the Government’s attitude to the educational reforms scheduled for discussion this year? Mr. Algie, discussing the position of farmers, referred to the promises made to them years ago by one whom he called a “Colossus with ono foot in Washington and the other 1 metaphorically in the Lower Hutt.” Mr. Cfo’de Carr (Tiruaru) said man power was a problem and some man•power officers had muddled. Meu bad been sent overseas who should never have gone and others remained who should have been sent. Mr. Goosman: What is tho matter with the Government? They aro supposed to rule. Mr. Carr said some officers had not been loyal to the Government and some appeared to have done their best to sabotage the Government’s efforts. That might have been done in ignor-

ance, but muddle had been created. He quoted the case of a man who was badly needed on a farm who was a mess orderly in the Pacific. He added that in general the manpower job had been well done and to condemn it because of a few exceptions was wrong and unfair. Mr. Doidge (Tauranga) said despite all the Government’s premises there were a number of tragic cases of men returned from this war for whom rehabilitation so far had failed to achieve anything worthwhile. fc>o long as the Government loft the Land Sales Act on the Statute Book it w'ould find difficulty in getting land for the settlement of returned men. It was true that many land agents were advising men that they had little prospect of finding a suitable farm under the Act. The reason was, said Mr. Doidge, that farmers would net risk the confiscation of their land. Mr. Doidge suggested that a full day should be set aside for the discussion of rehabilitation matters by the House. Mr. Fraser: I think the matter is important enough to warrant a full discussion. Abuse of Censorship Mr. Doidge, criticising the censorship in New Zealand, said there had been frequent proofs that the censorship was exercised for political purposes. He read a letter addressed to the editor of the New Statesman and Nation in London commenting on the New Zealand political situation. The letter was returned to the writer by the Controller of Censorship w’ho stated that it had not been approved by the Director of Publicity and therefore could not be forwarded. Mr. Doidge said the letter had no possible relation to military security. It was purely political comment and failure to pass it was a Hagrant abuse of the censorship system. In no other country except perhaps Germany would such suppression be tolerated. The Ho\ise rose at 10.30 until 2.3 U on Wednesday.