UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM THRASHED OUT IN HOUSE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 83, 29 June 1927, Page 11

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM THRASHED OUT IN HOUSE

MFNT U Pni T r| G °f-2H S ri , PR ° TEST — MINISTER S DEFEND GOVERN- ,° N WAGE STANDARDS DENIED—LOCAL BODIES EMPOWERING BILL PASSED—DEBATE ON IMPREST SUPPLY

(THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, To-day. THE Opposition marshalled its forces against the Government s treatment of the unemployment situation when the Imprest Supply Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. After a long debate an amendment, moved by Mr. H. E. Holland, on the motion to go into committee, was defeated by 46 votes to 13. Mr. Atmore voted with the Labour Party.

it was thought that a great deal would be said by Opposition members upon the Local Authorities Empowering (Relief of Unemployment) Extension Bill, this measure went through all its stages in the House of Representatives in a comparatively short time, a little less than an hour being occupied in its passage.

It was later revealed very definitely that Labour criticism of the Government’s handling of the unemployment problem was being withheld for the debate upon the Imprest Supply Bill. In moving the second reading of the Local Authorities Empowering Bill, 2the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, said it was only an extension of the present Act, and it was considered desirable to extend the principle until June 30, 1928. Under the Act passed last year a. number of local bodies did a good deal to assist in meeting the unemployment trouble and they could not exp.tct them to do much more. It was now proposed to give local bodies further encouragement by granting them a subsidy on the amount spent on relief works.

Mr. J. McCombs (Lyttelton) said the Government had no real solution for unemployment, and it confessed this by offering 4s in the £1 subsidy. It

was the lowest subsidy he had ever heard of. Protesting against the way the subsidy was given, Mr. McCombs said it was a direct incitation on the part of the Government to get local bodies to pay rates lower than those of the Arbitration Court. The Minister said that the subsidy is given under certain conditions, and according to the money expended. Mr. J. A. Nash (Palmerston): Will the subsidy depend upon the amount of wages paid? The Minister: I understand the subsidy is restricted to a certain percentC S Mr. D. G. Sullivan alleged that the restrictions placed upon the subsidy to the basis of the relief rate of 9s and 12s a day was inciting local bodies to follow the example of the Government in reducing wages. DELAY IN OPERATIONS

Complaint of the delay occasioned by the machinery of the Local Government Loans Board in securing authority for loans was made by Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central), who cited the case of Wellington City loan of £IO,OOO as an instance. His suggestion was that power be inserted in the bill so that Cabinet could deal expeditiously with applications by Order-in-Council.

The Minister, in his reply, said that when the question was discussed last year one of the chief criticisms had been the risk of allowing works to go through without the machinery of such an institution as the Local Government Loans Board. Every endeavour was being made to expedite the applications for loans, and preliminary reports from local bodies were secured to facilitate the loans. In some cases works included in the list were found to have been turned down by the ratepayers. Mr. Sullivan: What guarantee have you that the works had not been rejected by the ratepayers? The Minister: None, except these reports. It is difficult to ascertain which is the usual programme and which is not, particularly in <3tago, where the roads are good, and difficulty is experienced in finding new works. The bill was passed through all stages. MR. HOLLAND’S MOTION Unemployment was discussed with more vigour when the Imprest Supply Bill was brought down. On the motion to go into committee of supply, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. H. E. Holland, moved an amendment as follows:

“This House expresses the strongest disapproval of the Government’s incompetency and neglect to deal adequately with the increasingly acute unemployment problem, for which the Government policy is mainly responsible, and which has resulted in a most distressing lack of food and other necessaries of life to many thousands of people. This House further condemns the Government for having used the defenceless position of the unemployed as a means to reduce wages and consequently to lower the working standard of living by paying only 12s a day to married men and 9s a day to single men. in violation of an agreement made between the Government and tne New Zealand Workers’ Union and the awards of the Arbitration Court.” Mr. Holland said no one with knowledge of the condition of New Zealand would contend that 9s and 12s a day were adequate to keep a man with a family decently. Where a man had to spend 30s a week on his own keep, pay rent and suffer reductions for wet days, he would have practically nothing left for his family. In some cases married men were receiving only 6s 8d a day on co-operative works, which was a long way from 12s, which he always understood was to be the minimum and not the maximum. THOSE ADVERTISEMENTS Mr. Holland wanted to know who was responsible for advertisements appearing in English papers guaranteeing employment to people coming to New Zealand. No such guarantee could be given and people were brought

out on the strength of that statement were induced to come under false pretences and should be sent back if they wanted to go. The Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, said these advertisements were not official.

Mr. Holland said that if they were not official the Government at least knew of them and should not allow them to be published. Even the Publicity Department was not free from the charge of circulating exaggerated statements about the private wealth of the people of the Dominion. The Prime Minister said the Leader of the Opposition did not seem to recognise that the present position was quite exceptional. He did not seem to realise that the purchasing power of the Dominion had been reduced by some £lO millions, that there had been over-importation, and that local bodies in their wisdom had thought fit to reduce their borrowing. These factors necessarily reduced the country’s power of expenditure.

Mr. Coates denied that the rates of wages offered by the Government involved a breach of agreement with the Workers’ Union, because that agreement applied to competent men, not to unskilled men such as so many of the unemployed were. There was no desire on the part of the Government to reduce wages. NOT A CHARITABLE AID BOARD “This is not an ordinary case,” said the Prime Minister. “It is a case of emergency. The country must get a return for the money expended.” He refused to admit that the Government was to become a Charitable Aid Board or even a soup kitchen. One of the difficulties was that they had some 8,000 men who had been for a long time with the Public Works Department, and they were endeavouring to so arrange matters that unemployed relief work would not interfere with these regular men. It it did it might be found they would have to reduce the pay of all men employed on public works. It was not only the Government, but everybody who had to tighten expenditure, but he expected the position would clear up this year. ARE WORKS NECESSARY?

If the Government took the attitude alleged by the Opposition, continued Mr. Coates, it would be considering a general reduction in Public Works wages. Mr. Holland: Are these works necessary? Mr. Coates: They are necessary at some time or other. We would have to get them done. Mr. H. Atmore (Nelson): At full rates? Mr. Coates: Yes. Mr. Atmore: Then you are getting them done cheaper now? Mr. Holland: That is the whole point. Mr. Coates: It is to the future we have to look, and maintain the overhead. They will not find better jobs latter on. Mr. Holland: Is this not a reflection on the workers in New Zealand? Mr. Coates: Well, that is our experience in the department. Our conditions and pay are good. Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central): But you would not keep men when you do not want them? Mr. Coates: What is going to happen? Are they to go back on the market again? My opinion is that it will clear up. Mr. Holland: This year? Mr. Coates: Well, there are indications in that direction The Minister of Labour, Hon. G. J. Anderson, said the Government had never published advertisements guaianteeing immigrants work. That was done by those nominating them. 1-ie could not explain why advetrisements of that character had not been contradicted by the High Commissioner The advertisements complained of were inserted in British papers by shipping companies and other agencies and were in no sense author ised by the High Commissioner or the Government. ) £250,000 FOR RELIEF WORK The Minister quoted figures to show that up to date the Government had spent £150,000 on relief work, and when the works were completed they would have cost the country well into £250,000. Since May last year tne Government had been able to give lelief to 3,000 men. „ . 2d r . \Y E. Parry (Auckland Central) argued that the Government had done nothing to solve the unemployed problem There were unemployed in Auckland at the end of last session, and there were upward of 3,000 unemployed in that city to-day. „ The Minister of Education, Hon. rl. A. Wright, said the Labour Party did not know the difficulties the Government had to face. Ml- w. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) contended that the wage offered by the Government was ample and sufficient. If a single man could not live on 9s a day, the responsibility was on him, and not on the Government. “DISGRACING NEW ZEALAND” Mr. H. Atmore (Nelson) contended the Government should not seek to get necessary work done at less tnan the standard rates of wages because of the necessities of working people. That was disgracing New Zealand, while at the same time we were boasting that we were the richest part of the Empire The Government was right in initiating the immigration policy, but it should at the same time have started a scheme of intensive development. Air E. J. Howard (Christchurch South) said that in the last three years 21 000 male immigrants had entered the Dominion and in the same period 25,000 New Zealand boys had left school to seek work.

The Prime Minister: You would not stop unassisted immigrants? Mr. Howard: Assisted or not they still have to find work. He quoted figures to show that the number of employees in various industries had not increased in proportion to the number of immigrants who had set down their names against various occupations. Mr. Holland’s amendment was defeated by 46 votes to 13. Mr. Atmore voted with the Labour Party.