Unemployment Ills Again Emphasised

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 712, 11 July 1929, Page 7

Unemployment Ills Again Emphasised

♦ v MR. FLETCHER’S SPEECH \ ' t REFORM LEADER TWITTED l i | (THE SUE’S Parliamentary ReporterJ WELLINGTON, Wednesday. After a short hold-up this after- l noon, the Address-in-Reply debate * was resumed by Mr. J. S. Fletcher f (Grey Lynn), who emphasised the e need for solving the unemploy- i ment problem by development of I land settlement, secondary indus- 1 tries and the formulation of a big ! roading policy. He started off by twitting the Leader J ot the Opposition about his having a , “lot to say” in the House this session. ] The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates had had : little to say. But what had he to - say about his practice of adding a little on to the Public Works railway , estimates each year? Had he added , a substantial percentage each year since 1923, for each year the estimates had been higher and higher for each 1 of the 16 lines under construction with ( one exception? The difference between the estimates and the costs up ; to 192 S was £4,500,000. Was that the record of a competent ; administrator? Why had he not asked j his officers the reasons for such in- ‘ creases? Mr. Coates had claimed that he was a competent administrator of i the Public Works Department, but the last Minister of Public Works, Mr. K. S. Williams, had acknowledge in a newspaper report that -when he took over the portfolio the affairs of the department were not in a satisfactory condition. Mr. Coates’s announcements just j before the publication of the Reform manifesto that the country was in a J sound condition were a cold, calculated j i attempt to mislead the electors of New i I Zealand. Through the high cost of i the Public Works Department taxation I was being passed on indirectly to the j public. In his claim that the Reform Government had been responsible for i setting up agricultural colleges Mr. Coates was wrong. What about Lincoln College, which provided most of the agricultural instructors? The high cost of the Mangahao power scheme had been attributed by the Leader of the Opposition to the increase in the cost of materials. Was it not a fact that after the work had been well begun that the whole engini eering scheme had been altered and that two dams had been built? Mr. Coates: Who’s been pulling the hon. member’s leg. Mr. Fletcher: You can’t pull mine. Regarding Samoa. Mr. Fletcher said that the situation was serious, and, unless there w r ere a settlement the natives might be asking to be taken over by America, which was going forward in an imperialistic march. He claimed that the sliding scale of wheat duties did not protect the \ farmer, but rather the man between I the farmer and the consumer. He : was in favour of a subsidy for the \ farmer, provided that he could show' : that his farm was efficient. 1 Dealing with unemployment, Mr. Fletcher said that the position in | Auckland was more serious than could : be told of. In his electorate —an ini dustrial one—there were men who could not afford the tram fare to go to the bureau and register, and when they had walked there the forenoon was gone. Often they would not* go to the bureau, but. preferred to try finding work on their own account. There were considerably more unemployed than the 1,100 stated to be on the register. Charitable aid was no good. The subsidy system was a dastardly one. What was wanted was a constructive policy, something which the speaker regretted to say had not been offered. In his election campaign he had urged that the Main Highways Board sur- ! plus should be used for relief of unemplovment. It had been pointed out ! since ' the earthquake that the j surplus now could be used for Jhe I restoration of roads on the West ! Coast. That might be so, but the poliev of keeping surpluses was a gospel of despair for the unemployed. HANDLING PUBLIC MONEY [ Mr. Fletcher suggested a big roadiug scheme which could carried I out bv using part of the Main Highwavs Board funds and capitalising ! them, so that £6,000,000 might be i raised It was not right that six j men should handle £1,000,000 a year I without Parliamentary control. Parliament should handle public money. ' (Hear, hear.) , . , , If the fund were started the back of unemployment could be broken in three months. This was a temporal > measure, he admitted, and permanent relief could be given by land settlement, and the development of seeondarv industries such as coal carbomsa- < tion and the making of synthetic petrol from brown coal. He suggested a select committee to study the stimulation of secondary Industries. _ ~ He asked for consideration by the 1 Minister of Labour and if necessary a I select committee in respect of the I employment of boys. He approved cf ths Transport Board, and stressed the need for co-ordination of all transport ! services, including aviation. SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK i Discussing the South Island Main Trunk. Mr. E. F. Healey (Waiau) followed the example of the Minister of Labour, the Hon. W. A. Veitch. and i ridiculed Mr. F. J. Jones’s opinions on 1 the line. He said Mr. Jones was a ) 1 man who was more fortunate than . ! some of the members of the House, for he drew a pension of over £l,lOO. Mr. I Healev did not see what a superannu- ! ated Civil servant had to do with the i South Island Main Trunk. Mr. Henley differed from Mr. 11. fc. S Kvle (Bicarton) in respect to the statement that the Minister of RailI ways, the Hon. W. B. Taverner- had ; travelled over the route in a closed car ‘ on a wet day. Mr. Healey had travelled i with Mr Taverner and it was a beauti--1 ful day. tl:e Minister seeing both the I route and the scenery. He knew what he was talking about. Mr Healev went on to stress the advantages to Marlborough in stimulating settlement and connecting both the islands, making the journey shorter c . A. Wilkinson (Egmont) mildly criticised the Government for not making an announcement of I'lipinpr money, ■which wa.s emphn-._i._ed *1 in its election manifesto. He said that a change of Government was good for the country, and in answer to Labour I he said that probably Labour -sioald

be a very good Government and wake the people up. (Laughter.) I-ie hoped the Government would live up to its election promises. He was in favour of the big farmer paying income-tax as well as land-tax. He was not in • favour of abolishing the company tax. Regarding railway policy. Mr. Wilkinson did not agree with the United Party, and said that he thought that the railway losses would be progressive. He urged an inquiry into the South Trunk. He also thought passenger traffic would keep on decreasing. Passengers since 1921 had dropped by 6,000,000. At the same time staffs had increased. While motor-cars increased the railways would lose. FOREMOST PROBLEM The Postmaster-General, the Hon. J. B. Donald, said it was not his intention to criticise party or individual, as the intelligent people of the Dominion had elected to put out the late Government. Unemployment was the fore- ' most problem of the day, and all . parties should give the question their 1 utmost consideration. (.Hear, hear.) ' He said in regard to complaints ot : lack of information in the Speech front the Throne that it should be taken m ; conjunction with the party mannesto. : If unemployment continued the ; country would lose a lot, and for that reason alone the problem should be solved. He blamed war conditions, immigration and the fact that those who were once sellers had to become buyers. He also blamed the Dairy Control Act, saying that as a result the country had lost between £2,000,000 and £3,000,000. A Reform Member: You’re well Qir the track now. Mr. Donald denied this and blamed control for the drop in prices. Referring to unemployment in Auckland Mr. Donald said that because of the largo number of charitable men and women and institutions men knew they were always sure of a meal and drifted into the city from the country. He regretted that the Auckland City Council had not accepted the £25,000 offer. Mr. Donald supported the feotnii Island trunk line. The gap between Parnassus and Wharanui would not only be payable, but would bring wealth for the present and the future. Referring to the Stratford -Ongarue line Mr. Donald said that it would be just as logical to stop that line as til© South Trunk. It would be a great j day for Auckland and Wellington when ! it was put through. TAUPO RAILWAY j Referring to the Rotorua-Taupo line. ] Mr. Donald said that the abandonment j was in accordance with the United . manifesto. It would not pay, just as , the Palmerston North deviation would not. It had been suggested by Mr. I Coates that the Morningside tunnel would be stopped. Mr. Donald said that he hoped he was not transgressing by saying that the stopping of the tunnel had not received consideration, | Mr. A. Harris (Waitemata): But the Minister promised an early reply to a deputation some months ago. Mr. Donald prophesied an early corning of a progressive land policy and settlement. , r _ , . Talking of wheat duties, Mr. Donald said that he had had 30 years’ experience, and that the duties were too severe. . Members asked him to explain, but he refused to tell all he knew. Cries of “Oh, don’t,” and “It wouldn t take long,” from Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central). He intended to vote for a reduction in wheat duties, he said. New Zealand should not grow more wheat, as the price would drop too low. outncient duty should be placed on wheat to enable New Zealand industry to carry on. A reduction in the number of mills would lessen the price of flour. Mr A. Harris (Waitemata) characterised Mr. Donald's remark that people had put out the Reform Government as partly correct. It was due to the fortuitous success of the Labour Party that the United Party had got IJl 'a Voice from Labour Benches: Nothing fortuitous in that. Mr Harris said that at the election 263,711 votes had been cast for Reform and 197,100 for the United Party. He included Independent votes in the United total. Reform’s immigration policy, he said, was a recognition of New Zealand’s obligation to the Motherland. , , Mr. Harris said that he did not iollow Mr. Donald’s third reason, the Dairy Control Act, for unemployment though he agreed with much of what Mr Donald had said. He said that lie had a plan for solving unemployment that would commend itself to, the Government. He went on to demand full investigation of the South Island Main Trunk railway. The investigation should prove that there would be a fair return on capital cost and interest charges. Mr J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn) Has the hon. member the courage to back his opinion by moving an amendment. Mr. Harris: I shall move an amendI ment at a fitting time. , The House rose at 11.10 p.m., the ' Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle moving the adjournment.