SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Wairarapa Age, 31 March 1920, Page 5

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

HIGH COST OF LIVING AND PROFITEEBING. " • [tiy flelegraDh—Press Association V ; WANGANUI, Last Night. Mr. W. A.Veitch, Labour M.P., in discussing tho present high cost of living at the demonstration against profiteering held on Sunday evening, attributed much of the jtrouble to the shortage of production, caused by industrial unrest. He instanced that ■at"-present, there, was a great shortage of -housps. Tho Government, -with a t vicw to affording a little relief,-de-cided to build some concrete houses, but with difficulty had let contracts. Tho work was held up on account of the shortage of cement, which was due to the shortage of coal, which was, in turn, due to industrial unrest, caused by the wretched living conditions. He personally had visited some of the miners' homes, and he wanted to say that he would be ashamed to look into the faces of his. wife and children and ask them to live in some of tho homes .the coal miners were forced to occupy. He could hot blames the miners for tryirtg to better their conditions. A report cm the housing conditions of the coal miners was made to. tho authorities many months ago, but, so far, he had heard of no attempt to solve the problem, and pressure of public opinion ought to be exercised to wake up those responsible for tho government of this J country to the full realisation of-the j enormous importance devolving on j them to improve these conditions. j Mr Veitch considered that one oi the solutions of tho industrial unrest , was the raising of wages and salaries to tho _ Hew permanent standard of values created by war conditions. This should be the first duty of the employers. It was his opinion that-the relations between employer and employee should be improved; that the | employer should not .think every employee a madman, or the employee regard every employer as dishonest. He pointed out that unsettled industrial conditions meant less production, and he urged both parties to come together, and co-operate with each other m effecting a reduction of the cost of living. ® Referring to the profiteering which was going on in this country, Mr Veitch said that the Government had placed on the Statute Book the most drastic law of any country in dealing with profiteering. If it waa not drastic enough it was not the fault of the rank and file of Parliament, which passed the measure as the Government -had introduced it. One means of checking the profiteer was that the people should help themselves. He too& wool as an example, and pointed out* that an anti-profiteering committee in Great Britain had reported that woollen manufacturers made from 400 to 3200 per cent on wool, some of which came from New Zealand. New Zealanders shipped their wool home, paid all. charges there, provided for the enormous, profits of English merchants, imported the manufactured article; „and paid Customs duty here. It was no wonder that the coat of living was high. There was no reason why the woollen goods should not be manufactured in New Zealand, and sold at greatly, reduced prices, after allowing reasonable and fair prices to rail who handle it. He supported the establishment of ah Industrial Department, wnich woiild have as its object the fostering of ,New Zealand industries and making this country as selfcontained as possible.