POLICY & ALMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 June 1938, Page 7

POLICY & ALMS

WHERE NATIONAL PARTY STANDS MINIMUM INTERFERENCE BY STATE COMPULSORY unionism CONDEMNED (By Telegraph—Press Association.) HAMILTON, This Day. “Our policy is that we stand for the preservation of private enterprise, private property, private trading, individual freedom arid liberty, with the minimum amount of-State interference in industry and trade, but the maximum amount of Government co-opera-tion and assistance,” the Hon A. Hamilton, Leader of the National Party, stated in his address last evening. “We will take from the income of the people,” Mr Hamilton continued, “the least amount necessary to efficiently and properly administer the affairs of the country, and we will adequately care for the poor, the aged, the needy and the-.sick, who are not able to adequately care for themselves.

“I have,-on a great many occasions, indicated the attitude, of the National Party towards the present Government’s legislation, but,, to avoid' any possibility of misunderstanding or confusion, I shall restate some of those points that are of general public interest.

“We will not cut the salaries of the Civil Service, nor the pensions of the pensioners.

“We will wipe compulsory unionism off the Statute Book, but we will retain the present system of compulsory conciliation and compulsory arbitration. I should make it clear that we have no objection to unionism, as unionism, but we do have the strongest objection to the present law, which forces thousands of people to join trades unions against their wills and contribute to the funds of those unions for the purpose of maintaining an army of trades union secretaries, whose main job in life is to drive a wedge between the workers and their employers to cause strife and class hatred, so as to justify them in receiving incomes, in most cases much higher than those who find the money.

“People object most strongly to paying union- fees that will be used for the spreading of Socialism and other propaganda, which they are in complete disagreement with. People object to their money being used to get men into Parliament whom they would not vote into Parliament. May I repeat, we will retain compulsory arbitration, but not compulsory unionism. “Arbitration Court awards will not be interfered with, and the Court will be left free to make awards concerning wages and conditions in industry free from political interference or instruction, but on the evidence placed before it. We will, however, put behind the Court judgments the full force of the law to see that its decisions and awards are observed faithfully by both sides without fear or favour. “We want to see the workers of the country well paid for their work, but we also want to see a fair day’s work done in return. This constant pinpricking and irritation tactics have got to stop. We cannot compete with other countries while we suffer enormous economic losses every year by stoppages of work for the most trivial reasons and in defiance of the law that has been passed for the settlement of disputes and misunderstanding.” .