1938-03-28 — Page 22

A land where wages are going up and up, unemploy- ment down and down. That is New Zealand, which to-day celebrates two years of Labour rule.

T

WO years ago to-day New Zealand elected Labour

a

Government with an unassail- - able majority. At this time next year. when the General Election is held,

Labour will win again.

It will win because of its impressive achlovements-Impressive even in the

cold print of statistics.

For this is New Zealand to-day, after its two years of Labour rule:-

More people ato working than at any time

for the past seven years;

Total-wages and-salaries paid-during the last. financial year increased by 18 per cent;

Workers last year received £15,000,000 more

in the aggregate than was paid even in the best year before;

Taxable income of companies Increased by

10 per cent.;

to

Assessable incomes of Individuals

1030 from £47,200,000

£53,500,000;

More than 103,000 persons are in receipt of higher pensions than ever before, and the number of pensioners has been increased by 20,000.

Firet Budget showed a surplus, and igures for the half year just ended, with revenue two millions above expectations and expen- diture three millions below the estimates. assure another balanced Budget,

It is good to see a Government which, while bearing its fair share of the cost of Empire rearmament, 'can still find money for profitable

public works.

We have been spared the dis- grace of the Distressed Arcas. Roads, bridges, railways, houses for the workers are being built under the direction of the State.

Unemployment has been reduced by two thirds: factories are work- ing overtime, unable to cope with the rush of orders; wages are good and the business man is benefit- ing from the spending of those wages; farmers, under the guar- anteed price, are enjoying a stable prosperity such as they have never known before.

011

Called in to deal with a sick State, Labour's first action assuming office was to tackle the evil of unemployment. The slump, Intensified by wage cuts, stoppage cf public works and general re- frenchment, had brought the total cf workless to an admitted 80,000 and a probable 100,000. Relief pay-

cuts were sadly inadequate.

L

ABOUR at once dis- tributed an emergency bonus of £270,000 and made a general increase in relief wages. The rate for a single man1 jumped from 17s, to £118., and proportionate increases were mado for married men, those with seven children receiving an increase of £1 a week over the previous rate of £2 78.

Sustenance payments-equiva- lent of the English unemployment pay-were similarly raised, till the smallest

an unemployed

sum

single man could receive was £1 a werk, as compared with 14s, under the previous Government.

A £6,000,000 public works scheme absorbed many of the unemployed. and the State placement service, which was established to act as a liaison officer between the unem- ployed and the private employer, effected amazing results, work being found for

fewer than 17,000 men in the first six months,

no

Latest Agures show that Labour has reduced the slump total of 20,000 workless to about 30,000. And daily the number is being further reduced.

The unemployed, were not the

THE HONGKONG. TELEGRAPH

The sheep farmer, backbone of the country, is guaranteed both security of tenure

and stability of income.

MONDAY, MARCH 28, 1988.

SERIAL

Where Wages Go

only section of the needy to bo nasisted. Pensions had been dran- tically reduced during the depres- sion, and Labour at once raised the old-age allowances to £1 weekly, and later to £1 25, Od.

The age at which women became entitled to receive pensions was lowered from 05 to 60 years, and widows' pensions were fixed at £1 weekly, rising to a maximum of £4 10s. depending on the number of children. Pensions were granted deserted wives, and the wives of mental defectives. Invalida, miners and returned soldiers all received larger allowances.

S

OCIAL legislation was continued by the pass- ing of a Fair Rents Act. and this year, under the direction of novelist J. A. Lee, M.P., more than 2,000 houses have been built for the workers. Many more will be erected in the next few months.

National health Insurance and superannuation schemes will be before Parliament shortly after Christmas, and under them the workers will be free from the in- security which haunts them under capitalism.

some

reforms Educational already effected and some set down for the present session-the estab-

Prime Minister M. J. Savage inspects New Zealand meat-in London's Smithfield Market.

BARBER-WILHELMSEN

LINE

MONTHLY SERVICE

To

NEW YORK

Via LOS ANGELES & PANAMA CANAL PORTS.

NEXT SAILING

M.V. "TAI YIN"

on 18th April ̈

Excellent accommodation for 12 passengers

DODWELL & CO., LTD.

Hong Bank Bldg.

Agents.

Telephone 28021.

COUNT THE TELEGRAPHS'

EVERYWHERE

Up and Up!

by Douglas Stewart

lishment of a national council for the encouragement of sport, State control of broadcasting and the promised institution of a national conservatorlum of the arts, show that the Government has not for- gotten the people's need for culture and recreation.

Of Labour's industrial reforms, nothing aroused more interest oversens or more excitement in New Zealand than the introduc- tion of the 40-hour week.

The Government, wisely, did not attempt to enforce it immediately in all trades, but left it to the Arbitration Court to institute it where possible.

The almost universal adoption of the 40-hour standard is certain to come, however, and this, together with tho

of introduction

A whole Dominion-wide Saturday hollday, which the Government is encouraging, but not enforcing, is ameliorating the lot of the people.

New Zealand, with its sunny elimate and its unlimited oppor- tunities for sport, is the ideal country for the long week-end.

T

HE restoration of salary cuts, the raising of award Wages everywhere, tho Axing of a basic wage of £3 12s. 6d." for all males over 21 years of age, and of El 12s. 6d. for all females over 21, have been acts which have won the approval of all workers and the hostility of some employers.

Tho business community. how- 1 behefiting enormously ever. from the increase in purchasing power, and wages, in any case, are not higher than were paid by decent employers before the awards were enforced. Some dairy farmers, for instance, have complained because the Govern- ment has fixed the minimum wages for adult farm labourers at £ 2s. 6d, weekly, inclusive of board and lodging.

But a dairy farmer worthy of the name in New Zealand has always paid his man as much as

that. The Farmers' Union agreed to the wage.

Tovoravich NYK

1

Adapted From The Warner Bros. Film

Chapter IV

"You've been a Chamberlain and 50 why

Lady-in-walling-and

should we not be a Butler and

Maldi

"But that

was In Petersburg,

darling-for the Czar!"

"And this is in Paris-but still

the Czar!"

for

MY

sainted darling!" crled Mikali enthusiastically, as the possl- bility dawned on him, "I belleve you are right! I know we could do

"Certainly, my pigeon! Don't you remember me doing the fair hair of Her Imperial

Highness, fetching her gloves and

"And I see myself again

"throwing open Mikail the windows of the Imperial Cham- ber, and announcing, Majesty, this morning there is snowi'

broke in,

Tatlana hopped from the bed where she had been dancing and ran to him clapping her small hands ccstatically, he said, "we will be were good ser- vants then.”

good servants again!"

rain!"

"Absolutely, my pigeon! what about references?"

But

"We must provide them at once! Sit down and write!" they did so. They set forth in high spirits the Russian colours about Tatiana's neck as u scarf-the sword of Alc- xander III tucked inside Mikall's trouser-leg--the 'want ad' and the references safely put away!

The landlord tried to waylay them but again they evaded him.

M. et Madame Dupont might well have advertised for a butler and П mald! Their home was in wild commotion-only old Louise the cook-doing duty as butler, par-

fourmaid and general factotum! Madame needed her hair dressed! Monsieur Charles had lost a shoot Bells were ringing, buzzing, tele- phones shrilling and doors banging! In short, it was a mad houset

Monsieur coming out from der

the bed where he had been

shot,

announced looking for the

had the worst dolefully that he headache of his lifetime! Mudame Fernande threw up her hands. "II

The dairy farmer, on the success or failure of whose operations New Zealand stands or falls, has been the subject of a great deal of legislation. Exaggerated land values, implying mortgage com- mitments impossible to meet in normal years, were the plice New Zealand paid for the boom that began in the war years when butterfat prices soared to 28. Od. a.Dubleft's house for dinner?" pound.

D

URING the slump, when the price fell to 6d. It was sold that 70 per cent. of the farmers were virtually bankrupt, and Labour's first step was to undertake the huge task of restoring land values to their proper level by the roadjustment of mortgages throughout the country.

That done, the farmer was given a guaranteed price for his produce, so that to-day he has both security of tenure and stability of Income. From the State's point of view the scheme has worked satisfac- torily; last year there was a deficit of £660,000, but at present market prices are above the guaranteed price of 13jd., and the account should be more than balanced.

It is worth emphasising again thai Labour is balancing its bud- gets. Fundamentally, the New Zealander is as canny as the Scot, and it is on the soundness or other- .wise of its finances that the Gloy-

ernment will be judged.

It is the triumph of the New Zealand Labour Government to have demonstrated to "working class" and to "middle class " alike that their interests are one, and that Socialism pays.

Human nature being what it is, there could be no better basis for the Socialist ideal of brotherhood, and Labour has achieved a sociolo gical as well as a practical triumph. Uniting the classes is the simplest way of abolishing class distinction, and Labour in New Zealand really has gone a very long way towards the attainment of that ideal.

CANADIAN PACIFIC

{STEAMSHIPS – HOTELS -

- RAILWAYS - EXPRESS

TO MANILA

Thurs., Apr., 7.

4

EMPRESS OF ASIA

TO CANADA, UNITED STATES and EUROPE

via Shanghal, Kobe & Yokohama

EMPRESS OF JAPAN via Honolulu EMPRESS OF ASIA

EMPRESS OF CANADA vis Honolulu EMPRESS OF RUSSIA

Noon, Fri, Apr.. 1. 1,7,00 a.m. Fri, Apr. 15. ......Noon, Fri., Apr. 29. Noon, Fri, May 13,

Air-conditioned equipment on C.P.R. Trans-Continental Trains. Frequent Canadian Pacido Atlantis sailings to European Poris.

•

MAKE BOOKINGS FOR 1938 EARLY—to ensure" desirable

dmmodation.

Canadian Pacific

Tuilding

Telephone

20752

It

un-

isn't one end of you that's in trouble Charles," she cried "it's the other! And to-night it's both! We shall never get to M. Chauffeurier-

At this moment Louise announced the applicants for the positions.

Tatiana

and Mikail advanced a

few steps into the room, lie doing his best to conceal the sword. "Sir Madame" he said with a stiff bow, to which Tatiana added an extreme- ly agreeable, "Good evening." were your "Who ployers?" "His

Excellency,

previous em-

General Prince

·

Ouratieff 1. and his wife sald Mikali proudly. "No!" add- ed Tatlona with Ano dignity, "Her Imperial Highness, the Grand

• Duc consort!

Tatiana Petrovna

her

When

can you come to us? are in a great hurry!"

We, too

I mean arrange to start to-night!"

could

"Your luggage?” "It has

exist, madame,

have the "We predecessors

-

LINE

TELEPHONE 30291,

(† Cargo only).

San Francisco via jāpan Ports & Honolulu.

Titibu Maru (From Kobo)...Sat, 9th April Taiyo Maru (From Kobe) ..Mon., 25th April Seattle & Vancouver (Starts from Kobe).

Hiyo Maru

........11th April

New York via Panama,

Noto Maru............

.3rd May

South America (West Coast) via Japan, Honolulu,

Hilo, Los Angeles, Mexico & Panama.

+Takaoka Maru (From Kobe) Sat., 23rd April

London, Marssiller, Antwerp & Rotterdam.

Hakusan Maru vanese

Haruna Maru

Katori MamTLI

.....Sut., 9th April.

.Sat., 23rd April .7th May

Liverpool via Port Said, Beyrouth, Istanbul, Piraeus,

and Marseilles.

+Dakar Maru

Sydney & Melbourne via Manila & Ports.

Kitano Maru +Kamo Mamu

Fri., 8th April

.Sat., 23rd April .28th May

Bombay via Singapore, Penang & Colombo.

+Kunishima Maru

+Toyooka Maru

Sat., 9th April .26th April

Calcutta via Singapore, Penang & Rangoon,

Hakodate Maru

OUR

26

We

27

let us say

censed to

clothes of your They may not

"We shall be proud to adjust ourselves, madame," murmured Tatiana sweetly.

"There are four of us here. My husband and myself and our really quite grown-up children, Mademoiselle Helene and Monsleur Georges!"

189

Kobe & Yokohama,

Kashima Maru

Yasulcuni Maru

Kamo Maru

.12th April

Sat, 9th April

.19th April

.22nd April

General Passenger Agents in the Orient for the *Joint Passanger Agents for Gibb Livington Co. CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE.

BRITISH CROSSWORDS

ACROSS 1 A side line perhaps (6).

4 This is mixed in 20 across (4). 7 This kind of school would seem to need licking into shape (8). 8 Taking advice, but rather too

hasty (8).

10 A kettle or some greater vessel

might be doing it (8).

13 This nautical official would be a better man without his fourth letter (0),

14 A fishy alias (7). 16 This would ruin

-- course (0).

the act, ot

18 Did his human part ever back the rest of hun to win, we won- der (7).

The questioning finally ended and the deal was consummated. Tatlana was set to arranging Madame's hair. to hunting Monsieur's shoel Mikail Georges

wanted his tle pressed- Helene wanted her gown hooked! All four wanted the same thing at The same moment!

Then

a shriek 19 What to say to the little beast from Helene: "Fifi in lost!"

when you give it drink (0). Madame went into a frenzy! Her 20 A political Inbel (7). darling Pekinese! Ho must be 25 To do this is straightening (8). found! Her fe will be shattered! 20 Tinted with its end perhaps

find this wordy affair a fetter around

Tatiana must look for the darling! (B). Mikail must look! What

does, the 27 A 20 across might

dinner mailer! The lost shoe! What does anything matter! If Fifi is not his beginning (0),

found within Ave minutes butter

The

Mikail

(8).

DOWN

perhaps

maid will be fired! Tollana 28 Notorious suggestion of a 'na-

tionalistic 27 across was almost in tears at the prospect! But within a split second of the 29 A coln to take note of (4). deadline in trotted Fin with the 30 Prelude to the findings (6). shoe in her moutht

lowed despoir! Delight followed new servants were marvels!

1 Entirely vetoed except for one offered to telephone to M. Chauf-

of the billiards balls" (0), fourier-Dubieff, of the Bank of 2 Coolness is mostly no light France that the

malter abroad (8). the Dupants would be

3 Wherein on hand! They wondered how he

many

hos cheerfully risked the stake (0). knew so great a mani At last Mon- sicur and Madame were off to the

Does he use vanishing cream on dinner!

Georges and Heléne up-

his hands? (8). stairs and Tatiana and Mikell in their room. "It is," alghed Tatlona, "Paradise!" From their window they could see the cross of a Russlan Church and the bells were ringing. "God be praised," said Mikoll, "28- pecially for the bed!"

оп

Loud knocking at their door, dis- closed young Georges with fencing folls, mask and gloves. "I want you to clean these epers," he said cur- tly.

I'm using thein to-night and I'm late!" When Helene came down with her guitar later, she WAS omazed to see Georges and Mikall fencing with terrifle gusto!

Later there were cocktails of Tatiana's mixing in the kitchen- music of Tatiana's making on the guitar wild Russian songs in which all joined and much talk of a cer- tain Russian night club (not named) Not a Bolshevik place where the comrades hailed each other Tovarich but

gathering place of the aristocratic refugees the White Russians! The butler and mald might be going the next night poss- blyJust to look, en Georges and: Helene, glanced it each other know

To; be Continued)

G -man

0 A trial indeed, and not at all

popular (8).

Needed

30

7 The hand that was doubled (4)..

It may have to be cleared be- fore the post is reached (6),

11 It has one leg in the middle,

and is not allowed (7).

12 This trouble is middling painful

(7),

13 Reading shows us a S. Ameri-

ean lass (7).

16 Parade (0).

17 The ruinbow shows it (8). 10 Part of the passage is 'orrid!

(8)

21 No hot-headed Oriental (6). 22 The man the complaint came

from? (0),

23 Each end of this opening is fint!

(0).

24 A little word in bad Italian

(4).

Saturday's Solution. BBBE MUSCLE DARKNESS AUE

NECO SANDAL

8 ANTIAGOTED""R|

NCL RILON A

{MATHEMATICIAN

■ $BM GLUED STO SCALPEL SA TRADE FEROM OPUNGTILIOUBLY WBEN HUNNN E

"TỮNGA ÇATCHING

GOVERNIASU GI

BOG SECURITY B TANOE E T T

Urgently

MEN'S, WOMEN'S & CHILDREN'S

CLOTHING

Hongkong Benevolent Society

MONDAY THURSDAY

..

10 a.m. to 12 Noon,

11 Ice House: Street,