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Mr. Smith : Mr. Chairman, as the previous speaker has referred to me by name, I would like to say that I am well acquainted with the Queensland scheme, especially in regard to the workers in my own industry ; and, unfortunately, we find that the scheme is used to make profit for the Government. Of the premiums paid, 41-17 per cent, goes in benefits, 15*22 per cent, in administration expenses —a total of 56 per cent. ; and the balance as profit to the State Department. Mr. Purtell: Are not the premiums less ? Mr. Smith : They may be in some industries ; but, unfortunately, the scheme is used as a source of revenue. Mr. Roberts : Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, there is really very little for me to reply to, except the statement made by Mr. Smith. I suppose it will be useless for this Conference to discuss the question as to whether State or private enterprise would be best. It does not come within our purview. I want to assure the Conference, however, that the labour section here considers that workers' compensation should be a State social service, with all due respect to Mr. Smith's views with regard to too much business in Government-. A Delegate : The other way round. Mr. Roberts : I am Irish, and entitled to say a thing the wrong way,round. We do say that if the State can do this thing cheaper than private enterprise, and give better service, the State should be given the job to do. Mr. Smith : If you pay the premiums, you can call the tune. Mr. Roberts : I do not want to go into that question too far, but if there were no workers in industry there would be very little premiums on the employers' part to pay. The workers enable the employers to get the money for the premiums. If it were not given to them by industry and the operations of industry, they could not pay the premiums. We consider that it should be a State social service ; but the question is whether the State can run this service better and cheaper than private enterprise. If it can, the State should undertake the service. That is all that I have to say about that matter. I desire to conclude by saying that I am very pleased at the unanimity that exists within the Conference in regard to this important matter. The Conference was called primarily to establish industrial peace. As I stated previously at this Conference, on the average in New Zealand every worker in industry meets with an accident every five years ; and if that worker receives good treatment from the employer, from the State, or from the insurance company, or whoever renders the service, when he meets with an accident, you make him a more contented worker when he comes back after the accident. It is a bad thing to let him come back a dissatisfied man. The special committee did justice to itself when it brought down this report; the Conference will do justice to itself by adopting it; and I hope that the Government will give it immediate consideration, set up the committee to make the investigations absolutely necessary, particularly in regard to occupational diseases, and carry the necessary legislation. If a worker meets with an accident in industry and it is found when he goes back that as a result of that accident he is incapacitated again, the worker should have a claim under the compensation law of the country. I trust that the necessary legislation will be an outcome of this Conference. That is all I have to say. The motion, " That the recommendations in respect of workers' compensation be adopted," was carried unanimously. The Report as a Whole. The Chairman: It is proposed now to ask you to take the report as a whole. You have dealt with each motion separately, and approved of them, and it is now proposed that a motion be moved that the report of the special sub-committee as a whole be adopted. I will call on Mr. Bloodworth. to move that motion. Mr. Bloodworth : As chairman of the sub-committee, I now move, That the report as a whole be adopted. lam sure it is very greatifying to every member of the sub-committee to know that the report we have brought down on these important matters has met with such a cordial reception, and that we have been able to do this much in the direction of reaching unanimity : because, when this Conference was first suggested, there were many people who said it would prove absolutely useless ; that there could not possibly be any good outcome, and it would mean the waste of money. I think the fact that we have been able to reach a unanimous finding with regard to three important matters proves that those people were wrong, but that a great deal of good can be achieved by a gathering of this kind. I now ask leave to touch upon a matter which has been mentioned by Mr. Henderson. On behalf of the sub-committee, and I think I can add on behalf of the Conference, I would ask the gentlemen in charge of the press of the Dominion on either side —those in charge of organs representing the workers' side as well as those in charge of organs representing the employers' side—when they criticize the proposals which have come forward —we do not expect them not to criticize them—to exercise a tolerant judgment in dealing with these very important resolutions. We know that from, time to time statements appear in the papers which do not help either the one side or the other regarding views which have been put forward. Those instances appear not only in the press of one side, but in the press of the other, and it is possible that if any such cases occur in the future they may do a great deal to undo whatever good may have been done by this Conference by the adoption of the recommendations brought down. Mr. Williams : I have much pleasure in seconding the motion, and I feel proud to do so. I would like to endorse what has been said by the mover, and express my personal gratification at the reception which this report has met with. There has not been any severe criticism of the work of the subcommittee, and that, again, is also a subject for gratification. But it is quite clear that probably on both sides there are many members who would have liked us to go perhaps somewhat further than we have in considering these various questions. Well, sir, in my opinion, and probably in that of most of the members of otir sub-committee, anything in the nature of drastic change appears to be a thing

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