REMEDIES FOR UNEMPLOYMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 238, 7 October 1932, Page 6

REMEDIES FOR UNEMPLOYMENT.

As regards unemployment, why not try shorter working hours? Trades should be kept under the Arbitration Act. Harried people, either husband or wife, should be allowed to draw salary or wages, but not both. There should be contributory old a"e pension at 60 years. It would not do to ihavo men just turned sixty in idleness, so I would have them do community work, something like the No. 5 scheme, the pensioners to have a living wage. With that pension 6eheme in operation there would 'be a chance for cur ■boys to find positions. The problem of employment for men and toys cannot bo separated. As regards boys, it is all very well to say, "Oh, put them on the land." Boys leading school have their dreams of romance, adventure, achievement (just as it should be), and if they have read "Ivanhoe" and "Treasure Island" they will want to do something worth while. To expect a boy to be'' enthusiastic over milking cows at 4 a.m. (might *be all right in a few cases, but I am afraid would leave the majority cold. Farming for boys will have to be made more interesting. (I know all about the hardy pioneer stuff.) Henry Ford, I believe, advocates part-time jobs, six months country, six months town. It can be done. Everyone in New Zealand should know something about farming. I would have agriculture a compulsory subject in our schools, both for boys and girls. Get them interested while young and explain liow vitally important it is to New Zealand. It often happens that > man would go farming, but his wife does not care about it. The advantages of shorter hours should be obvious to all. It is a strange fact, but humans generally are averse to change. Machinery should be a blessing to mankind, but it is used principally to swell profits. There ought to ibe one currency for the Empire. Of course, there would be difficulties, but difficulties are only meant to 'be overcome. / JOHN MacDONALD.