POSITIVE POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 11

POSITIVE POLICY.

TO REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT. EXAMPLE OF AUSTRALIA. "Economic conditions arc. very much the same in both Australia and New Zealand, and there id no doubt that some of the measures adopted in Australia could have been adopted with benefit in this country," said Mr. H. J Kelliher, who returned by the Mariposa this morning from Sydney. "Speaking generally, unemployment figures are the best financial barometer of any country, and in this connection Australia is undoubtedly Well ahead of New Zealand. They appear to be reaping the. benefits from tile policy adopted sonic years ago, of encouraging intensive industrial developments. This is sadly lacking in New Zealand, and to absorb surplus labour into ordinary Industrial channels under present conditions has proved an impossible task. As far as I can see, unemployment seems to have become a minor trouble in Australia, but with us it is Still a major problem."

Mr. Kelliher said that it was fairly obvious that the policy of inaction pursued by our Government was to a certain extent, responsible for this lack of improvement. By going from one extreme to the other, and discontinuing all railway construction, depleting- highways funds, and reducing public works expenditure to an unprecedented minimum, the Government had certainly added thousands to the unemployed ranks. On the other hand Australia, early in the history of the depression, had adopted a more enterprising policy, which comprised a comprehensive public works programme, financed by a series of internal loans, the restoration of wage cuts where ever practicable, the payment of standard wages by local bodies for standard works, and to encourage and assist industrial development as much as possible. The cxtont to which that policy had succeeded was reflected in the present unemployment figures for N.S.W., which showed a reduction from over 200,000 to less than 85,000.