SUSTENANCE RATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 185, 6 August 1936, Page 6

SUSTENANCE RATES.

I agree that the Government lias failed in its duty to the unemployed, but it is difficult to imagine it taking any worthwhile action 011 behalf of the sustenance men, so reactionary do its ideas appear to be in such matters as unemployment and finance. As regards the first, it does not seem unfair to conclude that the sustenance rates are being kept at a lowlevel in order that the unemployed may he prevailed upon to accept whatever work is (jffering in P.W.D. camps and on farms. This to some may seem reasonable enough; but it has to be remembered that if Mr. Semple carries out his original policy of using machinery in place of human labour wherever that is possible, the number of unemployed absorbed is likely to be relatively small. Again, it should be obvious that an excellent way to create employment would be to stimulate the demand for commodities by those at present unemployed. This would result from the Government's greatly increasing the sustenance rates. However, it seems to prefer to allow the unemployed to eke out their existence in their present miserable fashion. The alternative, it appears, would involve a departure from the principles of "sound" finance. R.F.P-.