Unemployment Problems.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19852, 13 February 1930, Page 10

Unemployment Problems.

Much interest will attach to the second report of the special committee, consisting of representatives of employers apd workers and of certain Government os}pji|Js, appointed by the Government to investigate unemployment. The first report, issued lftst year, was chiefly because it set flijt plainly certain fundamental economic fftcts; and it is useful to recall these, pipes they wi}} be—-or shoujd be—the basis of the report now in the hapds of Cabinet and awaited by the public. The first report declare# thqt New Zealand's prosperity depends on the margin between the selling price of our exported prqducts qnd their cost of production and delivery, and that from this margin must come the capital for breaking in more land, expanding existing industries, an 4 establishing new ones. Broad conclusions were deduced and compressed as follows: (1) Our principal business is the fcrqduetion of exportable farm products. It is a profitable business and capable of steady expansion, though with a tendency towards lower prices; (2) in prifflliy prpduction and associated industries the largest possible proportion of our population and pf our capital should be engaged; (3) there will ajw? be p proportion of population and capital which cannot be employed in primary production but usefully employable in other industries; (4) I

costs in both primary production and other industries must be kept low to encourage the growth of export trade; (5) costs of local government and State services enlarge the cost of primary production and should be carefully controlled; (6) changed in industrial method, with other causes, will lead to unemployment, from time to time, and provision for relief must be made. The committee observed, of course, that relief work should be useful and productive work; that cave is needed to avoid providing permanent relief work for inefficient labour; and that the cost should be spread as evenly as possible over the whole community, for, if made a tax on industry, it may aggravate the problem. After a close statistical survey, the committee found unemployment to be due to: seasonal fluctuations; the effect of these on other than seasonal industries; the displacement of manual labour by the introduction of new processes, materials, and machines; widespread trade depression; incapacity or faulty training. Remedies were suggested for seasonal unemployment, principally afforestation, sand dune reclamation, and the fur industry, and the provision of homes for country workers. The committee indicated that the second report would deal with land settlement, the development of new branches of industry connected with the land, the development of secondary industries, vocational education, and immigration. These are subjects of capital interest; and Mr Veitch's profuse welcome of the report has aroused expectations which it is to be hoped will not be dashed.