UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 220, 13 June 1930, Page 11

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

' Sir, —Unemployment is undoubtedly a • social evil, and must be attacked as such, without any consideration for poh- • tical or personal views, which may have to be sacrificed, in order to overcome this eancer to civilisation. It behoves every ■ individual to help in this fight by keepf ing the “subject” in the forefront of all discussions, whether at Rotary, union ' or other social meetings, where views may be expressed toward that end. Me do not need to enlarge upon or magnify ■ the effects of this social scourge, which . gradually undermines the morals, as well as the health of the community; but let 1 the discussion be frank, admitting any . malpractices of our present industrial ■ world, which tend to swell the figures ‘ of the unemployed, even if giving monetary values to the few. In such discussions of to-day we hear it stated that the wives of those in steady employment are I .in positions that could be well filled by • others seeking such, and even by these . “bread winners” who have no employment, and whose wives cannot take their places on the industrial market. There is also the evil of the duplication of employment which may -be practised more than we would care to admit. . . Now. Sir, instead of registering all the “unemployed” the system could be reversed, and every male, married and single, and every spinster i“ employment shall be registered as such. Through the already existing labour exchanges these i facts could be recorded by card system. and those same cards, or rather du- > plicate, kept by the employer of those s concerned. The employer should be held : liable, in all cases, that he received each • employee’s card, stamped by the exchange, 1 when he engaged that individual, and re- , tained it until he left his employment. It. , should be laid down that no married woman could seek employment, there bet ing already spinsters unemployed, with- . out n “card,” which she would not be t entitled to. except in the case of the husband becoming unemployed through sickness or otherwise. The moment the hus- " band was reinstated in employment, he ' would need his card, and his wife would l have to resume her duties nt home, and 1 away from the industrial market. No . man could work for more than one em--1 • -doyer. which appears in most cases to • be slightly remunerative tn that individ--8 uni but to the detriment of nnother. prob- : ably some maimed ex-service mnn or aged ’ worker, who that particular job might fust suit. —I am. etc., - J SEMPER FIDELIS, t Wellington. June 10.