MINISTER’S PLEA FOR CO-OPERATION

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 266, 6 August 1937, Page 12

MINISTER’S PLEA FOR CO-OPERATION

Unemployment Problem SINKING OF PARTY DIFFERENCES Dominion Special Service. Wanganui, August 5. Staling that the unemployment question was one which demanded the sinking of all party differences and required hearty co-operation between the Government and local bodies throughout New Zealand, the Acting-Minister of Labour, Hon. P. C. Webb, said at ■i conference in Wanganui to-day of local bodies and other organisations that the Government had a heavy responsibility, but that other bodies must also do their share. The Minister added that the principle of sustenance was wrong, morally and economically. The unemployed wanted work, and it was incumbent on the Government and local bodies to find that necessary work. The men on sustenance were consumers, not producers, and no man was happy unless he, too, could render some service to the community for what he received. The Government desired to give these men the opportunity of expressing their energy in useful and creative work. “They can do nothing but consume wealth while on sustenance, but the moment we take them off sustenance they begin to create wealth,” said the Minister. He added that of the men now registered as unemployed, 12,000 to 15,000 required to be classed as unable to accept work even if it were offered. Many were incapable of contributing to the community services, but this factor was no fault of theirs, and provision had to be made for them. “Many men cannot render good social service with a pick, shovel, or wheelbarrow, but we must find avenues to suit them. The men who are prematurely old and cannot keep up with the pace of modern industry must also be provided for,” said the Minister. He referred also to the Government superannuation scheme, which, he believed, would be law long before this time next year. The scheme would give the people of New Zealand the economic security to which they were entitled as a national right.