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Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 34, 10 February 1927, Page 10

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The position at present as regards unemployment is extremely acute, and from now on through the winter there seems no prospect of a betterment, unless the Government honestly sets to one side political matters and gives itself up. to a solution of the problem. For a start, this steady stream of immigration should be stopped. Another 280 immigrants arrived by the lonic. Aye positions open for the male members of this immigration quota? If so, why were these positions not filled, even temporarily, by men at present idle? If there are no positions awaiting these men, they are either going to swell the numbers of the unemployed or replace workers who will then themselves be workless. By all means New Zealand should help the Mother Country with her own unemployment problem, but New Zealand should set a limit and not absorb immigrants and find them employment at the expense of her own working class. Another point is: AVhat steps is the Government taking to alleviate the distress caused by this position? The matter is both grave and urgent, and it is rapidly becoming an issue wherein the present party in power will rise or fall. What the public would like is a statement from the Government dealing with the question in all its phases. Mr. Coates has been away for some considerable period, and it may be some time before he can settle down to work. He will need some time to study the problem, but an assurance that the matter will get immediate and undivided attention would suffice meanwhile. Then it behoves the "Man who gets things done"* to make some honest effort to get into grips with the unemployment problem and save the country from a period of unrest.—l urn, etc., '

NEW ZEALAND. Feilding, 9th February.