LAND AND LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 91, 14 October 1931, Page 8

LAND AND LABOUR

The statement submitted lo the House of Representatives by Mr. Coates last night was a clear and well-compiled review of the present position. Emphasis was rightly laid upon the need for action which would help the country to get ahead of the rising unemployment registrations. This need has been perceived from the beginning, but conditions have been so difficult that the Unemployment Boards, both old and new, have been unable to make headway. It is unnecessary to restate all the facts. Those who have followed the work of the Board know that immediately after its formation it was compelled, by a sharp rise in unemployment, to devise measures for immediate relief. Such measures have since taken all its funds and most of its time. So that some headway may be made there must be more money for the reproductive work which will give permanent relief. If additional funds can be obtained without increasing the wages tax, so much the better, but it is better to levy a tax of fivepence in the pound for a while and effect an improvement in the position than to keep the levy at threepence and make no progress.

Finance is the key to a settlement. The general principles enunciated by Mr. Coates are sound, but for success in applying them funds are essential. If, with the aid of more money, some thousands of men are transferred from the roads to the land, production will be increased and opportunities for employment will become more plentiful. The extension of the No. 4 schemes for this purpose is quite sound; but it will be necessary to guard against abuse, especially as the season is opening in which, in the ordinary •course, farmers would require more labour. Care must be taken that the subsidy is not used to pay for the summer work which would be carried out in . any circumstances. The labour must be genuinely additional.

The more labour can be diverted to the land (provided it is not on a permanent subsidy basis) the more call there will be for labour elsewhere —in the transport, industries and in all the occupations which supplement primary production. But it will still be necessary to explore the possibilities of employment in other directions. It is to be hoped that the Board will be able to achieve something in this direction, and if it has the full co-operation of all concerned it should do much. It can discover, for example, to what extent labour restrictions are really hindering industry, and it can (with the Department of Industries and Commerce) point the way to a sound organisation of manufacturing enterprise. As the Minister pointed out, a great weakness of our industrial position is the absence of co-ordin-ation. There are too many small factories, carrying too much overhead expenditure. Manufacturers may say that they are no more at fault in this way than farmers, who have generally landed themselves in difficulties by forcing up land values. But excuses do not provide remedies. It is necessary now that all concerned should co-operate in seeing how deadweight may be removed, and [■■reparation made for a new advance.