SLOWLY RECOVERING

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 128, 1 June 1935, Page 9

SLOWLY RECOVERING

NEWFOUNDLAND'S WELFARE

A GRATIFYING REPORT

(BritisU Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 31.

A report by the Commission of Government on the unemployment situation in Newfoundland, furnished by the Governor (Sir Murray Anderson), at the request of the Dominions Secretary (Mr. J.H. Thomas), has been issued as a White Paper.

The Commission of Government took over early in 1934, and the report shows that a substantial improvement in conditions has been made since then in several ways. The report describes two kinds of unemployment in Newfoundland—the normal unemployment of the fishing population during the offseason, and the unemployment among the industrial population, largely confined to St. John's—and details practicable measures taken to remedy the situation.

Last year the earnings of the fishermen increased by over 1,000,000 dollars. To overcome industrial unemployment a policy of land settlement is being tried, and in the meantime an organisation for relief has been improvised and assistance increased.

Commenting on the report, "The Times" points out that the general improvement is reflected, not only in an increase of revenue in spite of tariff reductions on articles of common necessity, but in an all-round increase of business and industrial activity. Conditions on the island were so deplorable when the Commission took over the responsibility that progress must necessarily be slow.