UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 20633, 5 November 1930, Page 9

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

INCREASED EFFICIENCY BRITISH LIBERALS' PROPOSALS PrtH IsMciatio*—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, November 3. “ Britain’s position rather resembles that of Australia, except that we can finance ourselves from our savings. We have still great overseas investments, and we have not suffered the enervating effects of tariffs,” says a Liberal pamphlet which deals with unemployment and is signed by Mr Lloyd George, Lord Lothian, and Mr Seebohm Rowntree. “ The real facts must be presented in such a manner as to compel action, and the best course in that respect would be a conference representative of employers, trades unions, hanks, and distributors, to which the Government would point out the seriousness of the industrial position.” The pamphlet proposes a 10 per cent, cut in the. national expenditure on the recommendations of the new “ Axe Committee,” which would report within six months. The pamphlet also proposes the creation of 100,000 family farms, aiming at the capture of as much as possible of the dairy products mow imported from abroad. The proposals include a £250,000,000 loan to finance a variety of schemes in connection with roads, ■ housing, town planning, and telephone and electrical development, providing, together with the agricultural proposals, work for 700,000 people, which figure, rising to 1,000,000, is that at which the booklet puts the number of unemployed in excess of those normally in the course of transfer between industries, which has been persistent since the war. It fears that the number of unemployed will reach 2,500,000 before Christmas. It is also proposed to encourage industrial banks to restore the export credit system, especially in view of the development ■of Russian trade, vigorously press for Empire development, and advertise British-grown goods on the lines of the Marketing Board. The pamphlet adds: “The real way out is increased efficiency, meaning that trade unionists must not limit their output and other parties in industry must make similar sacrifices.”