Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1930. UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD.

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1930, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1930. UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD.

Unemployment Board is now launched on its career, and can be said to have made a fair start. The members are taking the country into their confidence, and are appealing for general help, wisely emphasising that the task of the Board is also the task of the whole nation, and neither side must shirk its share of the burden. The Board is feeling its way, its initial subsidy offer not being reckless, but presumably more generous grants will be forthcoming in due course. lEmphasis is made that the £25,000 now offered is to tide the unemployed over Christmas, when it would be against the seasonal spirit that any person should be in .want. The need of. the distressed, however, will be just as great after Christmas as before and no re-action after*the Yuletide effort should be permitted.

It is gratifying to note /that some of-the members of the Board realise the .desirability of getting rid of the Board, and the need for special taxation, as well as overcoming unemployment. It is to be hoped that all these aims will be constantly kept in view. Unemployment relief (whatever nomenclature is applied to it) is a regrettable social evil, and should always be regarded as such. As Mr. O, D. Young (author of the German reparations-payment plan) recently declared: —‘ ‘ The idleness of men who wish to work is the most dangerous surplus which can exist in any country. Its paralysing blight reaches pot into our economics alone, but goes much further. We must learn how to deal with this kind of surplus. It is ridiculous to speak of unemployment as a necessary condition of human society. It is nothing more than a maladjustment of its machinery. It is a blot on our intelligence. It is a drain on our sympathy. It is a promoter o,f charity which affects disadvantageous!?’ hotli those who give and those who receive- Some da?’ we shall learn to do better, but we must learn it soon.”

It will be .‘i wretched day for New Zealand should its people come to accept serious unemployment as a permanent factor. The temptation to do so will increase during the next two years, when the new Board is actively operating. Trouble will be saved local bodies by the special efforts of the Board, and this may cause what should be a temporary burden to be always with us. Nor, must it be overlooked that the Board is offering only subsidies, which means that local money has to be spent in as least equal proportions, on unemployment relief. Care must be taken by local bodies not to be beguiled by the “subsidy” .offer, and to refrain from undue expenditure; Every addition to the rates, or to taxation, adds to the

possibility of marc unemployment. The country is to be commended for the manner in whieh it has received what, must be to most men, unwelcome legislation. Despite rumours of non-co-operation, the levies are being paid freely, and no serious efforts have yet been made to evade the new- responsibilities. Whether this attitude will last depends on the experiences of next year. If the workers find that advantage is being taken of the new relief facilities, their enthusiasm is sure to wane, and passive resistance in some circles may develop. The wages paid on “relief” works will be a source of friction, unless the spirit of give and take is mutual. The proposal to place the question before the Arbitration Court, seems to offer no way out of the difficulty, as if the Court’s decision were for lower wages, workers, generally, might regard that as a threat to’themselves. For the time being, it appears advisable to pay the usual wage-rate, if only to secure industrial peace.