The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1926. A FUTILE CONFERENCE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 10489, 14 October 1926, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1926. A FUTILE CONFERENCE

The conference at Auckland over the unemployment problem did not reslult in ai#' real progross being made in the direction of finding a means of coping with the difficulty. In strict fact, the discussion amounted to a sheer waste of good time. There can be no question but that the Minister for Labor, if not the Minister for Lands also, had previously formed the opinion that political motives actuate the leaders of the complainants. And it is hard to escape coming to a like conclusion! What appears to be the position is that certain critics of the Government in the north are using the unemployment difficulty as a weapon with which to attack its administraion, especially in respect of land settlement and of immigration. The Government,, however, was not , very happy in its choice of representatives to attend the conference, although, in ordinary circumstances, that duty was bound to fall, to a large extent, upon the holders of the portfolios of Labor and Lands. In the absence of the Prime Minister, much better results might have obtained if the acting-leader of the Government, the Hon. W. Downio Stewart, had also been present, as was the case in connection with tlie earlier conference at Wellington, which, however was noteworthy only for a determined stand (>v Ministers that too much was being expected of the Government in the matter. On his part, the Minister for Labor, at Auckland, was content to hold that far too much fuss is being made over the unemployment proldem. To his way of thinking, the number in need of work is infinitesimal. But, whilst this Dominion is, no doubt, fortunate in that it has had less unemployment in proportion to population than any other British country, the Minister had nothing to gain by quoting only the unemployment registrations made with the Labor-Dept. He must know that those figures do not fully represent the unemployment position. Then, again, the rejoinder made by Mr McLeod was also altogether too weak. On reading his remarks, one might be excused for coming to the conclusion that the Government is bankrupt of any ideas as to how to promote further land settlement on sound lines and thus afford more employment. What the public will say is that it would seem that it is high time that Mr. McLeod strengthened his Department. The result of the conference must be even more detrimental to the Government’s prestige than was the conference a.t Wellington. It is a piece of had luck for the Prime Minister that two of his weakest colleagues should have attended such an important- conference as that which was held in Auckland in his absence and in the absence of his deputy. In all the circumstances, Mr Downie Stewart would act wisely if he were to convene a Cabinet meeting at an early date, so that Ministers going on tour .might be placed in a much better position to deal with such important subjects. The Ministers in question would appear to have expounded simply their own ideas at Auckland and their attitude was oerfcainly not that of strong statesmen. Mir. Downie Stewart must, surely, now appreciate the fact that these problems need to be much more deeply investigated. Although it has an immense majority, the Government must,, produce the best possible results when big problems require to be tackled. It will' not satisfy the electors if its mouthpieces take up the stand that nothing more can be done apart from what /lias been attempted in any particular direction.