The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1928. THE TRUTH ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10725, 24 October 1928, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1928. THE TRUTH ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT.

After reading the unfair attempts on the part of Mr. Holland and his henchmen of the hustings to saddle upon the Government the whole blame for unemployment, arising in this Dominion, the electors musthave found it. refreshing to..turn to the well-considered comments on the matter by the ‘ Minister for Public Works in the course 7 of his Tokomaru Bay address. • It is really a great pity that the Hon. K„ S. Williams does not do a great deal more in the way of public speaking, seeing that his utterances are, invariably, marked by such sound reasoning. Mr Williams, it will have been noted, showed, most convincingly, that it was beyond the power of human agency to foresee and prevent the industrial dislocation that Has been associated with post-war conditions. Every honest person will share his viewpoint that the depression following upon the fall in the prices of primary produce in 1921 was the main cause of the diminution in the amount of employment available. It was, however, as he Lirtber says, not the only cause for less labor being required in this Dominion, especially in the rural districts. ,The mechanical progress that has been made in recent years has,, unquestionably, reduced manual labor very appreciably on the farms and in connection with transport; • as well as in the.-matter of construction work generally. Mr Williams'.also did well to remind the electors that a very great deal of the development work has now been completed and that, consequently, much less winter work is now available in the rural districts. It Will thus be seen that what, the depiession served to do Was make more grave an awkward position- that mas hound to have arisen in any event as a result of newer mechanical devices being introduced on Overy Hand to cut down manual labor. The Government boUld hot, of course, • have ’foreseen that so many hew forms of labor-savihg machinery would become so extensively used in such a short period. - Just as unreasonable would it- be for a Government to attempt to forecast what further new devices may be invented within the 1 next decade 1 r It is no doubt 1 tile position that, if fewer, immigrants- bad been brought to this Dominion, xhent would have been less grave. But, as Mr, Williams pointed out, if the War had not taken pl» ce > hhd there had been no immigration, there would have been just as many male workers in this country- as-at piesent,. a-hd/ in case of slump, unemployment . w.dhld: have been just a s rife. As -against that contention, it may, of course, bp suggested that, if there hod' toon no war, there might hot have bben . ahy depression. No - country dependent on otifc-

sid«^4a^is©ts';can,/ however, bank an » continuance - 'pr, prosperous tiiribs., The fact of the introduction of so hi any .new labor-saving devices,, and the completion of so much develophient ‘work in the rural districts, eould.. hot; have failed, sooner or later, to;adversely affect, employment. Ih short, a Very big problem, therefore, now confronts this and ievery other dominion which relies jmainly on t its primary industries—that of providing plenty of outside inahual work in f winter as well as in summer—and the Government is to b© commended on its decision'to have .the question '.probed deeply.. with a •view. tofinding a suitable),remedy.v