"CURSE AND BLIGHT”

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11323, 29 September 1930, Page 3

"CURSE AND BLIGHT”

Ib; L ’ THE DOLE' SYSTEM - ’ %

WARNING TO ,DOMINION

! ."Unemplpyrnont can bo rcducod and porkers may be nelievod in. mdny ways but it is, an impossibility, to koep everyone in constant work: every hour; eve’ry week, all the .year’ round; in fact, some peoplo would . b’e sur r prised *if .it 'was .stated!' that a fair amount; of, unemployment is' a necessity.” states' Mr., Albert . Spencer, president, of,, the. Auckland. Broyincial Employers’ A ssociatiofi, : in ’ a review of the labour problems of the Dominion. ...... .

L Mr. Spencer issues a warning against , the' creation of an army of Government- o/llcals to administer unemployment insurance, and considers that the system would ho a “blight and' a curso to. the workers of the Country;”

' “A. large - number of workers.” ho says,“leave, their, jobs for a change; they get tired of working all the time without, a break; in, fact,, unemployment is a -'necessity if industries are (o expand suocessfully. If everybody was [working, .how could a' newiindustry be started ? If every worker was fully occupied, the existing industries could not expand. Every employer would he competing against his fellowemployer to lake a way his employees, and : the effect of this -bidding for,labour, would soon 'destroy the .whole foundation of industry.” • Mr. 'Spencer says that in England the, theory had been upset . that :* with security against want men would work, well and output would increase. England had; more ■ “ca . ennny,” more agitation, and more unemployment tiineo ..the... workers, had received economic security against starvation"than ever before. To-day all over the world tnst numbers of workers’ recognise no duty to their, employer, or the State. In -England especially they had; learned to regret public" relief as rightful and .proper. They, thought they , were under ’no particular obligation to seek Work for themselves, or to launch out. in any new line. When they got - employment they did not care whether they were efficient -or inefficient, whether the goods they produced were marketable or-.; not, or liow soon they were unemployed again.

BRITAIN’S MISTAKE 5 \*: . - • . . 1 “What harm is there in workers having a few weeks of unempfloyipent?” says Mr .Spencer. “This does not imply that the same men are out of work all the'time —they are in and put... Then there are Die seasonal workers, who work long hours, and earn good money,. which tides , them over the slack period when they become unemployed. When England started insurance against unemployment it was thought hy employers and workers' that production would increase to such an extent that unemployment would, he reduced considerably, ■ but unfortunately these hopes were never realised. , “Great Britain >is steadily losing ground in the greatest manufacturing industry, as she is in agriculture* Air. Spencer continues. “In first one line and. then another, she is_ gradually being ..overtaken and outdistanced by nations with sufficient intelligence to safeguard the industries upon which they depend. There is no first, second, .or tbird-rate foreign nation which will for one moment entertain the bare idea of following Great Britain’s. example in fiscal and industrial imbecility. “There is not a foreign Goyernment in the wide world that levies such oppressive taxes on industry as Groat Britain. There is no nation iu ' the world which pays hundreds of millions away in charity and doles hy paying men and women to do nothing. British industrial plants are lying idle helping foreign competitive goods to pour into the country. This is. wlmt the dole has done for Great Britain,” We had had full warning in New Zealand, and we should profit by this amazing pauperising and demoralising Act introduced into England an illustration of what would happen in this country if any such unfortunate legislation was passed by Parliament.

“BLACK DAY FOR NEW ZEA LAND”

“It will be a black daj- for New Zealand if any unemployment insurance is passed,” says Mr. Spencer. ‘lt means setting up a new Government Department, employing an army of officers to carry out the work, and every year the benefits would be increased" and the cost to the counti j would be a heavy annual tax. In a young country like New Zealand whfere the conditions totally differ from Great Britain, unemployment insurance would be a blight and a curse to the workers and to the country. It would cripple industry, pauperise the workers, destroy all independence, initiative,- and self-reliance, would create less respect to employers;; and would gradually create a pat ion of beggars and inefficient loafers demanding it as their right to be fed.” We* have to live in a competitive wo rid. .Competition, if fair,, is the mainspring of’ industrial development. • ' ’ • “New Zealand, has" limited resources." of undeveloped, country < requiring thousands of workers building roads and - bridges, -planting trees, breaking in virgin land, ploughing, fencing, sowing, and hundreds of other jobs waiting to be done, but , this work of developing the country will never be done if we introduce the insurance dole. “Another aspect in unemployment is tho ever-changing flow of industry, the fluctuations of commerce, new inventions, superseding old and established businesses, the cliango of fashions, the change of seasons, ( the growing ’and increasing amount of recreation,, which all effect changes in the demand for labour and all render it impossible to have an 'even and regular -scheme of employment. The weather, storms,- droughts, all have their effect., on labour, eeed time and harvest all..cause irregularity in the use of 'labour, ’■[ ' . I “In- New .Zealand, on the mam fiointa-thei.expanston of our secondary industries—,wo - need, a new' policy. .As a new, 'country full ’of possibilities, we seem to do more to handicap our productive industries, more to dry up the’ well springs of employment, and lossAto lencourage; 1 encourage;- wage-paying enterprises. , Let: us get. busy hand" encourage the' growth and development of new industries and improve the economical working ,of : the i present ones.”