Grey River Argus FRIDAY, August 24, 1928. THE LOCAL UNEMPLOYED.

Grey River Argus, 24 August 1928, Page 4

Grey River Argus FRIDAY, August 24, 1928. THE LOCAL UNEMPLOYED.

It was not without reason that the Borough Council last evening resolved to jog the memory of the Local Bodies, Loans Board as to the Greymouth application for authority' to raise a sum to relieve local unemployment. The discussion on the subject served to bring to light the fact that the poverty and unemployment at present in this district are the worst on record, and it can be

safely said that the indications point rather to an increase than lo a reduction in the extent of unemployment. The Councillors generally displayed a genuine concern for the plight of those who ;ue in distress, but the proposal to introduce something in the nature of a doss house, while it is undoubtedly well "meant, and would probably afford not a few homeless persons shelter, is very far indeed from anything like a remedy'for the difficulty. It does, however, demonstrate that this country, with this particular part of it, lias in very recent years unde rgonc a sad ami sinister transformation. In Ihe cities, it is true, doss houses and soup kitchens have become a commonplace, but it is an ill omen lo find that the necessity for sueh should be extending to the smaller towns. It would be, if at all possible, a preferable thing to insist upon the Government discharging its odvious responsibility to. cepe with the situation. Not. only could expenditure be directed into channels which would relieve the uneniploynieiit, instead of swelling already fat salaries, but New Zealand industry could be encouraged more effectually so as to absorb the surplus labour. Such a course should undoubtedly take precedence of immigration. It is something of a shock to contemplate the advent of such evidences of social degeneration as doss houses. The system giving them rise is radically at fault, because Hie fault cannot be laid at the door of the individual, when a comparison is made between the present and the .not distant past. A very large number of men are reported to be keenly looking for work, without success, and the real unemployment figures approximate a couple' of hundred. There Ist about to be an addition of something like one hundred and fifty miners to the total for the district as a whole. While it may not be desirable that idle nonresidents should be induced to eonie here in quest of work that is not to be had, it is at the same time desirable, as far as possible to avoid the necessity of workers having to. leave the dis- : t.rict in large, numbers. Therefore /the public should support the of- ■ ifdrts.of those lidvocating the emnloymeti' of more meii at the estate Alines and on the Buller h Gorge Railway. The wisdom of protesting' against the policy of ; giving Australian coal a preference over the New Zealand pr'o- ! duet is more generally realised 1 now than it was a year or two ago. However, one of the first steps in coping with’ the local unemployment problem is to make known its full dimensions, and then, as in several other places, means will bo gradually found to at least alleviate the worst hardships. It is, no doubt a realisation of the plight of not a few men who are homeless, and some of them migratory, which has prompted the suggestion to provide a municipal doss house: and it is reasonable to assume that when such an expedient is regarded as feasible, something still more helpful will eventually be devised sueh as will do away with the necessity for anything resembling even remotely the demoralising workhouses to which the increase of poverty gave rise in the Old Country.