The Hawera Star. MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1927. THE UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 24 January 1927, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1927. THE UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM.

Delivered every, evening by 5 o'clock in Haw-cra. Manaia, tJormanby, Okaiawn Kltlm.m, Maneatolri. Kaponga, Alf.->n H arley ville. F'atea. Waverley. Mokoia, Wha.kama.ra, Obangai, Mertinere. Prase/ Road and Ararat a.

The present, position regarding- unemployment in New Zealand- is disturbing. From Christchurch and- Auckland come the more disquieting reports. In the former centre 170 names were hecorded on the Department’s unemployed register at the end of last week, and recently a responsible authority in Auckland estimated that there were 1000 men in and about that city who wore workless, though •*he number officially recorded at that time was about 400. The position is obscured, and the sjunpathy of the public is to some extent alienated by statements that a large proportion of the men are not only unemployed, but unemployable —that they will not undertake work that for any reason is uncongenial. In view of these statements by social workers whose sympathy with the unemployed has been proved by many successive years of effort on their behalf, it cannot be doubted that it is true that some of the men are shirkers, but whether they represent a large or small proportion of the total is a. conclusion which no one would be justified in making. It is only natural that the man who has had ..dealings with two or three or more of the shirker class should lose patience with the claims of the unemployed to sympathy, but in common fairness to those who are suffering hardship at this season of the year, we have to exercise restraint in our judgment. Apart, from all considerations of the truth of the assertions made by those who ■plead hardship, the bald fact remains that there is an unemployed problem facing- the Dominion at a season when such difficulties should be furthest from our minds. The question that is uppermost in the minds of the public in this connection is: “What is going to be flie position in the winter?” This uneasiness as to the. near future is reflected in the statement of a member of one of the city unemployment committees to the effect that they did not dare appeal to the public for funds at the present stage in view of the greater urgency there would be for relief in the winter months. We know I,hat farmers can tell us of work offering in the country while men are said to be on the border-line of starvation in the city; but that does not necessarily mean that there are no genuine unemployed suffering hardship. Wo ‘have to admit that the Dominion is an plder-settled country than it was fifty /ve ars ago, and that we have now a generation of bread-winners who cling to the city and its environs as much through fear as through disinclination to brave the rigours of country life. The cities have taught them all they know, and they are afraid to leave what, to them, may seem their only hope of employment. And if a man walks the city streets until, he is penniless and foodlcss, it is then too late for him to turn to the country as he cannot trudge far upon an empty stomach and without boots. That is another side of the problem. It is not a complete answer to the charge that if they wore really in desperate want the unemployed would seek country work, but we. feel it, does represent one phase of their difficulties. To got such men into those paTts of the country where labour is wanted entails organisation by the cities and co-operation between public-spirited men in both urban anti rural areas. The unemployed problem, while, it is arousing n certain feeling of uneasiness, has not vet roused the whole country to the task of finding a solid ion, but those who me too busy now carrying out their daily tasks to give the subject the consideration it. warrants are ihe people who will have to foot rim bill in the winter, and it would be reassuring to some, extent to find that a naliorai consciousness of the seriousness of the problem was being awakened. For the year ended March 31, 192(5, 7100 men were employed by the Public Works Department, an increase of only 400 over the total for the corresponding period of the previous year, but on November 25 10,500 men were engaged,

and of that total at least 1200 were

drawing -wages from flic State for to* Hef work. Those figures represent only a portion of the additional burden imposed upon the country and the people as a whole; they do not include the thousands of pounds contributed privately for the provision of relief work. As we have said, it .could be reassuring to know that we.arc not entering upon a period of serious unemployment with nothing more in hand to meet it than a hope that we will muddle through. In a country so prolific in conferences on subjects big and small, it would not be, perhaps, expecting too much if we harboured a hope that those with the best knowledge of the state of the labour market, of the prospects of employment for the winter months, and rf the people’s capacity to carry the burden, from the point of view of national and individual resources, should meet, faee the worst and organise some scheme to combat it. And it would be interesting, too, to hear what the Government has to say, after the prospective demand and supply of -work have been examined anent a continuance of the present rate of assisted migration to this country.