The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1930. UNEMPLOYMENT, ARBITRATION AND RELIEF WORK.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 25 September 1930, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1930. UNEMPLOYMENT, ARBITRATION AND RELIEF WORK.

Delivered every evening by 6 o’olook in Hawera, Manaia, Kaupikonui, Otakeho, Oeo, Pihama, Opunake, Normanby, Okaiawa Eltham. Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe. Lowgarth, Manutahi Kakaramea, Alton. Hurleyville Patea, Whenuakura, Waverley. ilokoia, Whakarnara, Ohangai, Mereinere, Fraser K.oad, and Ararata.

One of the gloomiest facts which emerge from considerations of the unemployment problem in the Dominion is the readiness of a large number of people to accept the proposals of the Unemployment Bill, without protest against the system of allocating and paying for relief work, in the hope that the money so raised and spent, will “keep things quiet.” If that is not a policy of despair it too nearly deserves that description to be comforting. The wastage that is going on in connection with relief work is at last becoming a matter for general comment. Wherever one goes, one can hear well-authenticated instances of the mis-spending of this money. In Taranaki there is a district where the sheep are sadly in need of attention, but there is no labour available for the reason that most of the employed hands have left the farms for “relief” works on which they are paid fourteen shillings a day. No one blames the' men, and no one contends that even fourteen shillings a day represents a luxurious wage, but such ca'ses provide a sad commentary upon the courage, and even the good faith of the Government, in dealing with the unemployment problem. If some independent person could be appointed to make a personal investigation into the conduct of relief works, a tale could be told which would make some staggering revelations of administrative ineptitude and economic waste, to say nothing of the neglect of real cases of distress, due to.genuine inability to get work. It isi now proposed to raise [£600,000 per annum by a direct levy upon all male workers over the age of 20 years and subsidise that amount by £3010,000, which will come from the tax-paving section of the community. If there were any guarantee that only the genuine unemployed were to benefit, either in wages or in sustenance allowances, from this fund, few people would complain, but it is apparent that nobody has any definite plan other than to raise money quickly and surely for expenditure along the same lines as those which have been followed in the past. And there is a considerable section of the community which is prepared to accept this for the sake of peace—principally the peace of their own minds. They are dimly aware that there are hundreds of people in deep and genuine distress, owing to unemployment, but they do not want to know any particulars—it is all so upsetting! Therefore they are prepared to “do their duty” by paying the thirty shillings a year which is required of them in the hope that they will hear no more about unemployment and hardship. Privately such people will agree that the present rate of wages for relief work is “all wrong” and that the waste of money is “scandalous,” but they believe there is nothing anyone can do about it, politicians, State Departments and red tape being what they are. Such an attitude confirms the truth of the old saying that the people get the kind of government they deserve. Until there is a strong public opinion demanding to know what is being done about unemployment and the expenditure of money raised for its relief, we can expect to have governments taking the line of least resistance. Unemployment is ( bound to cost us many hundreds of thousands of pounds a year for some time, but that is no reason why the country should settle down to a conviction that the money must be spent without any forethought. It would not be a bold act on the part of the Government to experiment with land settlement, small holdings, and new and untried industries. By such means it would provide work and new grounds for hope for the genuinely unemployed, leaving the professional "job jumper”—the rolling stone who goes wherever the pay is best and the work easiest—to shift for himself. At present the Government admits that it can do nothing for the man without capital, so far as establishing, him on the land is concerned; but it would lie better to wipe off development charges and be content with leaving the country with an asset in the shape of a hard-working and producing settler than to keep up an unjustifiably high standard of relief wages, which leaves the worker where he was when he started and the country undeniably worse off. The only contribution some people can make to the problem is a criticism of the Arbitration Court. Blind and prejudiced criticism is futile, but a reasoned examination of the position, supported by sufficient courage to enable the country to take action, Avouhl be beneficial. It is not true that the Arbitration Court weighs heavily upon every industry, but it. is true that some protected workers would be better off working six days a week for fifteen shillings a day

than working three or four days at twenty shillings. - So far the Government has shown no inclination to face the glaring anomalies sheltered by the Act. It will take a courageous government to do so, for it will be difficult to persuade a large section of the people that steps taken in that direction are for their own good and not for the exclusive benefit of the employers.