The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1934. BRITAIN’S WORKLESS AREAS.

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 3 May 1934, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1934. BRITAIN’S WORKLESS AREAS.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Havvera, Manaia, Kaupokonui, Otakeho, Oeo, Pihama, Opunake, Eltharn, Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe, Lowgarth, Manutalii, .Kakaraznea. Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Whenuakura, Waverley, Mokoia, WTiakamara, Obangid, Meremere, Fraser ftoad and Ararata.

A recent cable message announced the intention of the British Government to send special eomimissioms to ‘ ‘ derelict areas’’ in. the United Kingdom in order to investigate the means by whic'h their plight may be permanently alleviated. While a marked improvement is reported in Great Britain as a whole in respect of the extent of unemployment, there remain areas that are, to all appearances, hopelessly sunk in the slough of depression. These are industrial regions that are not sharing in the benefits of the rehabilitation that has been taking place. Tlueir position is not due to inefficiency i'n industry, nor to. the failure of workers and industrialists to take advantage of the swing towards normal conditions; but simply to the fact that industries which once helped to maintain these areas have died out, as must inevitably be the fate of some industries in all countries. The phrase which has been employed to characterise such localities is accurate and expressive—- “ derelict areas.” In Great Britain the years since the war have been marked by a 'drift in industry from north to south, and the “derelict areas” arc those which have been deprived, through this movement, not temporarily but permanently, of their former importance. British regional unemployment statistics illustrate the melancholy istory. In the southern industrial urea, including London', the proportion of .men in employment to the workless is SG to 14; in the cou'nty of Durham, 37 men are out of work for every G 3 in employment; in the shipbuilding district of Yarrow 75 men are unemployed for every 25 in work. These figures are typical of the position in many

areas, including some in Scotland and Wales, in which tlie rehabilitation of former industries is out of the question', and the solution of the problem thus created lies in the establishment of new industries or the removal of the communities to other parte of the country. It has long been, evident that it is no part of British policy to ignore problems because they are difficult. As early as - six years ago the question of the “derelict areas” wais acknowledged with the creation of a special voluntary fund for their assistance, and now that the unemployment question in its major aspect, as it relates to Great Britain as a whole, gives definite promise of ultimate settlement, attention is being concentrated on- those parts of the country which eaunot hope to share to any appreciable exent in the normal return of industry to its pre-depression status. The drafting of the younger persons in these communities into new industries, the establishment of special centres in which they may be trained in useful craftsmanship, and the proffering of inducements to industrialists to establish works in the distressed areas, are questions which will receive expert consideration. Another interesting and encouraging movement to assist the workless northern areas is that which has originated in the Government service. Government departments, it is stated, are “adopting” special areas, upon which their efforts will bo expended. The system that is contemplated is Similar to that inaugurated in the years immediately following the war, when English communities “adopted'” ravaged Belgian and French towns and villages, making themselves reI sponsible for their welfare. A system of practical helpfulness of this description, under which a personal responsibility on tili'e part of those who “adopt” a community is implied 1 , must have a valuable psychological effect in the “derelict areas.” Those communities which have sunk into a sort of hopeless lethargy should be strengthened by the knowledge that they are not abandoned by their more prosperous countrymen elsewhere. Great Britain, which has provided many striking instances of courage and resource in the face of difficulties that might have appalled less virile nations, is giving a fresh illustration of them in her approach to 1 the pToblem of the “derelict areas.”