The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1895.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10601, 9 March 1895, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1895.

NO RELIEF POE THE UNEMPLOYED. “With how little wisdom is the world governed,” is the inevitable reflection on reading the cabled intimation that the Unemployed Commission appointed by the ’ English Parliament has, in a majority report, stated that there is no hope at present of o’otainingrelief for the large army of h.&lf.starved, worldesa human beings, variously estimated from half a •million to two Trillions, who are crying to the British Government for assistance-. The larger estimate is that of Mr Heir Hardie, M.P., ; the leader of the Independent Labour Party in England. All that waa asked by this gentleman when he gave his evidence a week ago before the Commission was that the Government should supplement local relief efforts by a vote of .£IOO,OOO from the Treasury; and even that paltry measure of alleviation cannot be given. Such a “ lame and impotent conclusion” ia a serious reflection upon British humanity, practical sense and power of expedient. It ia a striking proof of the ingrained conservatism of the stay-at-home Briton,. and his slavish adherence to certain politico-economic doctrines of the “supply and demand” and “freedom of contract” order. It seems almost incredible that there should be no practical outcome of an important Commission dealing with one of the most pressing problems of the day. But, unfortunately, there is ample evidence that this callous indifference to the sufferings of their fellow-men is typical of a certain class of Englishmen. To that class belongs the Right Hon W. H. Watts, mayor of Liverpool, who vecently, according to the Daily Chronicle, created a “ profound sensation” by some remarks he made on the unemployed. It was after regaling himself at a public dinner that this gentleman, who is described as “ a Liberal and a Baptist,” is reported to have said that “if they did all they could to produce a British article he beiieved that in two or three years there would not he an idle man in the country. Perhaps he had gone too far in saying that there would be no idle men, considering the vast body of unemployed, but he was afraid there was nothing for it but to let them go to the devil.” Practically this is what a Royal Commission has just repeated. It is fitted to remind us of Mark Twain’s grim pleasantry in hia mock address as candidate for the Presidency of the United < States, wherein he propounded, as his remedy for the unemployed trouble, a policy of “ canning the working man and sending him to the Cannibal Islands.” All that Christian and Liberal England can say or suggest with regard to hundreds of thousands of starving men and women ia: “ Let them go to the devil!” That is probably sound political. economy, according to the fashionable teaching of well-fed professors ; but it is a veritable “ doctrine of devils ” according to the ethics of civilisation and Christianity, There is absolutely no excuse for a wealthy country like England refusing to lend the organising and taxing power of the State to the. task of finding work for idle hands and food for empty stomachs; but the iron laws of political economy and the invincible prejudice of ages step in and say that neither work nor food shall be found for those in heed of them. We shall in all probability have some particulars of the recommendations of the minority of the Commission, and these may add to the stigma that now rests upon the majority, by showing that a practicable way was open for relieving the congested labour market and allaying the consequent distress.