UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 226, 30 December 1920, Page 5

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM.

SEEKING ABSOLUTION. ; -ri• T . -. MAKING, INDUSTRY. RESPONSIBLE^ K* ' '■:■■’ '■ . "LONDON, Dec. 2fi ' Cabinet;is. considoring tt scheme to : make employers and. 1 trade unions' -n-rosporisible for the solntiori of. unemployment problems, without. the Government or other outside intervention. Mr Allen Mo Gregor 'Smith,'! for- the!.cmpldyors,:and > Mr. Clynes for-VHe uriiojis, Ifovolir the principle, - but thefp' is a .'difference of 'opinion da to whether the’obligation should rest on industry ns a whole, or eacK be responsible for its own iiriempldymhnt : Mr Clynes considers thatythc responsibility: should be collective, ,as individual trades, might be saddled with impossible burdens.;—(A. end N.Z, cable).- , . .! , : --i!;. V • -v..

CHRISTMASMN LONDON. A PAINFUL CONTRAST. Dec. 22. Tliough the West End hotels are arranging for Christmas entertainments with their customary lavishness, and the shop windows

are, overflowing with a wealth, of toys arid presents, and the markets crammed an abundance of, meat and poultry, this, promises to.be scarcely a merry- Christmas.. /''Ngver wore tho contrasts of wealth and poverty 'eo ■ startling. On the one hand, 'the rich may buy a rocking-horse for- £3Ck and turkeys at 3s a ~lb.,- w’hile die total value, of; motor-cars advertised in pno paper bn’’Saturday.equalled -£33,406. On the other hand, the' papers are full'of the details and. sufferings of the .unemployed. As an - example; of the. workless and homeless, a former military service man - without; a pension or a' donation was foupd with a wife and new-bbrn child in .Tottenham street on Saturday night.’ 'Another former military service man,: with 4- /family of -fiver Jiriiw, has. an income; of 15s - a! week, ofj#mph-9s

is spent in"rent.*'-.;-rv, 1 The questiop-. of theyhbur isytinemployment. A .novel sight. ini - stryeta recently has been .the; cijlMing TOfees -Jor the relief bf the unemployed. A-V.-V-, . -,u ; % i CONDITIONS IN AMERICA.

MOTOR PLANTS CLOSING. Received December 30: 12.5 -p.in. S . NEW,YORK, Dco ; 29. ' -A significant sign of. the times is-that the main Ford motor'plant at Detroit,, employing hands, has been closed tor an indefinite period. Many of. the r higher ■priced motor plaiits in the larger American 'cities are already closed or running on half; time conditions.- The unemployment in some centres is very sever®. The. labour leaders claim that the conditions are partly fictitious, the purpose being' the - reducing 'of wages in the effort to obtain cash. . The big stores throughout the United States and Canada are cutting prices from 20 to 50 per cent., while Wall .street jhas seen a vast slump in prices. The conditions generally appear to be righting themselves and'the autumn pessimism is giving way to a feeling of optimism whch the winter if. dver.^r(i&eut- cr -) _____