NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1932. UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

Northern Advocate, 29 October 1932, Page 8

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1932. UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

The extent to which unemployment lias grown in New Zealand, and the lurking fear that the new law providing relief for the unemployed will be of indefinite duration, are causing grave anxiety to all thoughtful people, .liven under the most favourable circumstances, considerable time must elapse before all who are now without work will be able to get back into regular employment.' This means that the serious drain which is being made upon the people of the Dominion must continue. There are those who hold that the present rate of unemployment tax will have to be substantially increased In order to meet the demands which will be made for relief. This is an unpleasant contemplation, and justifies efforts which are being made whether, after all, the "relief schemes adopted by the Government are the best that could have been devised. It is open to question whether the money deducted from the earnings of the people is being used to the best advantage. Mr. A. J. Hutchinson, of Auckland, is one of those who believe that the Government is acting along entirely wrong lines. He is convinced that Government relief, under central control, as is taking place now, will never prove satisfactory; and that work •provided by the individual for the individual is the only sound plan, each individual being compelled to face his responsibility. To achieve this purpose, Mr. Hutchinson would bring to. an end the present system, under which the people of the Dominion. .by means of the unemployment levy and wages tax, provide funds with which the Government (through the Unemployment Board) pays the unemployed for work done on relief schemes. He contends that this system is bad for the payers of the taxes and for the unemployed themselves, for the reason that, cordrary to accepted practice, the payer has no control over the money he provides and receives nothing in return for it, while the Government, by herding men in camps, is taking the best means to disrupt family life and to extinguish hope and ambition in the hearts of young single men. A very different result, in Mr. Hutchinson As opinion, would be .achieved if the providers of the funds and those who benefited from the funds were to come into personal contact He would, therefore, • substitute a scheme under which the revenue derived from unemployment” an d wages tax, plus a subsidy" &’°m Hie State, would form an Unem* ployment Assurance Fund. He would divide Ihe Dominion into four districts with as many subdistricts as would be considered necessary, and allocate to each district the amount it had contributed in unemployment levy and wages tax. This fund would be administered hy a local committee representative of all sections of the community. Every subscriber to the fund would be compelled to provide work for the unemployed according to the amount paid in wages tax. For example, a man or woman who paid ten shillings per week in wages tax would be obliged to find one day’s work per week for an unemployed person (supposing that the wages of a relief worker were fixed at ten shillings per day). It would be the duty of the committee each Aveek to make knoAvn the numbers and classifications of unemployed, and im this manner those requiring employment could be given the class of Avork for Avhich they Avere most fitted. If this scheme was adopted, it Avould, Mr. Hutchinson argues, serve. a double purpose: ■' it" would give

people value for the money they 1 paid in wages tax, and assist in the restoration of business in the j district. Above all, it would put I into circulation in a district, the money which had been raised by wages tax from the people in that district. If the sum was in excess of the amount required to relieve unemployment it would go to swell the Assurance Fund, and, if properly worked, would serve to reduce the wages tax ui succeeding years. We have indicated only the main lines of • Mr. Hutchinson’s scheme, but we feel that enough has been said to create the interest of all who arc anxious to find a satisfactory solution of a staggering problem. There are several difficulties which a survey of the scheme suggests, but the underlying principle is one that should urge the Government to give the proposal careful consideration. We hope that this will be done. There is .urgent need that, the very best use should be made of the Unemployment Levy funds. It is estimated that in the city of Auckland alone the Avage and salary income is taxed to the amount of £13,000 per week, and that £IO,OOO of that amount is being spent in the country on .work Avhich could be much better done by the unemployed in those districts. The spending power of the people of Auckland is being reduced by this huge sum, and • as a consequence, every class of trade and business is suffering. If the scheme proposed by Mr. Hutchinson were put into foreo, he holds that not only Avork that has been postponed, but a largo amount of work which in the natural course of events Avould be done over a period of four or five months, Avould be rushed foi’AVard. It is unnecessary to emphasise AA’liat this Avould mean to the city of Auckland now. What applies to Auckland applies to eA r ory city, toAvn or district in the Dominion.