UNEMPLOYMENT BILL, 1931.

Northland Age, Volume III, Issue 34, 2 September 1931, Page 2

UNEMPLOYMENT BILL, 1931.

Captain Rush worth (Bay ot Islands): Sir, in the distressing circumstances existing to-day, circumstances that may easily become deplorable and disast-

rous, one can do no other than regard a Bill of this character as *a necessary evil, or perhaps I should describe it as the lesser of two evils. The Bill frankly sets out to deal with the situation as it exists to-day, and apparently provides for palliatives. Palliatives are essential, but in my opinion it is not enough to leave it at that. I have been particularly struck by the fact that so far there has been no very serious criticism of the Bill. One or two points have been referred to, but I ihink that the absence of serious criticism should not be interpreted as a general acquiescence in the situation or the Bill. It is a fact, I believe, that the majority of members at the present time find it difficult, if not impossible, to suggest any reasonable alternative. I for one know, and I believe the majority of members know, that any fool can criticise, and in my opinion no one has a right to criticise unless he is prepared to put up a reasonable alternative to correct the evil in question. The main criticism that has been advanced turns really on the levy to be made on the unemployed themselves, and I must confess that I think there is a great deal in that particular point. I listened with a great deal ot interest to the remarks made by the Minister of Lands on the point, and in so far as his remarks were valid they met the case. He referred, ol course, to the anomaly that would be created by exempting the men who were engaged for considerable periods on relief works. We may have that class of man in the kriure; Ido not know, but it seems to me that the work will rather be rationed more and more, and I suggest that to meet that point it may be possible to exempt the relief workers for the first fortnight, or the first month, as the case may be. I frankly admit that if a man is employed tor a month consecutively he might fairly be asked to subscribe something towards the Unemoloyment Relief Fund. But I do not think it reasonable to ask a man to provide his levy out ot his first week’s wage when he only receives 13/6 a week. There is one point about this that may have escaped honourable members; that is that if the recipienfs of unemployment relief do not contribute to the fund some of them may feel that they are in receipt of some form of charity. Mr. Parry : Ido not think that any of them would be insulted. '"aptain Rushworth : Well, that point has been suggested to me, and I could not find any reply to it. There are one or two points in connection with the B'll about which I am not quite clear. Clause 13 deals with the computation of the unemployment charge, and I wish to know how that will apply to the farmer. I would like the Minister to make it clear. Perhaps he will do so during the Committee stage. By what method is this charge to be made on the farmers? I under- ’ stand, of course, that the fiat rate ot £t per annum will be charged to the farmers; but when it comes to incomes I would like it clearly stated that the income is to be the net income. There are so many charges the farmer has to meet in order to carry on, and which must be deducted from the gross income.

Mr. Clinkard; He declared

his income. The Hon. Mr. Smith: He makes a declaration. Captain Rushworth : If that is made quite clear, I will be satis fied; but I was a little afraid that it might be taken that the Bill as it stands makes the levy on the gross income, which would be not only unfair, but disastrous. There is another point in connection with this matter so far as the farmer is concerned. In the Far North particularly, there are many farmers who are on land that is not fully developed and it has been their practice to obtain work during the winter months on the roads to enable them to carry on. But, with the development of the present situation, they have found it more and more difficult, and at last they were ruled out entirely. It seems to me that that is not quite fair. It is not quite fair to rule men out of employment on relief works on account of their occupation. Mr. Barnard: The Minister says the scheme is intended for the wage-workers, primarily. Captain Rushworth : I understand it is for all in distress. Mr. Barnard: That is what we understand.

Captain Rushworthj Then I say that no man in distress should be ruled out because of his occupation. Mr. Barnard : That is not the view of the Board.

Captain Rushworth : Well, I understand that the old Board is to go out of existence and a new Board is to come in ; and perhaps it will take a different view on the matter. Indeed, I am sure it will do so under the guidance and advice of the Minister, who will be Chairman of the Board. There is another point in regard to the exemptions; I have no complaint in regard to them, beyond this, that applying for Exemption to the Board in Welling is a very cumbersome and a very difficult matter; I have found that there is a great deal of worry and distress caused to people who really could not pay and did not know how to go about making application for exemption. When the application is made to the Unemployment Board irr Wellington, that Board is quite incapable of forming any true idea as to the applicant’s position, and I suggest to the Minister that it would be better to decentralise that portion of the business and to place the power in the hands of some local authority, so that the exemption could be granted more easily and more justly. If the matter were decentralised in that way it would not be so easy for an undeserving person to obtain exemption, and it would be easier for the deserving to obtain exemption, I think that would be an improvement, But the most important consideration really is how the money that is to be collected —and it will be a very large sum —is to be spent. I join with other members in deploring the fact that it is not possible for the Government to give us some indication as to how the money is to be spent, It is very important. We are getting into the habit of voting quite large sums of money, and in handing the money over

to people who, from our point of view, are irresponsible. Mr. Barnard: Boards. Captain Rushworth: Yes, Boards which are not directly responsible to the electors. Now the monpy to be spent should be regarded as a sacred trust, and it should be made to go as far as possible, and I think that the time has arrived when we should recognise the situation and rationalise this business of finding work for the unemployed. I think that it is a case calling for genuine organisation, and I suggest to the Minister that he might proceed in this way : He might enrol the unemployed in groups according to their ages, capabilities, and so forth. Those groups could be organised with the assistance of the Defence Department. 1 hat Department has the organising ability, the experience and the equipment to effect a rationa 1 and efficient organisation. The men could be paid pocket money, and given rations, and, it married, separation allowances. Mr. Endean: How much pocket money ? Capt. Rushworth ; This is immaterial. The main thing is to provide them with rations. T his is the only point 1 would insist upon. The men could be sent out under efficient instruction to carry

out works, such as works that are too big or where the return would be so delayed as not to warrant the job being undertaken by private enterprise— works that intimately would be of great benefit and of great value to the Dominion. We have had numerous suggestions during the course of this debate as to public works which could be undertaken, and in addition to those suggestions there is the question of the sand drift along the coast, particularly in the North. Valuable land with great capabilities is gradually being covered by this sand drift menace. Sand drift has been settling in for some years, and really valuable work could be done in stopping that sa id dr, f There are swamps that require to be drained. That is work th it is very difficult, in fact almost impossible, to be undertaken by private enterprise. They would have to wait too long for a return. But that is work that would be of great benefit to the Dominion if it were taken in hand. This is a means by which it can be done. There is afforestation that could be put in hand— forestry work on a large scale. There are not tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of acres in the far no to that could be used excellently for afforestation purposes. There are, I have no doubt, plenty ot traces in other parts of Niw Zealand that will never be requ r d for settlement purposes and that could be used for a similar purpose. Again, there is the clearing and breaking-in of land. I know that this has been referred to often. There is air enormous area of Crown Land, in larger and smaller blocks, that could be broken in and brought into profit by the means I have suggested if the thing were run as a business. I think the work could he done in a cheap and economic manner, and it would be of great

v. lue to :!ir Dominion. The Hon. Mr. bmith : The Hon. Gentleman will recognise that it is not a question of want of work; it is a question of finance. Capt. Rushworth : I admit that. I know it is a question of finance, and I a n suggesting a means by which the maximum work could be carried out at a minimum cost) In a rationalised business-like undertaking ythe expenditure would be considerably less than under the haphazard, go-any-how methods thaf~ have been adopted in the past. £3,000 and more has been spent on the beautifying of single playgrounds. That, Ithink is absolutely unjustifiable. That leads me really to another point, and that is that it is not enough to be satisfied with palliatives. Supposing we do all this, at the end of a year, or two years, or three or four years, what will be the result ? We shall only have more and more men on our hands. We have generations of school children coming up and joining in, and what is the end going to be ? At the end of it we shall have all these men and more on our hands still—unless we have a long-visioned, statesmanlike policy, with a national objective that will make for the natural absorption of these people in the ordinary vocations in life. It is not enough to let the matter go drifting on as it has been doing. There are circumstances, move- ; rnents taking place to-dav, interj ests in operation, tha_t have caus- ] ed the present situation to arise. It has not come about acciden- ’ tally. It has been brought about j by the operations of men It ; simply cannot be put right by sitting down and letting things ! drift. It seems to me that we must devise a national objective with a long-visioned policy leading to that national objective, whatever it may be. I do not mind what that objective is so | long as we have one; but at the | present time we have none. Mr. Endean ; What is your sugi gestion ? Captain Rushworth: That we j should have a national objective. | I do not mind much which way I the honourable gentleman wishes | to go, I will go with him. The | only thing I will not do is to tra- ; vi! with him without a compass and without any course' or a | clearly defined destination. Ref- ; crcnce has been made to the question of import duties, and I I would warn the Ministry to be- ’ ware of that poisonous medicine. 1 have demonstrated in this House time and lime again how protective tariffs impose direct burdens upon exporters. The exporting primary producers have to carry these protective tariffs. I can state the question quite easily in th ; s way: An import duty on necessities operates as an export tax. I suggest that we have reached the stage where that burden has become too great, and that is one of the reasons why we are finding it so difficult to keep on the land the men who are already there. I was particularly interested in able speech delivered by the honourable member for Wellington East in connection with the flax industry. He pointed out that the flax industry is in a difficult posi-

ion, and that it was really dyinjfc* That is not the only industry that is languishing. The kauri industry is practically dead lor the time being, and the same conditions are operating there. The kauri gum industry has been re-» garded as of small importance and very little assistance has been given to it, with the result that it is now in the doldrums. But that is not all. The dairying industry is in great difficulty, and we all know how impossible the present situation is for the sheep farmer. If the presnt trend of events is allowed to continue we shall be bewailing, not the demise of the kauri gum industry and the flax industry, but we shall be attending the funeral ot the dairying industry and the sheep industry. That is the natural and logical result of the present trend of events. I suggest that it is time we set to and considered this particular subject with a vision and a National objective. If it be decided, in our wisdom, that the National objective shall be the abandonment of these industries, on which we have relied" until now, then welt and good. We shall know what we are doing. Let us have an objective. If the decision is to maintain these industries which we have built up during the last half-cen-tury, then we shall have to adopt an entirely different course. It is not enough to rely upon chanceWe do not know what is going to happen in the years to come, and it is of no assistance to say that brighter days are in store for us in a year’s time. No one can tell. The only ray of sunshine visible at the present time is the gesture of the President of the United States in regard t® debt-postponement, but whether that will develop into a permanent arrangement or not 'is a matter which cannot be detei* mined at present. That is the only justification I can see tor any claim that we are turning the corner. We must look forward to the possibility of the present range of prices being maintained for a good many years to come. We must, in fact, regard the present situation as more or less stabilised unless we can devise, in our wisdom, some better system of carrying on the business not only ot this nation, but also of other nations of the world.

[At a later stage Captain H. M. Rushworth, M.P., elicited from the Minister in charge a definite statement that farmers would he charged on net incomes. Oth. ff wise, it is perfectly certain that the charge would have been lev-

ied on cream cheques and gross incomes generally under the plea of “too much trouble” or “impossible to do otherwise.)