UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19041, 11 June 1925, Page 7

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE.

Sir,—Having been an exchango officer I can verify the statements of your correspondent, "F. 0." Further, I may state that the granting of bonefits is not such an easy matter us Sir Thomas Mackenzie imagines. When a workman has toeen found employment and fails to attend he is struck off the register; if ho_ is,,incapable, unsatisfactory or otherwise\ unemployable lie is passed on to the, poof law - guardians. ' It is not charity, but worked on a sound principal by payments from' the wbrkers, employers and -Vate. In the last few yc»rs it has been rapidly paying oft" arrears and next year will be free from debt. My experience teaches mo that the principle of unemployment insurance is a sound' and good one, and, one (about the only one) of the blessings derived from the Great War, the. acknowledgment of the "right to work." It is not necessary for me to picture what the consequences of unemployment Am:ld have been in England had it not .cecn in force. Apart from unemployment, the scheme provides a doctor and medicine free. Sister Esther's pathetic appeal in a letter above your correspondent gives one an idea of, what is going on in this glorious country through a lack of a system of unemployment insurance. P. Eldershaw.

Sir,—lf Sir. Thomas Mackenzie was too emphatic in his criticism of the "dole," "F. 0." is too enthusiastic in his defence of its administration. Tho following extract, from the Times of April 23 proves that the system is sometimes abused:— Hurry Bouche, a younj: man charged at Bow.i Street; yesterday ■■ with betrgmfi, was stated to have tramped: from Glasgow, supporting himself by means o£ tlie unemployment benefit on the way. ■ ' Sir Chartres Biron: How does he get the "dole" while Wandering about? Call any beggar get the "dole"? , A confftable said that Bouche had signed on" at liibour exchanges oil tlie journey, and remained in a town just long enough to draw tho benefit. He had been receiving it since he arrived in London. Sir; Chartres Biron: And supplementing it by begging! It iB all Very simple. Sentence of a month's imprisonment witn hard labour was passed. Sir Thomas Mackenzie also has the Authority of the Times for tho term "dole, which ! gather from the British press is used almost universally. Readek.