UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19699, 27 July 1927, Page 13

UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM.

GOVERNMENT'S POSITION.

ONLY POSSIBLE COURSE TAKEN*

[BT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CQEBESPONDENI.*] WELLINGTON. Tuesday.

Brief reference to unemployment -was made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, in an address at the conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union to-day. "If we remember," said Mr. Coates, "that on March 31 we were £10,000,000 short of the. previous year's purchasing power, that there had been a general disinclination —and rightly so— on the part of local bodies to borrow «nd that the Government itself had controlled borrowing, the natural result must be that there was less money to go round. The inevitable result must be that there' was difficulty in regard to employment. The Government has done its best from its point of view. Whether you are able to agree with it or not, I cannot say, but I hope you do. "We say that we are not responsible few the employment of men at a standard rate of wages, but we do say that we are responsible to an extent in endeavouring to relieve the position and to provide work where possible —work that will be remunerative to the country at a rate which will give temporary relief, and temporary relief only. (Hear, hear. ) We say that it is not the responsibility of the Government to take men on and employ them continually. We are in much the same position as many private employers, that is, that our resources are not like a bottomless pit, for we can como to the end of our resources. " In my opinion the course we have token is the only possible course to pursue and we ask employers and everybody to assist- to the extent of their means. We cannot see that more could have been done in respect to giving attention to the provision of temporary relief and not taking on men at a permanent charge to the country, but simply for the purpose of tiding them over the difficulty temporarily and with the object of their seeking other work from other employers as the days pass by."