UNEMPLOYMENT POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21274, 30 August 1932, Page 13

UNEMPLOYMENT POLICY

gj rj A lady correspondent recently dwelt' on the injustice of the present measures not providing an outlet for he sex though having to contribute through the tux. On the surface, this certainly appears unfair. Kindly permit me, howover, to attempt to clear the atmosphcro in this direction. As a member of the executive ot the New /calenders Association, I can vouch for the difficulty confronting us when last year we set out to render help to unemployed women and girls to find suitable work. On the one hand, we could not draft them on to the roadside . for such laborious work as in the case of men on relief, or send tliem out with a swag and a £1 note to seek work as ordinary farm hands. Even as domestics we found they wore being exploited by unscrupulous mistresses, as in the case of fnnnors and the 4A scheme. So it came down to selling tickets on commission for picture businesses and many of the girls did fairly well, though unfortunately it was but a temporary measure. Even then more than one mother emphasised the repugnanco to sending girls* into offices, all and sundry, to mU tickets. Thus the position of dealing with women rathor than unemployed men becomes most intricate in the extreme. I much appreciated Mr. T. Blood worths recent letter. Though not seeing eye to eye with him in all things, 1 agree he ably exposed the vagaries of the wealthy in our midst in holding up on fixed deposit thirty-three and a-half million pounds. As to the various moans suggested to bring us all out of the turmoil why concentrate always on reduction ot labour costs'. What of the inflated land ! values for which in many respects the farmer alone has been responsible throughi out the war period. Arthur CuaiiriNGS.