WORK FOR UNEMPLOYED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21295, 23 September 1932, Page 13

WORK FOR UNEMPLOYED

Sir,—ln your issue of September 21 the charge of loafing by unemployed men on relief works was made by Mr. A. Roberts, of Manurewa. I can endorse all Mr. Roberts says about the cost of the work, but 1 don't agree with him when he says they are loafing, as these men don t know what work is. A neighbour of mine has had relief men cutting scrub, which work he valued at 25s an acre, which was considered a very high price by all who knew anything about work. He informs me it has cost the Unemployment Board £lO an acre to cut the scrub, while land near by, in grass and fenced' has been sold for £5 an acre. These men say they have never worked so hard before and 1 believe them, but I leave it to others to value the work they have been doing, for which they have been paid high wages. The cause of all the present day trouble is the labour union rules, high wages and little work. This has killed all our secondary industries and imperilled our primary industries. We were all while we were the only fools on earth, but now, with all the civilised nations having adopted advanced labour laws, disaster has set in. Remove the root cause and the world's problem is solved. When men are able and willing to do a honest day's work for what the work is worth trade will improve but not until then. All other remedies' will fail The labour leaders are always talking about the high price of land and say this is the cause of our present depression. Let the Government give them some virgin country and let them fell the bush, grass, fence and erect buildings under present labour conditions, or under the conditions they advocate, and then they will know what it has cost them. They will then find that the highest-priced land in New Zealand is cheap compared with theirs. Commonsense.