UNEMPLOYMENT BILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22390, 9 April 1936, Page 10

UNEMPLOYMENT BILL

The main provision of the Government's Employment Promotion Bill is the abolition of the Unemployment Board and the assumption of full control by the Minister of Labour and his department. How the change is to help in the solution of the central problem—putting men back at work has yet to be explained. A board has been replaced by a Government department, the political head being supposed to assume more direct responsibility. It is to be hoped that, along with the administrative change, Mr. Armstrong has in mind more effective methods for reducing the roll of unemployed. As well as replacing the board by the Minister, the bill arms the latter with wide powers in two respects. No specific provision is made for the payment of alloAvances to unemployed women, but the Ministers of Labour and Finance are authorised to make such payments at their discretion. A similar discretion is given the Ministers in fixing the maximum allowance which may be paid to a man, his wife and dependants, thus ruling out the existing statutory limits. Whether Parliament should invest two Ministers with such discretionary powers may be doubted, and it is certain that the Ministers, in accepting them, are leaving themselves open to pressure from interested groups. This is political control with a vengeance. On the other hand, the Government is enacting the good principle that willingness to accept work is essential for the receipt of relief. The bill provides that no allowance will be paid to any person if his unemployment is due to his refusal or failure to accept the offer of reasonable work. The whole country will applaud this clause and support its strict application. The shirker should not be supported in idleness from the taxed earnings of his fellows.