THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1937 WORK BEFORE SUSTENANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22779, 13 July 1937, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1937 WORK BEFORE SUSTENANCE

More work is to be provided for the unemployed, leaving fewer dependent on sustenance. The policy is one that should be widely approved. The men will be better off when employed, both materially and morally; citizens will receive a tangible return for levies and wages tax; opportunities to commit sustenance frauds will be fewer. Mr. "Webb, the acting - Minister of Labour, deserves credit for placing the emphasis once again on work as the best remedy for unemployment : normal employment if it can be found, and relief employment for (hose who cannot be placed. The Government had hoped that its other policies would absorb the labour surplus shorter hours, higher wages, the hope of increased purchasing power and the efforts of the placement service. V* hether these measures have assisted or retarded the reduction of unemployment is arguable. The progress of recovery in • the last two years probably fully accounts for the decrease by 20,000 of registered unemployed. The improvement would have occurred in any case and might have been more substantial, if so many statutory restrictions had not been placed on employers. As matters stand at present, 35.539 men were registered as unemployed on June 5 and, in addition, some 22,000 were engaged on public works. Until recently, possibly because it hoped for more beneficial effects from its labour policy, the Government has not been as active as its predecessors in promoting work schemes. Now it appears to have realised that a large, hard core of unemployment must bo reckoned with and Mr. Webb, in turning again to the palliative of relief works, is appealing for local body co-opera-tion. It is most satisfactory to note the ready response he received in Auckland yesterday. Plenty of evidence exists in support of Mr. Webb's statement that "the payment of sustenance is a most demoralising system." Yet a blunted public conscience on this question seems to have conspired with the Government in placing a smaller proportion of unemployed at work and relegating a higher proportion to sustenance. Too many are being left to deteriorate in idleness, in a country where there is still plenty of work that can usefully be done. Two years ago the National Government found work of some kind for 41,979 men and paid sustenance to 11,262. Only one out of five was condemned to the dole. Last month the Labour Government was finding work for only 12,649, or less than a third of those given relief employment in June, 1935. On the other hand 20,690 were left on sustenance. The proportion has grown from one out of five to three out of five. Mr. Webb is seeking to strike a better balance with his new version of the old No. 5 scheme. Men are to be given four months' continuous work at standard wages and then, unfortunately, may have to go back on the sustenance roll. The question arises whether it is better for the men to work rationed over months of the year, as Mr. Webb proposes, or over days of the week, as in the past. When working three or four days of the week, there should not be so serious a fall in physical and moral condition as in eight months' idleness succeeding four months' work. On the other hand a long period of regular work may put a man in such good heart that he will recover lost courage and the initiative to find openings closed to the hopeless. Another aspect is that of efficiency, one on which local bodies can, if they will take the trouble, compile data useful to social science. How long do men coming off sustenance require to regain their labour power? Do they regain it fully 1 Are the longer spells of work and idleness proposed by Mr. Webb more beneficial or more harmful to the men than work rationed weekly? And will local bodies receive a higher or lower labour return under the new system 1

In his remarks Mr. Webb reverted to an unsolved social problem that should not properly be mixed up with unemployment and charged on the funds. Thousands are being carried on sustenance who are "physically or mentally unfit for work—unemployable." Mr. Armstrong once stated that they numbered about 8000 and that about as many more were only partially fit for regular work. For their own sakes, these classes should be studied separately with a view to making proper provision for them, whether by a pension scheme as Mr. Webb suggests, or by seeking to give those who possess capabilities some place in economic society; some stake in the living, workaday world. To continue to lump them with general unemployment bespeaks administrative laziness and public indifference. And in respect of those who are fit for all classes of labour, it should never be forgotten that relief works are no more than palliatives, better only in degree than sustenance. They have a sedative effect that should not be mistaken for cure. To produce lasting results the Government must show itself more willing to fit men for the jobs that at present are going begging. Skill is demanded in many trades and industries; competent men are wanted on the land. For lack of qualified labour at home, orders are being sent abroad and much work remains undone. By fitting labour supply to labour demand through training schemes, the Government could permanently reduce unemployment and increase national wealth. Meanwhile its renewed emphasis on relief work as a palliative represents a real advance. Sustenance should be considered as a last resort, not as an accepted and regular; pyetem.