UNEMPLOYMENT AND IMMIGRATION

NZ Truth, Issue 852, 18 March 1922, Page 4

UNEMPLOYMENT AND IMMIGRATION

SOME CONSIDERATIONS FOR A SERIOUS SITUATION

• Go where one may, travel by train or tram or boat, or mix with men at club or court, kirk or market, the one topic of conversation is the ■ slump. Most men : recognise that, although the financial crisis so far has been felt chiefly by farmers and the larger importing firms, the' day is not far. distant when its effects will reach that last line of resistance upon which all economic crises finally spend themselves — the working-class. As the extra .cost 'of every . commodity m the time of rising prices is "passed on," so, m the last Analysis, commercial collapse and general, financial stringency back themselves hard against the working-class. Failure and slump, mean to the moneyed classes, no doubt, much worry m addition to loss of estimated income. In very bad times and in N a limited number of cases it may mean a curtailment m the supply of personal luxuries, the restriction of.' personal expenditure and, perhaps, the reduction of the domestic establishment, but that is about all. In very few instances, indeed, will it be found that the slump has reduced men formerly living, m affluence without labor to the necessity of finding' employment ox ; suffering from, sheer want. The leisured, the moneyed and the employing classes have, individually and collectively,, considerable reserve to fall back upon. The middle classes, the two-penny-halfpenny capitalistic shopkeeper and small employer, are financially buttressed also, though to a much less degree; still, sufficient to deaden somewhat the force of the crash as their house of cards comes toppling about their ears. The work-ing-class, as a class, however,, is m exactly the opposite position* In that class the exceptional man is the worker who has any reserve to fall back upon, or to place as* a buffer between him and the coming unemployment impact. Indeed, the number of- these exceptional members of the- workingclass' is considerably less after a period of extra industrial and commercial activity than it is during, even normal times. When- trade is booming, work plentiful . and wages high, many workers are induced to take financial responsibilities upon themselves which, at other and more normal times, they would refuse to assume. But the slump when it gets back to the workers is no respecter of persons. The^ man .who has been able to "lay up 'something for a rainy day" finds that that rainy day draws into weeks and months" and that his little nest egg is all too diminutive to keep iup the supply of sustenance .till fair weather comes once again. The worker who, with his savings, has sought to buy his house, m order to free himself from the importunate exactions of a rack-renting landlord, finds that. he is. unable to keep up his payments. And so, all he has scraped and scranned to save has been legally lost, and he is now no better off than his ■fellow- worker, who "took the good" of his income while he , earned it and trade was good. Those who sought to furnish a comfortable, home "on the hire system," with the loss of work and the consequent stoppage of their instalments of the purchase money therefor, find that their household gods can be legally taken from them unless the weekly or monthly instalment is forthcoming at due/date. 'Thus it is that while m times of dull trade other classes may get a knock or two it is th.c working-class that is ever driven' back to the .wall — the wall m their case being the lopvest standard' of ''living upon which they can continue to exist. We have not reached this undesirable point yet -m New Zealand. Nevertheless the fear, of the coming spate of .unemployment •is gathering like a stormcloud over the whole of the Dominion. Take a run into the country m any direction and one does not go far before he meets with men going or coming with "Matilda up," looking for work and, failing that, soliciting a "feed." Farmers, rwho, for several years, have had hired men to do the "skudgy" work about their farms, owing to the heavy fall m prices are now forced to turn to and do their own day's ciarg, dispensing with hired help and' thus swelling the ranks of the unemployed and the number of "blueys" being carried about the country. And while this is the state, of things m the country and the demand for labOr m. towns. and cities is -growing less and less, the Government is continuing its drastic retrenchment scheme and hundreds of (workers,- male and female, are being sent adrift to look for other masters. With the recital of these facts one might conclude that the cup of the workers' woes was surely full. But that is not so. In addition to these things the, Government is continuing to bring with' every' Home "boat" .that arrives, hundreds of: workers from the Old Dart. True, the , "day-lies" persist m stating that these workers, male and- female, have all work to go to immediately on^ arrival in' this Dominion. We know that m hundreds of cases the lie can be given to this statement. Scarcely a day passes that some immigrant does not call at "Truth" office to complain of the Government's 'broken faith and misleading statements. These com-

prise men of all trades and of no trade. They had been told that jobs were waiting for them and that their names had been sent forward m order to secure appointments. It is. only when- they arrive here that the true state of matters is made .plain to them. Might we suggest to the "Outs" that if they swish to hit the Government m, a vulnerable spot they might do* worse than set about organising these immigrants iwho have been induced to come to New Zealand believing 'that jobs would be found for them, but who, on arrival, were cast adrift to shift for themselves as best they could. But even if every immigrant, male and female, who has arrived or is about to arrive has found, or will be found work on arrival, the position is m no way improved. Since, 'before they came there was v not m this little Dominion sufficient jobs to go round the number of workers already here,' it follows that the placing of newcomers m. situations means the displacement of those workers now employed therein, and the swelling of the reserve army of labor with just- that number of discharged men. We have had evidence placed before us of firms which have discharged old hands,, some of ' them returned soldiers, owing to alleged want of work, at the, end of a week, and at the beginning of the following week have taken on newcomers from overseas. Such tactics do not make for ending the slump or bringing about a revival of trade. They rather tend to make confusion, worse confounded, make unemployment more acute and widespread and the workers resentful. No sane man objects to the coming of newpeople to these new lands, provided their coming and their settlement is conducted after a scientific fashion and to the benefit (as it could easily be) and not the hurt of those already here. As things are at 'present , every additional iworker who arrives on our shores is a menace to a New Zealand worker. Instead of many hands meaning light work for all, it means no work, for some, no matter haw much that work is needed m order to keep the wolf from the door. Apparently the present Government does not know. of any better way of peopling our waste places, or it would have adopted it. It is up to the "Outs," Radical and Labor, toefore the coming election to devise arid lajr before the people a scheme which will 'provide useful work for .willinghands already here, and to stop the bringing of others to the Dominion to flood the Labor market, depress iwages and innate profits. „

Is it necessary that there should be any excessive number of idle workers m a country such as New Zealand, a country teeming with natural wealth and crying out for roads and railways, the better to exploit'" the same? Here, surely, is more than sufficient work for all the "hands" likely to offer .themselves. As for the "needful" to carry on this work, "Truth" admits it would be foolish to go to London for a loan at the present juncture. In fact, "Truth" is of the opinion that it is foolish to go to London at any time for such a purpose. Now, however, it would be • especially so. Did not Parliament, during the war, make paper rhoney legal tender, and could not notes be' 'issued to the value of the wealth created m the form of roads, railways and -bridges built? There are many road boards desirous of having new roads 'built for which. they cannot raise the necessary, loans at present.. Could not the Government come to their aid after the manner suggested? It is not necessary even to issue a specific note. The present postal note would do arid, being m small denomination, would pass readily into circulation. Wherever such works were by the i Government, the Public Works Department could erect boardinghouses and manage them. In connection with these it could, also conduct stores,/ drawing considerable. of its supplies for' these / last from the farmers, nearest to the seat of operations who, m exchange, would receive Government credit notes for commodities supplied- at the current wholesale rates on the date on which delivery of the goods was made,. Similar stores could -be opened m fiy chief centres and 'the wives of married men employed on public works could have the right to obtain a supply of necessities up to the value of a certain proportion of their husbands' earnings, or they could be supplied with credit notes/to the same value and negotiable with any retailer m New Zealand. Another way m which the Government could "be helped to wipe out the specti'e of want consequent, on unemployment, would be for our rich patriots to hand over the use of .their surplus wealth to the Government as a loan at current Post Office rates of interest These last could help; further by having any contemplated repairs, renovations, enlargements, etc.. to their properties, undertaken during the, time of depression. .If "Truth's", suggestions be adopted,' New "Zealand would be enabled to pass through a most trying time with a minimum of unemployment and anxiety, but fail-, ing some such "scheme being adopted, there will be much suffering and hardship m God's Own before many more moons have waxed and waned.