THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1909. AN APPEAL FOR HELP.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14431, 26 January 1909, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1909. AN APPEAL FOR HELP.

It is with only too regretful a realisation of the necessity that is prompting it that ..we draw attention to an appeal we publish this morning from tlio Otago Trades and Labour Council. Tim special committee appointed by (he, Trades and Labour Council asks the public for assistance on behalf of the multitude of men, women, and children suffering severe hardship in the Old Country during the present, winter tbi-omdi the dearth of employment. Tlio Imperial Government has not neglected its duly in grappling with the problem of the unemployed—a problem never absent, but greatly accentuated of lato through trade depression. Its measures for alleviation, though extensive, have, however, been insufficient to make much impression on the widespread distress against which they are directed and which is unceasing in its cry for help. According to Mr Tiamsay Macdonald, " the curve of unemployment" has been going up .steadily in the I'luted Kingdom since April, 1907, when, it stood at a little over 3 per cent., until in October ■last it reached 9.4 per cent. Precise or reliable figures a.s to the number of people out of employment in the Old Country at. the present time are not available, and would no doubt he most, difficult to obtain. Mr .Ramsay Macdonald's estimate makes it snmethin;' like a million and a-half, which, allowing for those dependent on the workless worker, would mean that close upon live million persons would be suffering directly through the prevailing slackness. In the reply made by him in the House of Commons at the end of October last to .Socialist criticism of Ids Department Mr •lobn Burns stated that by the end of March next the Government would have .set in motion to,(KK),000 for the temporary relief of unemployment. This is a, large sum, hut it.s comparative insignifieaiico when the need of so many has to be relieved lor an indefinite period is only too apparent. In reply to Mr Burns Mr Keir Hardie summed up th& unemployed as including 750,000 skilled workmen and 1,500,000 unskilled workers, and, calculating two dependents for each person so unemployed, he estimated the number of those requiring relief a.s six and three-quarter millions. But this estimate is again probablylittle better than guesswork. Mr j Asquith has admitted that the measures put forward by the Government have been, only tentative and provisional. It has ba-.ii the objeet of the Government to try to maintain » line dis-

tinctly between pauperism and unemployment, which can be no easy matter. Hut it matters little. b\ exactly hoiv many above the normal the ranks of tho unemployed in the United Kingdom are, swollen at the present time, for, even allowing for liberal deductions from those estimates of labour leaders, a great army, compared with which the whole population of New Zealand is small, is in need and has to he provided for somehow. The fact that has to be remembered is that in England of all countries there is an acute poverty and want anions; the working classes that calls fev relief. If we are ready a.s a community to do what little we can to stay tho. march of the gaunt spectre Kamiiio through India or some other country to which we tiro united by uo very close bond, how much more should our charity, as that of a British dependency, reveal itself when there is c-vidi'nee that tjbe Motherland has need of it? Therefore we commend most heartily to the sympathy of the public the appeal now being made by the local Trades and Labour Council. The appeal does tlrat organisation credit, and makes clear the fact that assistance lias only been invited after careful inquiry has been made into the needs of the situation and as to the- manner in which it can bo'best dispensed. The solution of tho labour problem stands apart from the present issue. It cannot be hastened, but where there is hunger there relief must be timely. The appeal to the pesplo of this community to help to provide unemployed workers and their dependents in the Old Country with the broad necessary to their existence carries the more weight in that it is not made in the name of Labour, of Liberal, of Socialist, or of Conservative, but -in the broad name of Humanity. The text of the appeal a.s it appears in our columns today indicates how useful may be tho assistance supplied even by small sums forwarded to tho British Bread Committees. "With tho experience of the past, as a guide, wo aro confident that tho community will appreciate the spirit in which tho Otngo Trades and Labour Council has taken the initiative in -this movement to help to relievo the distress caused through unemployment in (■ho great cities of tho United Kingdom, and will respond to the appeal made with a generosity that will develop in that movement much greater possibilities than these in view at its inauguration.