The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1896. THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 239, 18 December 1896, Page 2

The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1896. THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

The following opinions on the unemployed question expressed by Mr Rolleston during the late election contest will, we feel sure, commend themselves to those who give the question any thought. ** The treatment of the question of the ‘ unemployed ’ is itself but one incident in dealing with the larger problems of more efficient production, more equitable distribution of wealth, and that large range of social subjects connected with sickness, charitable aid, poverty, and old age which will require the best abilities and the largest sympathy of our public men, and which may then, perhaps, admit of only partial solution in oar time. I may premise that in earlier days, wheu the immigration scheme of Sir Julius Vogel was being carried on, it fell to my lot to deal with the difficulty in a modified form, because Crown lands were still available for settlement, there was a general outward movement, and the absorption of the unemployed into the general ranks of industry was more easy than is uow the case. I recognised then, as I recognise now, that settlement of the people on the land is the first and readiest way of dealing with the unemployed. We then 1875-76, instituted the village settlements system, which have been more or less of a success, according to the judgment with which they have been located and administered. Modifications of this scheme have since been adopted, and further improvements can no doubt be engrafted upon it, but it is obvious that it is not of universal application, and though it will alleviate it cannot be taken as an absolute and final solution of the unemployed difficulty. The securing of homes is a universal necessity—the cultivation of land is, of course, only one channel of industry. State farms are suggested and deserve a trial as a means towards the same end. They, again, can only be a part of a larger system, of dealing with the question on broad. principles, and of a series of measures that will be preventive rather than curative of the ills of poverty. The first of these underlying principles, to my mind, is that we should seek to promote the absorption of the unemployed into the industrial ranks ; that poverty should not be congregated, but distributed, so as to be ‘ improved oil the face of the earth ’ by association with those who have been more fortunate in the struggle of life, and who should learn to feel that they are, to some extent at least, their brother’s keepers. To illustrate what I mean. It is now generally recognised that the congregation of orphans in an indiscriminate manner—in what have been not inaptly called ‘ monster ’ institutions is wrong in principle. Here and in older countries it is recognised that distribution, not aggregation, is the principle to be acted upon, and that orphanages should be rather depots than permanent homes. Similarly with regard to State farms, there will always be a residuum, especially of those who are incapacitated by age or accident, or ill-health, who will remain to be dealt with permanently by the State, and for whom the State farms are required. But all ablebodied men should have the opportunity of moving on and improving their position by association in the ranks of the great industrial army. Nothing will justify any system which leads to the loss of self-respect, or shuts out hope of bettering tomselves, or encourages a feeling of dependence in the minds of workmen. The object of any legislation should be to secure fair play to all and equality of opportunity. Mr Burt, who will be admitted to be an authority on labor questions, says that we have more to look for from selfhelp and mutual co-operation of workmen than from legislation, and he points to a possible system of partnership and profit sharing as a future developement of the problem. This is a side of the question which I feel less competent to deal with than with the remedy afforded by land settle-

ment. There is, however, no universal panacea for existing evils ; there is no immediate remedy for long-seated maladies ; they have to be approached from different points of view aud in different ways.”