Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1921. UNEMPLOYMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15543, 11 June 1921, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1921. UNEMPLOYMENT.

There has been some little controversy this week in regard to the question of the unemployed. Several of the labor members of the House have accused the Government of precipitating the unemployed difficulty by suddenly reducing the number of bands employed upon public works, with the object of bringing about a lower standard of wages, but the answer of the Government is that curtailment of expenditure became necessary in consequence of the exhaustion of moneys in the public works (fund, and that no such motive as alleged contributed to their action. In considering the problem of the unemployed, it is pointed out by the Welfare League, we : arc met with the same difficulty as con- ! fronts us in dealing with some other ■ social questions in the absence of exact, reliable data from which to judge. What j is the nature and extent of the nnemj ployment? is a question difficult to answer. An evil that' to the proper handling of this matter is that it j is made far too much, of a. party issue. I The Socialist politicians make up ligures to present I lie number of unemployed as j being very large and steadily increasing. , Their statement of the case is generally l an extreme one. On the other. hand the tendency of the Government, which naturally .wants to make things appear l as good as possible, seems to be to ! underestimate the extent of the trouble ‘to be dealt with. For the sake of those who are in tile unfortunate position of beino- out of work we should like to see the problem of their circumstances dealt, with on non-party lines. Why should the unemployed and their hard circumstances be made the shuttlecock of con- ' tending parties? We no more believe that the Government is'the cause of the present unemployment than we would have credited it with the great demand for labor.that previously obtained. The causes of the present situation are obvious to all who will consider the matter. The drop in the prices of most of our staple products, particularly wool and meat, and the restriction of credits which the banks have found it necessary to impose! have been the main causes of checking operations in several •directions, which has limited the demand 1 for labor. It is also a question as to | whether the restriction in the output of coal consumption, the enormous costs ot shipping transport, and a general lavish - ness of expenditure throughout the country, by Government as well as by public, have not been rather important contributory causes. For some years N6w Zealand lias been living high and neglecting to develop her productive resources and industries, and she is paying the penalty now that hard times have come along. If during the last decade when times were prosperous woollen industries had been established, the iron industry developed, hydro-electrical systems installed, railways pushed on, harbors built and roads constructed, the. i Dominion would have been in a much better position than it is to-day to meet the problem of unemployment in fact we doubt whether there would" have been any unemployment. New industries would have absorbed all Iho surplus labor caused by the slackening of the| postoral industry. New Zealand must' look ahead and profit by her- present experience. She cannot afford to have all her eggs in the one basket. She must have better means of utilising her great, varied natural resources. She needs more secondary industries. These can only come by overcoming the coal difficulty and high cost of transport. Hydro-electricity is the remedy for the one, and’ better harbor and railway facilities, with permanent stall's to handle the goods, will help solve the other. “Now that the unemployed are with us in considerable numbers,'’ the Welfare League comments, “wo find the only effort at solution being present'd is the old, and to our thinking, somewhat wasteful method of relief works: it is certainly more wasteful from an economic standpoint to' have work done at 10s per daV ’bvmen who know nothing about it, ulid-are unfitted for it,, than it, would be to pay competent men 15s. The relief system is certainly no solution. At this time it might be well to have some review of industrial conditions instituted in order to discover whether there are any means of stimulating the same or not. It" we face matters in a spirit of entire pessimism we are most likely to make conditions worse rather than better. The Government might consider the advisability of inviting some of the ablest men, both employers and employed, to form a voluntary board to investigate and, advise upon this whole subject. We believe that there are men in business and men in trade unions who would carry through such investigation on nonpolitical lines with advantage tu the people seeking employment and benefit to the Dominion. The whole matter of our unemployed citizens appears to be dealt with too much on the' lines of drift, official direction and political feeling We urge tho need of dealing with the issue ori the broader basis of independent investigation and such direction as will give fhe best results to tho individual amt (be State."