The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1926. UNEMPLOYMENT

Southland Times, Issue 19897, 16 June 1926, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1926. UNEMPLOYMENT

While it would be idle to suggest that unemployment in the Dominion is not serious enough to demand earnest attention, there is evidence that the situation is not as serious as reports would have us believe and that the position shows signs of growing easier. It is an unfortunate circumstance connected with seasonal unemployment that the temptation to make political capital out of the workless is too much for some writers to resist. These people, for the purpose of heaping blame on the government of the day, enlarge on the situation at frequent intervals and in extravagant language paint a serious situation as far more serious than it actually is. It is wise to remember in connection with all comment on the situation that New Zealand has an unemployed surplus of workers every year, and that this experience dates so far back that blame for it cannot be put on. the shoulders of •any government. An examination of the newspapers published while the Liberal Party was in power, for instance, will disclose the existence of unemployed seeking relief work during , the winter, and there will be found also the urgent demands by the government’s critics to deal with the situation. That demand is very natural and no government is insensible to the need for work to give employment to those who are genuinely seeking it, but the Ministers of the Crown cannot institute relief work without being sure that the money to be expended in this way will not be actually thrown away. Outlay on relief work is not an excuse for waste. Mr Coates has taken the matter in hand, and he has made it clear that he does not intend to throw the public money away when he is instituting work that could be undertaken more economically at another season. He has called on the local authorities to do their share because they are in a position to deal with the unemployed without taking them far from their homes, a consideration which weighs a lot with married men who have families to support. He has also stated that married men are to be given the preference in these schemes, so that single men can be absorbed in the country districts. Another feature of this problem often overlooked is that even when work is offering there are men who will not take it. Some farmers in Southland have had that experience already this year and naturally they are inclined to minimise the gravity of the position because they have come across men who are calling loudly for work while hoping that work will not be offered to them. If Southland can be taken as a guide the position is easier than it was. There is a prospect of the registered unemployed being given temporary work when an overseas vessel arrives at Bluff to discharge and load. That relief will only be temporary, but there are indications that the Public Works Department will also be able to provide work for a fair number. Unskilled workers are suffering most, as they usually do in the winter months, and one of the difficulties to be overcome by the authorities is to provide suitable yet useful employment for them. It may appear a simple matter to enrol a large number of men for service on the streets of Invercargill, which are admittedly in a shocking condition, but no road engineer will relish

undertaking important work on the streets at this time of the year unless he is going to risk a charge of waste. A little can be done, but only patching, and it would not be easy to absorb a large number of men in operations of the kind. The corporation has taken on some men, and doubtless it would be able to enlarge the numbers on its pay-roll, but the problem is not an easy one to solve. The difficulties which face the local authorities can give some idea of the problems which the national government has to face, and they will convince most people that the hardships of the workless are not made any easier by those who exaggerate the position in the hope of making political capital out of their misfortunes.